What was your rainfall like this summer? Do you water and if so when and how? Are they mulched? What is your soil like?

Is the road salted and how fast is the traffic? Arborvitaes are sensitive to salt spray.

Do you or the neighbors have dogs that might have sprayed the shrubs with urine?

It rained a decent amount. And it flash flooded a couple times. That front cedar could be getting salted because the snowmelt from the road may sink into it. People walk their dogs down that road as well which could definately be happening but i heard dog urine would show up as a splotch and not all over the plant. Maybe I should try to move it to an area in the back that is open right now.

As for the back one, its in a spot where cars used to back over. I dug a hole and replaced the soil with nice top soil but there could still have been some salt in the dirt.

As for the uglier green colored ones, I don't have any of the trees mulched but it rarely gets over 86F (30c) here in the summer. I was considering mulching them though because of how much sun they get. Its pretty much 100% of possible sun. They are growing good though...its almost as if they are sun bleached. The ones in the shade are beautiful colored in comparison.

And we had a massive infestation of caterpillars this year. I was thinking it could have been cedar miner but you figure they would have went after all the cedars....

i wish i could see the pix without hitting a link

"It's in a spot where cars used to back over. I dug a hole and replaced the soil with nice top soil but there could still have been some salt in the dirt."

Not the salt, but the difference in texture and compaction from the hole with replaced soil to the compacted soil that previously existed might be causing the issues. You don't want the roots to stay in the hole, circling, and this sometimes happens when the original soil is compacted and not loosened. Additionally, there can be issues with water movement from the new soil to the old, so that the soil is either a bathtub (more probable here since the original soil was compacted) or overly dry. In spring, I would at least take a pry bar or deep spading fork and loosen the soil where the vehicles used to drive so the roots are more likely to be able to grow into it. It is now recommended that either no replacement of soil happen when planting or that you amend an entire large area, not just the planting hole. Mulching the surface may help over time as it decomposes and invertebrates move the organic matter into the soil.

Arborvitae seems to be more sensitive to salt when young though it is moderately tolerant when mature, so I was wondering about airborne spray from the road for the one in your front yard. I wouldn't expect salt to stay long in the soil in areas with a good amount of precipitation since it's so soluble.

Thanks for the answers. I know its not too compact because water drains nicely when I fill it up but the roots may be circling like you said. It was pretty hard. Not hard enough to hold water but still very hard.

In regards to the second question.....is there any reason that cedars in
the shade would have a more lush green color than the ones in full
sun? Are my cedars bleached in the full sun? Would mulching them
help? They are growing great but their color is dull.

still wish you would take the time to learn how to load pix directly into a post ...

in my z5 MI ... many conifers look dull in winter ... its called dormancy and frozen soil ...

and most conifers prefer full sun ... sun is not what dulls an otherwise established tree/conifer ... in winter

mulching never hurts keeping the roots in dormancy where there not be proper snow cover ... but it has nothing to do with leaves/needles at height ...

dark soil.. in winter sun.. can go in and out of thaw.. and that may not be great.. on young...small or tender plants ....

ken

I was referring to its color in the summer. The shade cedars are a much nicer color than the full sun ones. I'm guessing maybe a little fertilizer and mulching to prevent them from drying out will go a long way.

And our snow cover this year has been very weak with lots of days above freezing. You're right about that being hard on them.

not fertilizer

Why not?

Nate, If the problem doesnt spread any further and you think you may be loosing 2 out of 65, your not doing bad. You probably didnt plant them alone. From the original grower to your property and everywhere in between they've had a lot of opportunity to be mishandled. Id stop fertilizing them if you are and give them more of a chance to get themselves sorted out this spring. After that if they still didnt suit me id yank them and pop in a couple more.

As far as shade verses full sun. If they are all B+B the're not even what i would call well established yet and maybe for now the shaded ones have less stressors on them initially.

Al

I haven't given them any fertilizer yet. I'm glad you mentioned the not fully established though, that makes sense. They have had one and a half summers so far.

I think I may be just jumping the gun on them because my neighbor is trying to psyche me out. They told me before I planted them, that they couldn't keep theirs alive so I shouldn't plant them and have made a couple remarks about their health. But like you said, 63 of 65 are looking great so I shouldn't complain. I just have to tune out the peanut gallery.

And soooo as spring arrives, the cedars with browned leaves all of the sudden are starting to fill the brownish color in with green growth. I thought all the brown stuff was toast.....

You might have had some winter burn on parts of those trees, z4 can be brutal with sub zero and winds to boot. Now new growth is covering it some. Good deal if that's all it was.

Oddly they started looking bad in fall, their leaves started losing color in october....I think the early abnormal cold temps in october may have done it. They were growing actively and maybe got burnt because of it. These cedars are known to be hardy to zone 2 and they are wind burn resistant.

Another reason not to fertilize young plantings, especially late in the season. It can cause new growth that doesn't have time to harden off for the cold weather. Hence, winter damage on that growth.