Why the High Die Out Rate for Emerald Green Arborvitae?

In our nursery at least, but maybe even for some of our neighbors, a 1% die out rate in most Thuja Arborvitae is normal, does not warrant concern. Pots do tip over, may receive too much fertilizer, not enough or too much water, etc. The die out rate is far higher for the slow growing Emerald Green Arborvitae.

Emerald Greens are an outdated and inferior variety of Thuja Arborvitae as now the far better genetic American Pillar and Green Giant Arborvitae are  available. We elaborated in previous posting about the shortcomings of Emerald Green, but here we want to point out the high die out rate after planting and even later on. We identified two main reasons:

1. It is a much slower growing variety than the Green Giant or American Pillar Arborvitae. Slow growth applies to above ground and below ground parts of the tree. Slow growing trees do not adapt well to changing environments.
2. It is a very easy tree to multiply by cloning, yet it appears to be extremely PH sensitive. Most nurseries maintain a slightly Acidic PH environment for growing plants, especially if they are an evergreen nursery. Most city water is Alkaline PH and so newly planted Emerald Greens will get their first introduction to a high PH environment after they are out of the nursery environment.

Not much you can do about Emerald Green Arborvitae high die out rate, except avoid it and choose the far superior genetics American Pillar and Green Giant Thujas.

Newly planted landscape in front of a McDonalds in Kentucky, all plants are doing great, except the Emerald Green Arborvitae.

For more information:
https://www.purduelandscapereport.org/article/stop-making-these-arborvitae-mistakes-common-transplant-problems-of-arborvitae/

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