I had to choose between a privacy fence and a hedge row...

Last spring I couldn't decide if I wanted a wooden fence or a line of arborvitae along my back property line. The fence was $2,800 installed, the hedging was about $400 if I did it myself. I went cheap with the hedge, and now 14 months later half of them are dead and my neighbor's dog keeps staring at me through the gaps. Should I just tear them out and get the fence or try replacing the dead ones?

3 comments

3 Comments

riveradams19d ago

Arborvitae need more sun than most people realize, that's your problem.

avery_lopez1d ago

Huh, nobody's mentioned that it could be a winter burn issue. That's what got mine last year - the sun reflected off my white fence and basically cooked the south-facing side during a cold snap. The leaves turned brown and crispy but the rest of the plant was fine. If your dead spots are all on one side facing a wall or fence, that's probably it.

the_robin18d ago

riveradams said "Arborvitae need more sun than most people realize" and that's probably your whole problem right there. How many hours of direct light does that spot actually get? Not what you thought it would get, but what it really gets from like March to September. Because I did the same thing last year and it turns out my "full sun" spot only gets about 4 hours of direct light thanks to my neighbor's big oak tree, and now my arborvitae are turning brown from the inside out. If yours are dying in patches it could be a drainage or soil issue too, cheap plants don't mean bad soil prep but bad soil kills everything.