Got Deer? They look like they have been chewed on/trimmed.

or they are the de groots spire version of the plant ..

as to the thinness of the top foot or so ... thats how they grow to some extent ... first upwards... and then in following years.. getting chubbier ...

where are you.. big city name.. z5 is about half the US... narrow it down for us ...

could be deer.. but boy they are rather thoughtful on there pruning ... lol ...

8 to 10 inches in two years after transplant seems a lot for emerald greens.. but the spire mentioned above might do that ...

personally.. i dont believe that conifers.. which are trees.. ever need fert .. they are trees not children ... they dont need to be fed ....if your soil is out of whack.. maybe a soil amendment but these dont show anything like that.. imo.. spend your fert money somewhere else.. in the future ...

and i would never use nitro rich fert on anything but the lawn .. which actually needs a lot of nitro ...

a little of this or that.. rarely hurts anything.. but i doubt the trees need it ...

i dont really see any reason to pull them out and try again ... but if that is your wish.. go for it.. i dont live there.. but if you do replant.. you might want to plant a couple feet further away from the house ...

after two seasons.. trees should be free range.. they should not need constant watering .. i would ween them off it this year.. but for severe drought in the heat of summer.. and by fall i would reclaim the irrigation to use somewhere else.. unless of course... you decide to replant ...

here is how i look to future potential. based on the name you provided.. note they will be scratching on the house in the future .. and also note.. i used the latin name.. for best info

:

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffcm&q=Thuja+occidentalis+%27Smaragd%27&iax=images&ia=images

ken

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5: Thanks so much for your super informative response!

We're in the northeastern part of WA State - so, inland Pacific Northwest, right by the Idaho border. Lots of snow in the winter, dry and cool climate.

We do have deer! But this is right against the house, and I'd not once seen them come up to this area. As I'd mentioned, we have roses surrounding these guys -- they normally hit the roses before they ever get to these, and it's very rare that they come up close enough to get to the roses.

I looked up De Groots Spire -- and it really looks like that may be what we have! Makes lots of sense because they sure look a lot more like that, than they do the Emerald Green! I think we'll leave them alone for a year or two, let them do their thing, and stop fertilizing at this point... see how they fair on their own.

Thank you again for your advice, much appreciated!

Edited to add this photo I found of the trees when they were first planted. I didn't realize they always had that sparse/narrow top. Maybe this is just how they're meant to look... hmmm...

'We do have deer! But this is right against the house, and I'd not once seen them come up to this area.'

Deer love arborvitae and will usually browse them at night when you're sleeping.

Notice how full the bottoms of the plants are in your last photo and how the bottoms are smaller in your first photo.

Try some putting some stakes and netting to protect them this summer and you'll notice a big difference is how they look next fall.

DeGroot's Spire is not common in area nurseries. This is the land of Smaragd/Emerald Green arbs and they are grown and sold by every local nursery you encounter. And Costco, Walmart, grocery stores and any and every home improvement box store!! And some look better or are grown better than others.

It would surprise me if these are NOT the Emeralds, as they are as a common as dirt here and relatively inexpensive, especially for small ones. If there are deer in the area, they will find them! I have known them to come up onto a front porch to grazed potted arbs. Nowhere that is not fenced is safe from them.