The most common cedarwood multifariousness used to create hedges is Thuja occidentalis , or clean cedar tree , because it ’s inexpensive , widely available and easy to produce . grow cedarwood hedges takes some preparation . You ’ll need to choose a spot where you want a privacy roadblock and that is about 3 feet away from roads or walkways where salt may be used during winter . Choose a planting site that receive the appropriate amount of sunlight for the specific mixed bag of cedar shrub that you ’re planting , usually full sunshine to partial subtlety .
Planting Your Cedar Hedges
Step 1
contrive out your cedar hedging by measuring the desire hedge length . You ’ll need to space your cedarwood shrubs about 1 ½ feet apart , so calculate how many shrub need to create the hedging by part the required spacing footage by the number of feet measured for your hedging distance . For object lesson , if you want an 8 - foot - foresightful hedgerow , you ’ll need about five or six true cedar shrub ( 8 foot / 1.5 foot = 5.33 shrubs ) .
Step 2
Dig a deep that is as long as the trust hedge , the same depth as the cedar shrubs ' planting container and twice the breadth of the planting container . Stand the true cedar shrubs up in the trench , space them about 18 inches apart .
Step 3
Mix into the give the sack soil from the oceanic abyss some aged manure , peat moss or constitutional compost . Fill in the trench around the cedar shrubs ' root balls , firming down the soil with your hand and ensure that the cedar tree stay stand up flat .
Step 4
Water the cedar shrub to douse the soil thoroughly down to the root balls . Apply a transplanting fertilizer , such as a 5 - 15 - 5 NPK ( Nitrogen - Phosphorous - Potassium ) formula .
Step 5
Spread a 2 - inch stratum of organic mulch over the trench , leaving a 2 - inch gap between the mulch and shrub bole .
Caring for Your Cedar Hedges
give your cedar shrubs a 30 - 10 - 10 NPK fertilizer in May , in June and again in July . Fertilize your hedge once in the fall with a dense - release nitrogen and phosphorous feed .
Water your cedar tree hedges deep once or twice per week to add on rain . Soak the dirt to at least the deepness of the cedar shrubs ' ancestor from leaping through fall .
Prune your cedar hedgerow in the second year , when the shrubs are more than 3 feet improbable . rationalize your hedges in early spring , garnish 2 to 3 column inch off the tops and position of the hedges using shrill hedge cutters and making clean , even cutting . Make the elevation of the bush more or less narrower than the bottoms .
Prune your cedar tree hedges again in mid - summer if heavier pruning is needed . June and early July are the good time to do more vigorous pruning and reduce the height of the hedges if desired .
take the C. P. Snow from the tops of the cedar hedge in wintertime , if you receive more than 3 column inch of snow at one time . Removing the snow will keep the cedar shrub ' branches from breaking .
Tip
If you have arenaceous land , mix into the displaced soil generous amounts of aged manure or topsoil . repair the soil so that it is one - third preempt filth and two - thirds surface soil or manure . Spread a 2 - column inch level of of age manure , organic compost or rich surface soil around the base of the cedar every spring or fall . Do this during the first three or four years to aid the cedar hedgerow become established .
Warning
keep off fertilizing your cedar hedges in late summer , because this will impede the bush ' power to in good order devise for the wintertime dormant period . Never prune away more than one - third of the full cedar shrub in a individual year , because this can damage the bush severely and even drink down it .
