quick tree purchace advice

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homemade

Certified Chainsaw Tester
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I'm looking for some trees to plant our vacant properity for privacy and wind break. I would like to go with a cedar type tree so when I cut grass I don't get all scratched up. Our county planning commission is having a tree sale and I want to get them from here. The options I have are white cedar and eastern red cedar. What do you guys suggest.
 
I'm looking for some trees to plant our vacant properity for privacy and wind break. I would like to go with a cedar type tree so when I cut grass I don't get all scratched up. Our county planning commission is having a tree sale and I want to get them from here. The options I have are white cedar and eastern red cedar. What do you guys suggest.
I like cutting fat red cedar. It goes well and the main root grows like a carrot. They grow very slow here in Missouri. I am looking at catalpa seeds to drop so I can plant a few. Good wood for carvers, similar to bass.wood, holds detail better. Hope someone chimes in with better answer than mine:)
 
White cedar is a more attractive tree. Eastern red isn't the best looking but it will grow almost anywhere.


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White cedar is a more attractive tree. Eastern red isn't the best looking but it will grow almost anywhere.


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Exactly what I was looking for. I think I'll go with the white ones.


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Consider buying extra and planting elsewhere in case you lose any in the screen.


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Consider buying extra and planting elsewhere in case you lose any in the screen.


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I really only need 20 but I'm buying 30 for that reason and to thin out any sickly looking ones.


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White cedar, eastern arborvitae I'm assuming, is deer candy so keep that in mind. Eastern red cedar is pretty soil tolerant but rust diseases CAN be problematic if alternate hosts are nearby.
 
I have found that any conifer is problematic planted close enough together to form a screen. They end up rubbing bald spots on each other, and when you lose one, the tree on either side looks like hell.

Plus the growth rates can be slow.

Other options for screening:

Alternate Eastern white cedar with something like columnar birch, or columnar crabapple. (I sell a lot of parkland pillar birch, and emerald spire crab for this.) The birch gives you quick coverage. The cedar gets some winter protection from the birch.

Put in multiple rows. EWC typically is about 4 feet wide by 20 feet tall at maturity. So plant on 6 foot spacing, and put a second row several feet away with the second row allined with the spaces.

For faster results plant two rows of shrub willow. Most willows get ratty looking after a few years. Cut one row down, and let it start again from the root. Do this on a 4 to 6 year cycle
 

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