Green Giant Arborvitae – How To Space Them?

Q: I have a row of Green Giant arborvitae; two years old; four feet tall. Back then, I read they should be spaced five feet apart. This seemed close so I spaced them ten feet apart. Are my trees still too close? 

A: I think you are smart to space them the way you did. All I would recommend for maintenance in the future, as they grow larger, is to go out in spring when new growth is appearing and shear the limb tips between adjacent plants to make a slight gap. Don’t let the limbs grow together. If limb tips are allowed to become entangled, they eventually die and lower limbs will turn brown.