go to www.vanspinesnursery.com

October is probably a bit too late in the season for planting young arbs in your climate - not enough time for them to establish and harden off before being hit by the extremes of your winter weather. Suggest you consider spring planting instead. Other than wholesale sources - if you have access to them - I have no idea where you could locate that quantity for such a low price. Even wholesale, 1 gallon arbs here are hard to find that inexpensively.

OK, so I scrapped the small trees and planted 55 two/three-foot arborvitaes this past early-May. The trees are doing great, I am watering them weekly since we haven't had rain in like what seems 2 months.

Anyway, what do you suggest I cover them with come winter? I don't want to lose them to winter-burn, so I am looking for advice for some type of cover - burlap? Netting? Potato sacks? We do not have any animal issues, this would be to keep them from the harsh WI wind and cold!

Thanks!

Here is a link that might be useful: My trees

Don't mean to be critical, but why plant so many of this variety if you think they'll need to be covered up in winter? Do other people in your area cover up the Arborvitae? Just seems like a huge amount of work to me. Or maybe you're talking about just this first winter...

You won't be protecting against cold, but instead against dessicating wind and harsh March sunlight (which involves warming the tree in the day, starting the photosynthesis process, but not allowing roots to absorb moisture, thus stressing the plant), in which case burlap stretched over wood posts surrounding (but not touching) the foliage would be the answer.

Thanks - I live in WI and the temp can get to -10 degrees and up to 95 degrees in the summer. This is the first year for these trees in the ground, and I don't want half of them to 'burn' due to the harsh wind/snow/temps this winter. I was told they can be 'covered' to protect them from burning. I doubt I'll do this more than maybe the first year or two or at least til they're fully established.

I still see 'burned' trees in my area today, and some of those trees are 6-10 feet tall. I want lush green trees, with hopes that they'll turn into a privacy line....

Thanks!

Good luck with them, and remember to keep watering well into fall; they'll need all the moisture they can get from you this year to survive the winter.

You may want to consider a spray called Wilt-Pruf for your arbs. I've had good results with it, but I'm spraying one shrub, not 55. It could be easier to spray the plants than to cover that many and keep them covered all winter.

If you do use it, be sure to read the label closely so you don't spray the trees to early.

V.

Thanks everyone for the comments. I will be using Wilt-Pruf this fall when the freeze is just about constant. Thus far, the trees have done great, with the exception of this small issue I found. Does anyone know why some of the branchs are already browning, and in some cases turning black (see pics)? I have kept them fully watered all year, if we didn't see rain at least once per week, I watered them....they all look good, but a few have these blackening issues:

http://www.geocities.com/kai00051/HPIM0590-1.JPG

http://www.geocities.com/kai00051/HPIM0591-1.JPG

Thanks!

For additional discussion, search internet for "antitranspirant".

I don't know what you are referring to, when saying "antitranspirant". Is this a type of spray that is made for keeping trees safe through winter? I notice it's used on Christmas trees.....???

Wilt Pruf is an antitranspirant - a chemical that is used to keep the plants from dessicating (dry out due to winter winds, etc). It is the technical term for Wilt Pruf.

I just purchased my Wilt-Pruf and will be applying that just before the winter freeze.

Also, did anyone get a chance to look at these two pics., and if so, do you know what might be wrong with these trees? This is only affecting a few trees, not many of them.
http://www.geocities.com/kai00051/HPIM0590-1.JPG

http://www.geocities.com/kai00051/HPIM0591-1.JPG

Thanks!