Gardening and Horticulture - Arborvitae Help!

I received these 12 dark green or American dark green arborvitae for free. They are 3 years old and about 6 ft tall. The problem I have is they don’t seem to be getting very thick or full. The nasty looking seeds add to the problem by weighing down the limbs making it look ugly. My question is, what can I do to create a lush green arborvitae? Should I painstakingly remove all the seeds, fertilize more, or prune often? Or is this just the way this particular arborvitae looks? Seeing that they were given to me I won’t feel particularly guilty getting rid of them and trying something new. Any assistance would be most appreciated.

Hi Pstey,

It sounds like you have lots of cones on your trees. Sometimes stressed trees will produce alot of seeds so they can reproduce before they die. It's called a 'stress crop'. Some trees produce an abundance of seeds every few years. It's called a 'mast cycle'. Oaks are famous for having mast cycles where they produce an abundance of acorns. You can remove them if you like.

You say you want them to be thicker or fuller so I'm not sure if you mean you want them to grow wider or if the foilage is sparse. Can you post some pictures? Include the base of the trees so I can see if they were planted too deep.

Newt