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I bought a house in Hudson, NY in November. The previous owners had screened it from the trailer park next-door with a row of Arborvitae. They're maybe twelve feet tall, and they'd already suffered some deer damage the previous year. This winter, 2014-15, the deer simply turned the whole row into a salad bar. I tried to fence, but they just laughed at my efforts.

The damage is pretty bad. Should I prune back to the growth line, if I can figure out where that is? Could I just let the trees keep growing and plant something more deer resistant at the base? Suggestions?

I'm 61 and haven't lived in the house since I was 18, so I'm really on new territory here. Any help will be greatly appreciated!

Niall C.
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Judy Nelson
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1 Answers1

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You can cut Arborvitae back to a growing green shoot. Any further, and the foliage will not grow back. Arborvitae should be pruned back in early spring, not late fall.

One thing that might discourage the deer-and I have seen this work if heavy deer country-is to lay wrinkled chicken wire flat on the ground around the area you are trying to protect. The deer hate putting their feet on the unsteady ground. You need to create a complete moat around your plants.