Arborvitae/Fence Question??

 Hi All,


Here is a question which I hope is simple for someone to answer? When
planting arborvitaes near a wooden stockade fence, how far back from the
fence should you plant the arborvitaes if you want to leave room for
trimming the arborvitaes, maintaining the fence, raking leaves behind
the arborvitaes, etc, etc.



On the property line with our neighbors, we have a 6 foot high stockade
fence running all the way down the property line, In the Spring, we
would like to plant some arborvitaes all the way down the fence line,
for some added privacy.



I know that you don't want to plant the arborvitaes right up against the
fence, because what if you need to paint the fence, fix the fence, trim
the arborvitaes, etc, etc, so what is a good distance to plant them from
the fence?? 1 or 2 feet away?? 3 or 4 feet away??



Thanks!

 We are probably going to plant either the "Emerald Green" or "Dark
Green" variety of arborvitaes. The "Emeralds" say to plant 3-4 feet
apart, and the "Dark Greens" say to plant 5-6 feet apart. So is this how
far back they should be planted back from the fence??

 MICHELLE H. wrote:

  where are you located?  do you have
deer around and deep enough snowfall in
the winter to make those trees edible
to deer?  they'll likely become a target
and it's a lot of trouble to keep
deer away once they know a food source
and they are hungry.

  the first several years we had them
they didn't get touched and then we
had one hard winter.  from then on
it's been a royal PITA.

  they are beautiful trees and have
grown from 1-2ft across x 3-4ft high
trees into 10-12ft across x 12ft high
in about 12 years.  some of them look
quite funny because of the trim the
deer made on the bottom.  those we've
fenced are recovering slowly.  several
we haven't fenced have been eaten so
many times they are a bare stem with
a wisp of green on top.  we leave them
because Ma likes to grow morning glories
up them (which the deer also like in
the middle of winter).

  i have no idea if the growth rate
we've seen would be the same for you
because the growing conditions could
be quite different.

  good luck!  :)


  songbird

 MICHELLE H. wrote:


What type of fence... conifers don't do well planted near a stockade
type fence or any light limiting structure.... arborvitae can be
planted as a fence but they won't do well planted up against a fence,
or even up against each other.  If there is already a fence why do you
need shrubbery that acts as a fence?

 The type of fence is a 6 foot high wooden spruce stockade fence. The
reason why we want to plant the Arborvitaes all the way down, is because
we need a screening that is MORE than 6 feet tall. We want something
that is about 9 feet tall or more to give us privacy from VERY nosy
nextdoor neighbors.