Do Green Giant Arborvitae Establish a Central Leader Easily | Green Giant Cuttings Results

[@jesserogers2025]

thanks for the information. I used to do this years ago and just now getting back into it and you have really helped me get back to my roots so to speak. sorry to hear about your finger hope it heals quickly for you

[@MikeKincaid79]

Me too!

[@jesserogers2025]

@@MikeKincaid79, too bad I don't live closer I would love to help you out on the nursery while your finger healed

[@MikeKincaid79]

I appreciate it!

[@PlantObsessed]

Look at you back at it!!! The show must go on!

[@GardenObsessions]

Great to see you back at it!

[@truthofthematter9409]

Prayers for your surgery to go well and a speedy recovery Mike

[@ExploringAlabama]

I planted 25 green giants no rain in over a month that made the ground stay wet. All over 6 feet tall. 100 degrees every day also. So how much should I water them? I fill the bowl twice daily probably 4 gallons total. Still not sure. They look great so far. Doing this for 3 months now. Any advice?

[@MikeKincaid79]

As long as the soil is moist they'll be fine. They are even drought tolerant so if you go for awhile without watering they should be ok as well but just won't grow as fast.

[@ExploringAlabama]

@@MikeKincaid79 thanks for the response

[@SchleichHorseLover200]

Deer got into my 60+ baby emerald green arborvitae's, now they are all distorted and misshapen. Will they bounce back? What should I do? Please answer.

[@MikeKincaid79]

Unfortunately, deer love Emerald green's. They will take a few years to fill in and may not look good again until they are much larger and have grown outside of their current size. If you have deer in your area and they already chewed your plants once, they'll do it again. The best advice I can give is to replace them with something deer resistant. There are people all around me that planted Emeral green's and they are 10 to 12 feet tall now but the deer continue to eat at them every year so they look terrible. Just trying to save you the heartache.

[@SchleichHorseLover200]

@@MikeKincaid79 Thanks for your response. We have a fence but it was accidentally left open one day. Hasn't happened since. So I guess I'll just wait it out and hopefully they will regrow to look normal. They look awful right now and I can't bear to look at them. It is taking everything in me to not pull them all out!

[@MikeKincaid79]

Hopefully those deer don't get in again. There are deer sprays that you can use as well and some people cut up bars of irish spring soap and place pieces around the shrubs. The soap deter the deer. By the way, I clicked on you name since it was unusual and my little girls love playing with their Schleich and Breyer horses. I was very impressed with your channel! My oldest daughter (10 years old) fell in love with it and wants to watch every episode! Great job!!!

[@SchleichHorseLover200]

@@MikeKincaid79 That's so cool. That is my daughter's channel. She's the youtuber. Girls and their horses!!!

[@MikeKincaid79]

Well she's doing a great job and touching the hearts of little girls all over the world I'm sure.

[@user-te7gu2ff7p]

Thank you for pushing through & making another great video! My Arbs & I are frenemies! I have been trying to root cuttings since April, but they just cannot get established in this humidity. The humidity here is intense & we had zero spring. All my other plants have rooted great, but not these guys. Very frustrating but I will not give up until I get at least 1 rooted. It will not get cold here until December so at least I have several months left to give it a whirl.

[@MikeKincaid79]

try starting them earlier, like in February, and place on bottom heat.

[@GeetaandRajeev]

Nice Mike.

[@Janewomanpower]

Great to see you out spiffier than ever. Not sure that is a wotd but bouncy, jovial, chiper!. Love and kindness to you and your family from Canada. Another Great video!

[@MikeKincaid79]

Thanks Jane.

[@emadahmed9615]

I'm glad you started your videos ☺

[@MikeKincaid79]

The show must go on.

[@epizzle9232]

Deer love to eat these in the winter! They leave the bottom 6 ft bare!! I wrote this comment before you talked about the deer! Lol the deer in my area have nothing to eat around Jan/feb and sometimes earlier if there is a lot of snow, so they go around and eat all of them! I live in upstate ny!

[@MikeKincaid79]

Yeah, there's something about the deer on the east coast. I think they have iron guts cause I keep hearing this same story from you guys over there.

[@jmayes36]

Great the old Mike is back!!

[@markwalker9107]

Cool video 👍

[@MikeKincaid79]

Thanks Mark

[@judithjohnson5371]

I had no idea an evergreen would grow so well. T.Y. for showing us what possible.

[@MikeKincaid79]

You're welcome, Judith.

[@afriendofB]

Great info. Glad you got back on the horse. Best of luck with the surgery. Now all you need is to master left handed shaving... ; - )

[@MikeKincaid79]

Did it last night and it wasn't easy, lol

[@greenthumbelina7331]

Good luck with your surgery tomorrow Mike. May God guide your surgeons hands.

[@MikeKincaid79]

Thanks Margie. Looking forward to being on the other side of this and healing up.

[@camicri4263]

Cool, even plants establish a leader! God be with you tomorrow in surgery!🙏🙏🙏💞🤗🤗🤗

[@MikeKincaid79]

Thanks Camelia!

