A friend of mine planted about 100 Green Giants about three years ago. They were about 18-24" tall when he planted them. Green Giants are pretty deer resistant, but where my friend and I live there are just too many deer in a small area (island) for that to mean much. The first year he planted these 100 Green Giants, the deer destroyed about 25 of them. After he replaced them, I recommended that he start using Milorganite fertilizer around the trees to keep the deer away. (It's an unadvertized fact that Milorganite acts as a deer repellent.) He started dumping Milorganite around the base of the trees on the perimeter of his property and the following year those were nearly 2ft. taller than the other trees (same growing conditions). Needless to say he started using it around all the Green Giants and this year some of the ones that he started using it on first are taller than me (6ft.). I started using Milorganite on my lawn a few years ago to keep the deer away that were eating my plants and it did wonders for my lawn. I started dumping it around all my perennials, mixing it in with the potting soil for my annuals, and tilling it into my vegetable garden. Everything improved! The stuff is like the Frank's Red Hot commercial... I put that s*#& on everything! I'm not sure it's the "best" fertilizer for your Green Giants, but it's definitely good. In the past I was always afraid to fertilize because I'd overdone it too many times and killed/burned too many plants and lawn. Milorganite is organic, so you can't really use too muich... it will just sit there on/in the soil until the soil microorganisms can consume it. Good luck!

Yup. You'll have much better luck with the GG's there than I did up in Z4. Ken's got some real nice plantings on the other side of your state, and even though he might be in a higher hardiness zone than you-not sure without looking-you've got all that lake-effect snow I should think, and that'll be good for them. Just watch for the stray double leader. Doesn't happen a lot, but if you would let one develop, it would be more prone to breakage under snowload. You might even be able to use straight Thuja plicata where you are. I'm not sure GG would be any better for your purposes. +oM

Jacob! Our trees survived and look pretty good this year. There is new growth and they are also looking a little discolored from all of the temperature changes! Ours survived and I am Hoping they thicken up a little this year. They were very thinned out when we bought them. They weren’t grown in a green house so they didn’t look as full and pretty as they do at the store. The yellow color comes and goes. It’s quite weird. But I am not an arborist. Lol. My husband tells me to just let them grow and not stare at them every day which is what I have done. Lol. I think he’s annoyed of me at this point.

if its not browning.. its not dying ... its probably.. for whatever reason.. focusing all its energy growing roots ... why this one of the bunch.. who knows .... its not surprising there are all growing the same.. the kids dont.. so why would the trees ... i dont recommend digging it up to find out why ... it simply isnt bad enough to risk such ... most likely.. it will catch up .. its a conifer.. and its a tree.. and they grow in tree time.. counted in decades ...6 or 7 mont6hs is nothing .. and.. again.. its green and doesnt look like its suffering.. stressed ... so just leave it alone ... imo.. fert is not a response ... just check for proper water at root level ... i would pull back the grass for at least a 2 or 3 foot circle around it.. and then you can take a hand trowel and check moisture at 3 to 6 inches ... hard to believe the grass overgrew the planting hole in said time .... if for no other reason ... get the grass out ..... so you dont have weedwhacker issues on the trunk ... just be patient .... ken