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Snow/ice damaged Arborvitae

Alexander SE Michigan - Zone 5b

last year

My Smaragd Arborvitae took a beating last weekend from 10" of wet snow. The previous weekend they handled the ice storm fairly well.
Planted at around 8' four years ago, now around 10'+ and were looking great. Unfortunately they are multi-leadered trees and the leadere split down the middle like petals on a flower. They recovered to some extent, but many of the leaders have been sagging all week.
They are calling for more wet snow tomorrow, so this morning I hastily tied some rope around each one, bunching the leaders together. They are not exactly straight, but I am hoping they will stand a better chance like this. I plan to gently dust off any snow accumulations in the morning.
Does anyone think tying them is the proper solution here? Should I leave them tied for the year so they will straighten back up? I will try to take some pics later.

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Comments (5)

Alexander SE Michigan - Zone 5b
Original Author
last year
I should add, there was no breakage, only bend limbs/leaders.
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
last year
i had 4 arbs removed in the 2800 dollar tree removal project ..

i declared one a work of art.. and left it ...

i dont believe in tying up my trees.... i get rid of them ... and start over ...

im down tecumseh way ... where are you.. city name....

there are at lest two other current posts on the storm damage...

ken
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i suppose you can tie them ... and maybe it will work ... and hopefully you will remember to remove the ties over time. .. if you do tie.. use twine that will break down.. rather than plastic based ... they rot off if you forget for a decade.. lol ... or go in.. and remove all multiple leaders... the single leader will very quickly force massive growth and look pretty good within a year or two ... or... cut the ones leaning.. until they pop up straight ... usually i err towards too long.. and have to make a few cuts until i find the sweet spot ... again.. with no impact on the root system.. they will fill in.. sooner or later ... the short term uglies.. IMHO .. is better than rope and stakes.. etc ... yes its major surgery .. but your only other option is to get a single leader plant... and kill the first.. may as well experiment first ... ken
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Wow. I also have an arborvitae Techny that was seriously affected by this past winter. Mine was brown everywhere. But in the last two weeks or so it has grown many green areas so I am hopeful. In my case leaving it completely alone was key because the green grew from the brown areas. Further out on the branch. If I had trimmed the brown I think I would have trimmed all the potential new growth off. Is that last picture of yours a different one than the two inn the photo just above it? If so, it looks different than mine. Mine was uniformly brown a few weeks ago but the branches were very flexible. I've only ever trimmed my arborvitae slightly when there's one small group of needles that turned brown I would cut it off. I'm a very cautious pruner unless it's a butterfly bush, say.
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google tractor supply.. believe it or not ... there are a bunch in nj ... get the twine at the link.. one HALF MILE ... for $20 .. it is a two person job .... get someone to grab the tree a foot or two up from the ground... make a circle.. pull it snug.. but not overly tight.. tie it off to itself ... and then start wrapping in a candy cane manner ... up to about a foot from the top. and then back down ... and tie again to itself at the bottom ... understand.. that all you are doing ... is closing the pores .. lets say ... where snow might gather .... YOU ARE NOT TIE-ING IT LIKE A MILITARY CAPTIVE ... it really doesnt have to be all that tight.. what you are doing.. is making the whole tree .. a single branch.. which will hold itself upright ... rather than a plethora of single branches which will bend when weight is applied ... the beauty of the twine.. is you can throw it all away in spring ... wrap your head around this: WHERE ARE YOU GOING TO STORE ALL THAT BURLAP YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT BUYING???? for next winter ... i wish i had a picture.. but i dont ... maybe someone else here has a picture .... ken Here is a link that might be useful: link
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Arborvitae are very hardy trees and have been shrugging off winters for much longer than we have with few problems. If the snow load has broken some branches then those will need to be properly pruned once the snow has melted, but bent branches will spring back into place and any branches pushed to the ground and frozen there will also.
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Alexander SE Michigan - Zone 5b
Original Author
last year
Ken, I am in Howell. My arbs provide a privacy screen along my patio. Also, I don't have the time or money to spend on new plants.

I tied them, dusted off some snow this morning. I'll hope for the best.
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
last year
This is a pretty common occurrence with arbs, even single leadered ones. All the individual branches tend to be upward sweeping so they easily catch and collect snow and the weight of heavy or wet snow can bend them out or cause them to splay. Depending on how far they splay out and for how long before the snow is removed, the damage may or may not be recoverable.

In areas where this happens routinely during winter, many gardeners elect to tie the branches together loosely before winter to prevent this happening.

Tying Arborvitaes
BillMN-z-2-3-4
last year
I went in to tie up my neighbors 15' arbs, across the street one spring.

Once I got into the arbs I found several different kinds of twine, rope, plastic cords from other times that the previous owners had tied them up. ;-)

You can buy special plastic chain for this purpose but I just bought a cheap clew of paracord that worked just as well.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Master-Mark-Chainlock-1-2-in-x-100-ft-Tree-Support-30200/202815094?g_store=&source=shoppingads&locale=en-US&&mtc=SHOPPING-BF-CDP-GGL-D28O-028_023_LAWN_ACC-NA-NA-NA-SMART-NA-NA-NA-NA-NBR-NA-NA-NA-SMART_SHP_NA&cm_mmc=SHOPPING-BF-CDP-GGL-D28O-028_023_LAWN_ACC-NA-NA-NA-SMART-NA-NA-NA-NA-NBR-NA-NA-NA-SMART_SHP_NA-71700000063988474-58700005690512855-92700051915081058&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIzv2-jr3S_QIVbTizAB1jjgEnEAQYAiABEgLbI_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

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