I have a golden cedar about 6 feet high. This winter many sparrows sat on the top portion while waiting their turn at the feeder. I don’t know if they ate the leaves or if their little feet knocked them off, but many of the branches are stripped and brown. Will they come back? Should I cut them out and hope that new branches will fill in the spaces? It is approximately half of the front top of the tree. Or is it time to take it out? I would prefer not to, unless it can’t be saved.
I am assuming that your golden cedar is a form of Thuja occidentalis or Thuja
plicata. It is possible the sparrows caused the damage, but there could be other
factors involved. It is difficult to tell without seeing the plant. Below are
general comments on the liabilities of Thuja occidentalis as a landscape plant,
previously available from the Ohio State University Extension website.
- Winter evergreen foliage color is often an unattractive yellow-brown
- very prone to bagworms and their feeding damage
- very prone to branch separation under snow and ice loads
- widens at its base with age, or separates into several leaning but
divergent canopies with age (this applies to both upright and rounded cultivars) - does not recover from severe pruning (where the bare stems are exposed,
although side branches may slowly envelope the dead stems) - interior foliage noticeably sheds in Autumn
The defoliation you describe might also be the work of bagworms. If the tips of
the branches are dying back, that could be a result of winter injury, drought
stress, or a fungal disease. Since I cannot diagnose the problem remotely, I
think it would be best if you brought a sample of the affected plant to a Master
Gardener Clinic. If you are in King County, this link will lead you to their website.