Trees advice...attempt to revive or cut?

[777ER]

I have 12 of these trees on the side of my lawn to seperate the neighbors from my yard...

I had about 7-10 foot tall trees there which was found to be diseased by the water bugs that looked like a light bluish color and they suck all the water out of the trees thru the branches.

The landscaper replaced them about 5-7 years ago and most of the time the backyard has been dry and the deers keep eating the leaves off of the bottom.

A net was placed on them a few years ago to attempt to stop the deer from eating the leaves.

As you can see, two of the trees are still growing from the top from where the top of the net line was place.

Should I attempt to revive them or replace all of them?

 

[computeruser]

Ouch. Not a lot of screening action going on there. Mightn't a fence be a better choice? I'd be inclined to remove and replace with something that the deer don't like quite so much, and keep them watered/mulched/protected.

 

[treeseer]

YOu have some eye-level screen now, so if you don't mind pruning, just keep em.

Where is the mulch? :monkey:

 

[tomtrees58]

are you kidding tom treesoke:

 

[memetic]

If you have the money replace with arborvitae green giant. Supposedly deer don't eat them. Otherwise, get a privacy fence or a rifle.

 

[Nailsbeats]

Send me a PM if you need a climber, lol.

 

[777ER]

Ouch. Not a lot of screening action going on there. Mightn't a fence be a better choice? I'd be inclined to remove and replace with something that the deer don't like quite so much, and keep them watered/mulched/protected.

I would like to get a fence but the cost of it and I need to get a permit to do so.

FYI; the orangish house behind the trees is the bad neighbor that complained to the town for cutting my own tree. Hence why I want privacy now.

 

[memetic]

Send me a PM if you need a climber, lol.

rofl. holy carp.

 

[777ER]

YOu have some eye-level screen now, so if you don't mind pruning, just keep em.

Where is the mulch? :monkey:

:dunno:

 

[memetic]

I would like to get a fence but the cost of it and I need to get a permit to do so.

FYI; the orangish house behind the trees is the bad neighbor that complained to the town for cutting my own tree. Hence why I want privacy now.

I like his air conditioner aesthetics. Just pony up and get a wall of green giants. They grow 3-5 feet per year. If you need contact info on where to get them for a good price send me a PM.

 

[777ER]

If you have the money replace with arborvitae green giant. Supposedly deer don't eat them. Otherwise, get a privacy fence or a rifle.

Looks like I can get a 1-2 foot tall one for about $13 each...as you can see there's 12 of those crappy trees in the pictures, they're about 3 ft from each other.
I looked up the trees you mentioned and it states needs to be 5-6' ft apart for quick qrowing and screening.

So I would need about 5 or 6 of them?

Best time to plant them? now or wait til spring?

 

[Dadatwins]

next time plan them up to the second crotch and they might do better. I could use a trip back home to climb and get some bagels/pizza to help with the problem. Sarcasm aside they were planted to deep and trying to survive.
Maybe raise then up to root flair and they willl do better.

 

[S Mc]

Whether you keep these shrubs or plant Green Giants, if you have a deer problem you are going to have to deal with that. Green Giants may be "resistant" but I can testify that "resistant" to deer is a relative comment. If the deer like the taste, they will eat. And if they come in a herd, they ALL taste the bush before deciding whether they like it or not. They don't pass the info along.

Are these shrubs yews? If so, they should regenerate well if you can keep the deer off. The best we have tried is a product called Liquid Fence. You need to spray it on once a week for about a month (it basically trains the deer to not eat it as they find it distasteful...and, by the way, it stinks to high heaven until dry). Another method is the tried-and-true (and much cheaper) Irish Spring in a nylon stocking tied to each bush (you can cut the bar up into pieces) but is not as powerful. And then, of course, you can fence them out...but that gets into fencing projects.

Green Giants would probably be a better bet in deer country as yew are basically candy to the critters. But I would still protect your new plants (or these) whatever you decide.

Providing a mulch island around the hedge row will provide the shrubs with many benefits, not the least of which will be the lower maintenance for you for keeping weeds down, supplying them with nutrient-cycling, and helping to stabilize water and temperature.

Sylvia

 

[777ER]

I think I have decided to plant 6 Green giants in place with 5-6 ft of each other in place of the 12 trees currently in there with 3 ft spacing between each other.

And use liquid fence for a month to ward off the deers and hopefully I can get them to grow tall quickly.

Not sure if they're Yews or what?


How easy do you think it will be to remove the old trees? Shovel them out or what?
There's no room to fit a pickup truck or lawn tractor into the backyard to pull them out with heavy duty rope.

If you look behind the trees in the 2nd pic, there's a rock wall that goes down about 3 ft to the lower land which is between the neighbors house and the side of my house.

 

[Blakesmaster]

Send me a PM if you need a climber, lol.

I'd do the job but I don't have a GRCS.

 

[Nailsbeats]

Don't worry Blakes, I can handle it, looks like you could flop them from here.

 

[Wet1]

How easy do you think it will be to remove the old trees? Shovel them out or what?
There's no room to fit a pickup truck or lawn tractor into the backyard to pull them out with heavy duty rope.

If you look behind the trees in the 2nd pic, there's a rock wall that goes down about 3 ft to the lower land which is between the neighbors house and the side of my house.

Any way you can winch them out (assuming you have access to a winch)?

 

[iowawoodcutter]

If you have the money replace with arborvitae green giant. Supposedly deer don't eat them. Otherwise, get a privacy fence or a rifle.

Don't know if the arborvitae I have are the green giant variety, but the deer loved mine this winter, and my blue spruce...I will be fencing them off this winter....

Iowa

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<img src="http://www.arboristsite.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=73572&d=1214497262"></img>

 

[S Mc]

And use liquid fence for a month to ward off the deers and hopefully I can get them to grow tall quickly.

Not sure if they're Yews or what?

How easy do you think it will be to remove the old trees? Shovel them out or what?
There's no room to fit a pickup truck or lawn tractor into the backyard to pull them out with heavy duty rope.

If you look behind the trees in the 2nd pic, there's a rock wall that goes down about 3 ft to the lower land which is between the neighbors house and the side of my house.

I need to clarify my Liquid Fence instructions. You will use it once a week for a month. But then after that you will use it approximately once a month during heavy feeding (by deer) time of year and as needed after that. In deer country you have to stay vigilant or you will have no landscape. But staying alert to their habits will soon clue you in to the treatment regimen that you need.

On removal, if that is a 3ft retaining wall between you and a neighbor that you already do not get along with, I would be extremely careful on how you remove the shrubs so as not to damage it. Pulling them out would definitely be the most intrusive to the wall. You may want to simply cut them off at the ground (this would also be faster and cheapest) and plant the new shrubs in front. You shouldn't plant too close to the wall anyway as this could also become a bone of contention as they grow and possibly damage the wall or become invasive to your neighbor's space. Green Giants grow approx 30 to 40' tall and about 4 - 6' wide, so take that into consideration. A common problem when planting new, young and small plants is forgetting just how big they are going to get.

Sylvia

 

[S Mc]

Don't know if the arborvitae I have are the green giant variety, but the deer loved mine this winter, and my blue spruce...I will be fencing them off this winter....

Iowa

An aside to Iowa, I'm not sure the deer are getting to your blue spruce so much as there is something else going on there. If you don't mind, start a thread re this spruce and post close up pictures of limbs. At least take a sample to your local extension agency to see what might be going on.

Also, I would remove the growth under the tree and replace with mulch. Spruce's prefer dryer ventilation under their canopy.

Sylvia