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  • Heartof Spice

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    Are there major drawbacks to planting cedars in the fall?

    In: Technology

    Asked On : December 27, 2022

    I wanted to replace my fence with a cedar hedge in the spring. Following a miscommunication, the fence got torn down earlier. 

    Can I plant cedar in the fall? Is it merely not recommended, or is it a bad idea?

    I'm in Montreal. Zone is 5

    Degroot's cedar spire. 

    Current weather is above freezing for another month, except maybe some nights. There should not be much more than a few days where weather goes back over 20 c.

     

    Bad idea? Must I wait for spring?

  • Answers

    I would not plant these until spring. When I worked in a southern Zone 4 nursery, we wouldn't even sell arbor vitae after September 30 unless pushed to do so by the customer - and then we wouldn't warrantee them (which is what we would normally do). I currently live in zone 5, and still wouldn't plant them this late. In my experience, arbs don't root-in quickly enough when planted in the fall and then suffer lots of winter-kill in late winter, when there aren't enough roots to take up enough water to keep the plant unharmed/alive. When you plant these in spring, make sure that they get adequate water all season - the last nine of these that I planted (in May in zone 5), I watered until the ground froze. They suffered no winter-kill and had a great second year. You won't need to water nearly so much after that first year.

    Andre

    December 27, 2022