How to plant and protect white cedars

[Mike Castillo]

Hi everyone,

I am on a tree planting mission, and you have helped greatly in my quest to grow a visual screen. Now, I would like to plant some white cedar in some areas for future thermal cover. My question is, what is the best way to protect them? I know the deer love white cedar and if left unprotected wont make the winter. I have a pretty low deer density, but don't want to risk it. Also, if you've had any experience with white cedar, I'd be very interested to hear about it. Thanks! Mike

 

[bigeight]

I'd switch gears to Red cedar, or Norway Spruce.

You'd be in deep $$ trying to protect those things as well as time. Better alternatives out there IMO :)

 

[Mortenson]

I have been convinced to bud cap at least some of them. Plugged a thousand Norways last spring and the deer were eating them the night I started. I'll probably try squares of cardboard and a staple gun for starters.

 

[rocksnstumps]

Growing decent size white cedar might be a project your kids or grandkids can appreciate later but don't expect fast results. I have patches of cedar swamp across the road from my land, within 1/2 mile. The browse line is very obvious everywhere you look. Without cages, think it would be a frustrating experience. I did find a small one growing on my land before the deer did and put a cage around it. Maybe a foot of growth over the last several years. Perhaps some nursery stock might have some better growth potential.

I have ordered from Lodholz North Star Acres before and see they have a Northern White Cedar "Affinity" they claim grows faster than typical. They use to do a lot of wholesale Christmas tree sales and have a nice selection of other softwoods including tamarack and European larch.

 

[JFK52]

I agree with ' bigeight" . Consider trees that the deer will not treat as appetizers. I planted red pine on my land for screening purposes with some white pine mixed in. The deer found a lot of the white pine in a bad winter and left the middle of the trees bare from browsing. I hate Scotch pine, but the deer leave them alone also. You can put up all the wire and do other gyrations, but if a deer wants your tree bad enough it will eat it.

 

[Mike Castillo]

I have hemlocks on my property and they grow relatively well...I am wondering if I might not be better off planting hemlocks as I know they grow well on my property??? Thanks for all the great advice.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Mike - Just to be accurate - red cedar is not a true cedar - it's in the juniper family. If you plant apples, red cedar ( a juniper ), is the alternate host to the cedar apple rust fungus, which will infect your apple trees if your varieties are C.A.R susceptible. Northern White Cedar ( arborvitae ) is a true cedar and is NOT an alternate host for C.A.R. The name " cedar apple rust " is misnamed. It ought to be " juniper apple rust ". So if you have apples planted, you may want to opt for another evergreen that's not red cedar or another juniper.

Deer do like to browse white cedar. They don't browse hemlock or white pine in northern Pa. I've never seen it in 46 years of hunting in Pa. and Maine. I've seen pictures of browse lines up to 6 ft. above ground on white cedar. We don't know where you're located either. For thermal / security cover, we plant Norway & white spruce, and balsam fir. We are lucky to have great white pine and hemlock regeneration naturally. For us, the spruces, fir, and hemlock are the best windbreakers for thermal cover.

 

[TreeDaddy]

Planted 1000 red cedar bare root feb '16 and deer don't touch them

Also planted 1000 virginia pines......should have just spread 1000 Andes dinner mints...... deer loved em

bill

 

[4wanderingeyes]

I looked into planting Northern white cedars, and I was discouraged by everyone I talked too. I ignored everyone, and went to order them online, the company called me up and talked me out of it, told me that they are too much high maintenance to plant in the wild. If I were planting a wind row next to my house, they said to go for it, but they said I may as well plant my money in the ground, because it would have as much a chance of growing as the white cedars in the middle of a woods.

I still plan on planting some, maybe 50-100 just to see if any will survive, but rather then making a row of them, I would plan on small bunches of them planted throughout the woods, if just 2 survived I would be happy.

 

[Tree Spud]

I have hemlocks on my property and they grow relatively well...I am wondering if I might not be better off planting hemlocks as I know they grow well on my property??? Thanks for all the great advice.

If you have hemlocks that are not being over browsed, then white cedars have a chance. White cedars are high winter browse by deer.

I would start with 25-50 white cedars with 2.5' dia fences protecting each of them. Completely clear the land by killing all vegetation around them. They can be slow growers unless you have right conditions, they can live 800 years old. I think If you can establish them, the best over winter deer habitat is a white cedar marsh.

Good luck.

 

[Tree Spud]

I looked into planting Northern white cedars, and I was discouraged by everyone I talked too. I ignored everyone, and went to order them online, the company called me up and talked me out of it, told me that they are too much high maintenance to plant in the wild. If I were planting a wind row next to my house, they said to go for it, but they said I may as well plant my money in the ground, because it would have as much a chance of growing as the white cedars in the middle of a woods.

I still plan on planting some, maybe 50-100 just to see if any will survive, but rather then making a row of them, I would plan on small bunches of them planted throughout the woods, if just 2 survived I would be happy.

They prefer full sun to have the robust branching & foliage, in partial shade they will be thin & wispy.

 

[shawnv]

I have a lower deer density so I may try planting 20-25 in the 4-5' range and see how it goes. I actually want a tree like that that they will browse as it still grows and doesn't die.

 

[Honker]

I've got an unproven theory about white cedars and deer browse.

On my property (NE WI) we have a strong natural recruitment of white cedar trees. They are browsed a little but not decimated with a dpsm around 40. My theory is that there is something about our high soil pH that makes the white cedars somewhat unpalatable. Our pH ranges from 7.6 to 8.4 naturally. Has anybody else noticed anything like this?

 

[Bowsnbucks]

I've never heard of that connection, but it's interesting. ^^^^ The most wild white cedars I've seen is in Maine, but the dpsm is very low. Browsing was mainly on raspberries & blackberries where logging had occurred. I believe the pH is around 5 to 5.5 or so. Lots of white cedar there.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

NH - The biggest concentrations of white cedar I saw in Maine seemed to be around swampy areas. Is it the same in New Hampshire ?? The largest buck rubs I've ever seen were around swamp edges on white cedars in Maine. Scary big.

Sorry for the side-track.

 

[H20fwler]

Isn't one of the cedars bad to have around apple trees?

 

[Mike Castillo]

I am going to order a few cedar trees and plant them down near my swampy areas of my property. If they die, I will know for the future...but it would be interesting if they live. I will just try to cage them and hope that keeps the deer and rodents off of them.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

H20 - The most common cedar that's not good to have near apples is red cedar, although it's actually a juniper. Cedar apple rust fungus would more accurately be named " juniper apple rust ". White cedar ( arborvitae ) is a true cedar, but will have NO effect on apple trees because it doesn't act as the alternate host for the C.A.R. fungus. Red cedar IS an alternate host. I wouldn't plant anything in the juniper family if I wanted apple trees too.

 

[Catscratch]

Eastern Red Cedar does carry cedar apple rust, but there are varieties that are resistant to it. Got to plan ahead if you are planting apples where red cedar live. If you already have apples but no Red Cedar I would steer clear of them.

 

[Bluecollaroutdoors]

^^^I've always tried to figure that out too Honker. Drive into Door County and the white cedars are thick, and there sure isn't a lack of deer there.

We have talked about this and wondered if there just wasn't a lot of deer up there 40 years ago when some of those trees got started. More than just looking at cedars look at the obvious browse lines 5 to 6 feet high where they nip every inch of what they can get to on those older mature trees.