[@camicri4263]

Praying for you buddy 🙏💙 let us know when you come through. Love and hugs your way to the entire family ❤️

[@saltlifess6226]

Hey Mike, your getting good with that left hand!

[@MikeKincaid79]

Lol, I better be, they're about to tear apart the right one.

[@arciafrench993]

That’s great info. Mine are dieing off this yr here in NH.

[@MikeKincaid79]

Curious. What do you think is killing them? How old are they?

[@RedRabbitOfficial]

Which fertilizer do use on green gaints?

[@MikeKincaid79]

Same fertilizer I use on the rhododendrons: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fGalg42te6qYa5I

[@jayrenolds1952]

It would be awesome to see a time-laps of the shifting central leaders.

[@MikeKincaid79]

I don't have a time lapse camera but maybe it would be enough to take a picture every day through the summer and put them all together.

[@CarAholic86]

Do you need a green house to propagate them and if so how long do they need to stay in a green house?

[@MikeKincaid79]

No, you don't need a greenhouse or any expensive equipment. You can do this on your back porch.

[@CarAholic86]

@@MikeKincaid79 Thanks for the reply. So the cold weather wont bother the cutting while trying to root them?

[@SueHawkins6816]

Wow! I had no idea Arborvitae would root so easily. We have a hedge of Arborvitae in front of our house. It had grown to be about ten feet tall. Hubby pruned the shrubs back to about five feet tall. They have filled in beautifully with the feathery growth like your baby shrubs. I was worried they would die after being pruned in half, but no. These shrubs are tough as nails.

[@MikeKincaid79]

They sure are!

[@wendycash54]

Good to see you moving on..... Question. What do you do with all the plants you propagate? Like all these Arbs. Do you sell them?

[@MikeKincaid79]

I sell a lot of them but these are getting planted on the borders of my property.

[@DOGFOODACTUAL8541]

Glad to see you're doing well. If you don't mind, I never caught it in your past videos but I'm sure you've mentioned it. What month is best for starting to plant my cuttings? Spring, Fall, or does it not matter? I'm in central Michigan and I've been wanting to do this, but keep putting it off because of this question. Thanks Mike. Good luck with the surgery.

[@MikeKincaid79]

Late winter/early spring

[@michellerichards9428]

Wow, you are proof, that you can’t keep a good man down! Glad to see you not missing a beat but, would like an update on your pinky.

[@MikeKincaid79]

Thanks, surgery tomorrow and I'll update about it all afterward.

[@shazzabelle123]

Mike Kincaid best of luck Mike!

[@MarkSun1962]

All I see is lots of potential bonsai starter material 😍

[@MikeKincaid79]

These might grow pretty fast for bonsai but maybe that's a good thing.

[@Dendrotera1]

Hi. When is the best time to take the cuttings? ☺️

[@MikeKincaid79]

Late spring/early winter

[@midsouthhomestead9180]

Praying for a successful surgery with full use of your pinky. Rhonda

[@Braedenfish]

Well wishes to your Pinkie from Charles County Southern MD where deer think landscape installations are buffets! We try to grow stuff they dislike but Hydrangea came with house...so tried lots to save it. Deer dont like strong odors cause they interfere with their ability to sense danger.....plus sounds like your deer are not motivated to devour and r merely tasting n turning down your baby trees otherwise they'd yank em up trying to strip 'em!.... Garlic odor can def discourage this type of sampling activity. I hear Bobex works longer but I am cheap.......soooo am experimenting with propagating(YES!Mike sez in his brain) garlic to hang on plants maybe? ..For now I use jarred garlic to mix into mulch and make a thin juice ( with a lil egg in it that I toss ( like a priest with holy water?) On Hibiscus and spray ON Hydrangea and trees and around Impatiens. It works EXTREMELY well though I have grown obsessed and now.....like one terrified of Vampires ....I happily spray or spread something garlicky everytime I walk the dog. Sometimes I see the deer watching me spray from the treeline so I know they are still around....but so are my Impatiens Hydrangeas and Hibiscus!! TSMFS as usual!! Love your vids!!!

[@MikeKincaid79]

Thanks for the garlic tip and the fun comment!

[@suerounds6738]

Will this work with Leyland Cypress?

[@MikeKincaid79]

yes

[@nickf9024]

I have some freshly potted cuttings outside in the shade. If I had a green house, can you have them in full sun in the green house right away? Does a green house give a layer of filtering / protection? I have found very young small green giants do get sun burn outside

[@matthewkizziahcuzia...gott9632]

If you're not doing anything. And in the Covington area I'd be happy to have you help take cuttings from a couple of plants at my work. My boss says I can make cuttings from whatever I want.

[@MikeKincaid79]

Thanks for the offer but I won't be doing too much of anything for awhile after tomorrow.

[@matthewkizziahcuzia...gott9632]

@@MikeKincaid79 understandable. Take it easy. Get better soon. And thanks for keeping us updated.

[@andrewhunter5254]

Love the channel but I hate Lapland cypress they grow to fast and get to big. PS.ill be summer pruning my espaliered pairs this weekend and love a video.

