Thuja, alive, but foliage question

Stormwater

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So excited, thuja I bought and hacked back hard is springing back. Lots of growth tips and suckers (new branches?). On the trunk.

Something I realized and could use some help on. When I pulled the branches down, I basically put the best photosynthesising facing down. As to be expected the frond tips are growing up (curl over) is there an approach to avoid this ?

Other newbies, take this into account when cutting back and wiring a nursery bought thuja. In my limited observation, removing a lot of foliage and pulling down the branches can be added stress.
 

Stormwater

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Thanks, an tips on doing this? Do you need to wire and twist ever little branch to do this? I cannot grasp how to twist the branch without breaking the cambium all the way around.
 

Cadillactaste

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A photo of your tree would be great so we can grasp what you are saying. I have one branch wired down in the back of this thuja planting...and I don't grasp your issue at all. So a picture is worth a thousand words. Wondering if it's how you initially wired it.
image.jpg
 

M. Frary

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Thanks, an tips on doing this? Do you need to wire and twist ever little branch to do this? I cannot grasp how to twist the branch without breaking the cambium all the way around.
You can avoid slipping the bark by wiring later in the year. Late summer/Early fall.
 

Stormwater

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so here is the tree back in April, I had cut about a 1.5 feet off when I got it. 15$ in the rescue section: Grown in hard clay.
D040F98B-B885-40BF-B871-55E74F6FEDE3.jpeg
When crazy mid April, guy wired the hell out of it (believe it or not, I got a plan). No $ for thick wire now. I left a lot of greenery, didn’t want to push it to hard.
B4A49640-310A-4EEA-8D95-A42810A6AA27.jpeg
After loosing a few fronds to browning, it perked up and started pushing lots of shoots from the trunk , and the old fronds started growing. They are curling over.9884E169-8E68-41B5-B81F-41A8A9B03D83.jpeg

My guess is that it’s trying to maximize photosynthesis, so its growing to get “the right side up”. You suggested twisting the branch to orient the frond like a Hinoki. I don’t get how to do that without breaking the branch.

Note: practicing carving as I reduce it, thus the strange deadwood. Rocks had been removed from the “pot” shortly after the photo.
 

M. Frary

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I think it was @mattspiniken who said you can't turn thuja foliage upside down...

It seems it shouldn't need reorientation as discussed...

?

Sorce
When you just pull it down you're reorienting it. It will need turned to get it facing in the directionijt originally was.
 

Stormwater

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Sorce is right, you want to keep the foliage in its natural orientation.


Thanks. One of my favorite thuja is this (Thuja link). Do you think this is a different variety of thuja or the owner does lots of maintainence to keep the fronds short and each orientated the correct way? My tree had no tag but the owner said it was a green arborvitae .
 

Leo in N E Illinois

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Your tree is one of the cultivars selected for tall hedges. It orientates it's fronds vertically, which as a hedge blocks the view of the neighbors. The wild type vary from plant to plant. Some have vertical fronds, some horizontal, most have a mix of both. The individuals who have natural horizontal fronds are particularly good for bonsai. Clones with vertical or a mix you can wire into a horizontal orientation, be aware, one side will be the upper surface. The texture is different. Oriented upper side up, and it won't twist around when it grows. It may try to return to vertical, but it won't twist.
 

MACH5

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Thanks. One of my favorite thuja is this (Thuja link). Do you think this is a different variety of thuja or the owner does lots of maintainence to keep the fronds short and each orientated the correct way? My tree had no tag but the owner said it was a green arborvitae .


Stormwater, the thuja you are referring to has naturally small fronds. It was collected in Vermont. It is much more compact that the regular thuja although in your case, the foliage looks more like that of a juniper. Most thuja have much flatter looking foliage.

While it is true that you should keep the fronds facing the right way, in your case I suspect the foliage is curling up simply because it wants to grow up rather than sideways.
 
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