RhyleeRebecca

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Hey all, I have a ~8 - 10 year old thuja occidentalis (eastern white cedar) and recognize it’s quite hardy. This is my first cold season with this tree (I’m in southern Maine, zone 5) and I’ve been watering as needed when the soils drys. My concern is that the cambium is quite dull and it’s not nearly as vivid as my other conifers in the cold frame. I’m not sure what it’s lacking / how I can improve the health of this tree, photos attached of its setup in the cold frame.
 

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Wires_Guy_wires

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Scratch tests on conifers in winter are a bit odd. In winter their cambium is retracted and will be half the size it is in summer. Because it's not moving a lot of resources. They're full of anti freeze molecules like glycerole and this can change the color a whole lot.
I cracked a juniper branch two weeks ago and I didn't see any green at all.

Your tree has little foliage and some of it is yellow. But that means you should re-evaluate in spring. Because there's not much you can do in winter other than provide some protection.
 

Frozentreehugger

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I agree with wires about the cambium. I’m a little confused when you say it’s 8 or 10 years and your first cold year . Tree looks older than that to me where did you get it .and where has it been if not in the cold . Yes the trees are very cold hardy your set up looks fine fir zone 5 . Bigest concern should be wind protection when roots frozen you should be fine . These trees especially wild collected ones . Get different degrees of downright ugly foliage colour in late fall and winter . Described as Olive drab or worse . And the foliage will droop somewhat . But they green up and come back in spring . My nicest brightest green in summer collected is the worse in winter . Your foliage is upright and fairly good colour . I’m confident it is healthy . Nice tree by the way very curious where you got it
 

RhyleeRebecca

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Portland, Maine
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I agree with wires about the cambium. I’m a little confused when you say it’s 8 or 10 years and your first cold year . Tree looks older than that to me where did you get it .and where has it been if not in the cold . Yes the trees are very cold hardy your set up looks fine fir zone 5 . Bigest concern should be wind protection when roots frozen you should be fine . These trees especially wild collected ones . Get different degrees of downright ugly foliage colour in late fall and winter . Described as Olive drab or worse . And the foliage will droop somewhat . But they green up and come back in spring . My nicest brightest green in summer collected is the worse in winter . Your foliage is upright and fairly good colour . I’m confident it is healthy . Nice tree by the way very curious where you got it
Wow thanks for all this incredible info, yes I got this tree at O’Donals, a local nursery in Southern Maine in early March. It was a full sized garden tree that fell in a storm and snapped off a chunk at the top, so they sold it wicked cheap. I counted rings and ended up with ~10 years ish, but really didn’t look all that hard. The foliage has browned a bit more since those photos but apparently that’s normal, just unsightly. It’s in a cold frame right now and is protected from wind, insulated by some soil as shown in photos. I’ll keep chugging along and regroup come springtime.
 

Frozentreehugger

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Wow thanks for all this incredible info, yes I got this tree at O’Donals, a local nursery in Southern Maine in early March. It was a full sized garden tree that fell in a storm and snapped off a chunk at the top, so they sold it wicked cheap. I counted rings and ended up with ~10 years ish, but really didn’t look all that hard. The foliage has browned a bit more since those photos but apparently that’s normal, just unsightly. It’s in a cold frame right now and is protected from wind, insulated by some soil as shown in photos. I’ll keep chugging along and regroup come springtime.
As wired said there is some brown . And only spring will tell . But I feel the upright foliage is positive . Normally it’s the heat of mid summer . There first year that gets them . These are water loving trees . Very tough but they can’t be dry . Recommend put some snow on top of the pot . In case it gets warm in winter and needs water .
 
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