[@tjsluxmeachristus1936]

Appologis Mike I thought you were a full time nurse, didn't realise you had an established nursery..oops! 😁 🌞💓🌍🌎🌏💓🌞 great intro music 😊

[@dewbottle]

Hope the opp went well and your now beginning to feel "with it " ;)

[@MikeKincaid79]

Woke up in a much better place today, thanks.

[@chiapas551]

MIKE... WHEN IS RIGHT TIME TO DO THE CUTTING OF THIS GREEN GIANT...

[@MikeKincaid79]

Late winter/early spring

[@busterbuster8193]

Which arborvitae are known to grow single leaders instead of multiple leaders? Thank you ...

[@MikeKincaid79]

Green giants grow single leaders.

[@lightsobrite]

What did the surgeon sa?, did you have surgery yet?

[@MikeKincaid79]

Surgery is tomorrow afternoon. I'm pretty nervous. They're going to need a horse tranquilizer to put me out, lol.

[@user-22-]

Mike Kincaid Don’t worry Mike, you’ll be fine & we will all be thinking of you! 🌳🌸🌿

[@lightsobrite]

@@MikeKincaid79 ok....it'll all be good....believe!🙏🙏🙏

[@LearningCurveAcres]

Hi Mike. Have you propagated maple trees before? How easy is it? We have 4 acres and a goal to plant 100 trees in the next 5 years. Take care - Marcie ☺ 🌱

[@MikeKincaid79]

I've propagated japanese maple by cuttings but found they don't grow as well on their own roots. All the maples I grow now are from seed or grafted onto a good rootstock.

[@carminepetracca7518]

very interesting video mike. can you speak a little faster? haha. good to see you taking the reins again. cp.

[@MikeKincaid79]

I'll try, haha!

[@Laurieb2851]

We had neighbors who put about 12 of these things along our aluminum fence. There weren't making any allowances for them to grow. So! We are eventually going to end up with them growing right through our fence. The only reason they haven't yet is because rabbits have eaten the bottom branches about 2 feet up the plants. I am really hoping the new neighbors take them out because they really are ugly. They flooded their front yard with a bunch of small fruit trees, and so now the neighborhood can't see traffic past their little trees and you can no longer even see what their house looks like. I don't know how they sold the house to a realtor because they destroyed the curb appeal of the house. Well, I'm hoping at least the Green Giant Arborvitae will be taken out. Then again, I don't like the looks of our aluminum fence either, lol! It had it's place when the kids were little. I can almost see them bending our fence all up as they grow. Maybe they won't. When they planted them, they planted them only one foot away from our fence, and you know how big these get. We'll end up with all of them in our yard, lol! Yours turned out great! I've been working on getting some hydrangas going. I am getting mine by taking portions off of a couple I started a long time ago. The portions I start I cut off all but about 10 inches of what I take and they look in shock a little at first, but recover real quick, like within an hour. I do put Miracle Grow on them to help with the shock and get the growth going. I am also going to start some cuttings. I want at least 6-8 of them in the yard, and they will grow fast. The original hydranga was just a small portion of my neighbor's beautiful hydrangea. I only used about half ot it and planted the rest out of the way. Those are full hydrangeas now, and so I am going to take from those for all my hydrangeas I want in the yard. Definitely good luck with your surgery. You'll be fine. Hope you don't feel a thing during surgery. Once the brain knows there's pain, it takes a while for the brain to let it go. I have been able to convince my brain there isn't any pain so i could fall asleep. It was the night before I had major surgery, and I had already had a lot of pain. I shouldn't have been able to fool my brain into thinking there was no pain, but I did. It is possible.

[@andrewhunter5254]

That's layland cypress.

[@dianepittsbritt6945]

When is your surgery? We got to pray when it happens........👏🙏🙏🙏

[@MikeKincaid79]

today

[@chinafloyd3831]

🏆🏆🏆🏆

[@smf1104]

I tried to root these and I was unsuccessful 😕

[@MikeKincaid79]

Try again

[@smf1104]

@@MikeKincaid79 is it too late?

[@MikeKincaid79]

Probably for this year but I've never tried this late so maybe we can learn something.

[@smf1104]

@@MikeKincaid79 I think I was successful rooting hibiscus tho!!! If I could, I would post a pic so you can see if it is successful lol there's lots of new growth but I'm afraid to pull it out to see if there are any roots!!!

[@Braedenfish]

@@smf1104 we have nothing to fear but fear itself? OR...dont be afraid to prop some back ups....can always give em away if they all root....but one lonely plant upon which we pin all our hopes dreams and plantspirations?....yup... that's scary .......despite what FDR thought!!! Best of Luck!

[@dymondwillow2]

Can these be rooted indoors? No green house; in northern Alberta so they will not last in a container outside. Can different varieties be rooted together? Godspeed in your healing.

[@MikeKincaid79]

Yes to all questions!

[@CCCC-tq8yo]

Do a pinky video

[@zaviahopethomas-woundedsou9848]

Trying to force a central leader on those is like trying to force your artist child into being a lawyer... it will not work well.

[@MikeKincaid79]

lol