Storm damaged evergreens, will they ever look good again? (how much, landscaping)

[NYTom]

With the hurricane and the heavy snow this winter all my arborvitaes and upright junipers have split and have branches leaning in every direction. Do they come back at all or should I just cut them down to where they split and let them grow back. I hate doing that as they are such slow growers anyway.

[nassau2suffolk]

I just tied the stems of my arborvitaes together with twine and they look much better. Cutting them that far down may ruin them forever.

[twingles]

You have to tie them up - actually....I know this will lead to a million jokes....but pantyhose works well because it won't damage the branches at all - twine can cut into them.

When it snows heavily you have to knock the snow off with a broom right away.

[OhBeeHave]

Are the trunks themselves bent? We had to stake a number of our trees and are keeping our fingers crossed that we were able to get to them before any root damage set in.

Twingles -- I had ice first and then snow; no matter how much snow we knocked off, the ice was bending the heck out of everything. I found the snowfall this year to be different in that respect as opposed to previous years. My bamboo took a serious beating as well.

[BadAndyHolbrook]

Like everyone else before me said , you have to tie them up especially before winter. I have probably 10 arbs. and 12 leylands and they all took a beating. I have tried to trim them myself, but tomorrow I am having the tree spray guy I use come and give them a professional haircut. You could cut all the broken limbs yourself. And tie them up. Years ago we had a really big one go down during a snow storm. I went out back and dug a hole next to the root ball and stood it back up. I used 4 pieces if electric conduit that was 10 feet long if my memory serves me. And then I git up on a 6 foot ladder and hammered the conduit around the tree at 12 o clock, 3 oclock, 6 oclock, and 9 oclock. Then I used 2 hose scraps and ran the rope thru the hose and tied the tree off to the stakes. Get the big bag of Holy Tone from costco, hammer some holes into the ground around the tree, and add the Holy Tone. Give it a good soaking and you will be glad and proud of your handy work. It will survive with alittle help. Good luck

[TheImportersWife]

Originally Posted by twingles

You have to tie them up - actually....I know this will lead to a million jokes....but pantyhose works well because it won't damage the branches at all - twine can cut into them.

When it snows heavily you have to knock the snow off with a broom right away.

I use knee highs/pantyhose on mine as well (it was recommended to me by a relative who is a landscape architect.)

I also try and get heavy snow off of them when I can.



There are youtube videos out there telling you how to trim and care for Arborvitaes, which I found to be pretty helpful.

[Johninwestbury]

This is the problem with non-native everygreens. Native Pitch Pines held up well after Sandy, since they are salt spray tolerant. So is Eastern-Red Cedar.

[hotkarl]

Yeah, most of the pro 's are saying don't be so quick to rip out your landscaping. Mother nature is pretty resilient and if you have the time and patience to wait a few months you may be surprised at how much stuff bounces back.

[twingles]

Originally Posted by hotkarl

Yeah, most of the pro 's are saying don't be so quick to rip out your landscaping. Mother nature is pretty resilient and if you have the time and patience to wait a few months you may be surprised at how much stuff bounces back.

Yes the arborvitaes will bounce back. Ours took a beating one winter in NY and it took awhile but they came back.

[NYTom]

Actually I had them tied during the winter and they still bent and twisted. I now, retied them and staked a few of them so they are upright.

I also have an 18' wall of Leylands and the end tree shifted and is leaning away from the rest and I'm trying to figure a way to push it back, the trunk is a good 7' diameter.