arborvitae 6' broken off top

[Brian moore]

My neighbor removing a tree broke about 6' off the top off 1 of our fence arborvitae. They are between 20 and 25' high and keep our privacy. Will that trunk grow back or is it now stunted and should I have it replaced?

 

[Raintree]

Let it grow.

 

[gunny100]

My neighbor removing a tree broke about 6' off the top off 1 of our fence arborvitae. They are between 20 and 25' high and keep our privacy. Will that trunk grow back or is it now stunted and should I have it replaced?

i think it will soon die off

 

[BC WetCoast]

You still have a 15 - 20' tree. If you replace it, you will be hard pressed to find anything taller than 12'. I would let it grow and replace it only if it dies.

 

[capetrees]

Drop the other tops to match.

 

[Mike-M]

I have an arborvitae that was topped 5 years ago by the cable company. It looks like it could have been topped yesterday. Still looks healthy, but it hasnt grown an inch in the upward direction. The upper branches still get fatter, but they dont point up.

 

[Oldmaple]

You will lose the "pointy" effect that they would have if they have never been topped. You can reduce the rest of the arbs to even them out and I normally recommend it in our area to prevent windthrow (they don't root very deeply) or heavy snow and ice loads breaking them.