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ShrubsSoil, Compost & MulchTrees
paul444444

Adding compost to arborvitae with dropped neddles as natural mulch

6 years ago

Hi
My arborvitae, that function as a screen, have been looking thin for the past few years and I'm on a mission to save them. They are mature and have been great until a dry summer and couple of years ago when they produced lots of seeds. I have had some great advice from here and have currently sheared them to encourage bushing out and fertlised with a Soluble 30-10-10, which I will repeat in a month. I'm watering weekly for an hour with a drip/sprinkler hose. I was told to leave the dropped needles as a natural mulch but someone also mentioned adding compost each year. I'm not sure if I need to do this as I'm adding a liquid fertilizer and if I do do I have remove the dropped needles first and then put them back. Also maybe I'm changing too much at once which may be bad. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

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