Hello,

I'm hoping you can advise me regarding my trees. I have 4 what I believe are thuja orientalis planted in the front of my fence. A couple of years ago a landscaper temporarily removed two of them (on the left side of photo) to get access to my backyard. After he replanted them, they stopped growing as well as two trees to the right of them, especially the second tree from the left. It is visibly smaller than others, and the trees no longer look uniform. Question: would you recommend trimming the other 3 trees to make the tree row look more uniform? If so, do you have any tips for how to do it? Thank you very much!

No No No, don't prune your thuja because you said they have stopped growing. If you prune a tree that has stopped growing you will kill it. They must be in super health before pruning is done in the Spring. Thuja have massive heights between 20 to 40 feet tall. They also spread out and grow to be about 12 to 20 feet wide. So be patient.

The contractor planted the two plants too deep in the soil. Take a hand cultivator and loosen the soil around all the plants. Everytime it rains loosen the soil and keep it lose all summer and by next Spring they will be healthy enough to get a pruning.

Just leave them alone. Don't prune anything.
You have beautiful, healthy looking plants and you want to trim them to make them more uniform. That just screams " bad idea" in my mind!

Thank you both for your responses. I will leave them alone and work on loosening the soil around the trees.

oneeyeluke said:No No No, don't prune your thuja because you said they have stopped growing. If you prune a tree that has stopped growing you will kill it. They must be in super health before pruning is done in the Spring. Thuja have massive heights between 20 to 40 feet tall. They also spread out and grow to be about 12 to 20 feet wide. So be patient.

The contractor planted the two plants too deep in the soil. Take a hand cultivator and loosen the soil around all the plants. Everytime it rains loosen the soil and keep it lose all summer and by next Spring they will be healthy enough to get a pruning.

I DEFINITELY agree with Luke. You should wait until it's healthier and grows more.