Making a Cedar Farm

[mrselfreliance]

So in the family, we have a hundred acres of land.  We do have some nice Cedar spread out through it, but not an overwhelming amount.  

This is something I'd like to plan for the future.  Makes great building material here on the east coast for decks and such.

Any tips or advice or strategies on how I could help them populate/ grow/ thrive?  

[Don P]

Which one? if eastern redcedar just string wire wherever you want a row, the birds will do the rest.

[doc henderson]

just remove the wire before the ERC grows around it.  lol

[mrselfreliance]

I'm in norther New Brunswick.  

I think it's Eastern White Cedar?

[doc henderson]

that makes sense.  I guess ERC is really a juniper as well.

[Don P]

The fun of common names  
Northern White Cedar is a thuja, thuja occidentalis.

It looks like propagation is often done by taking cuttings. The green thumb here said she hasn't tried them so just going from a search;
When dormant in fall take cuttings of this years growth ~6" (the soft, non woody, pliable end) strip the lower half, keep damp in wet paper towels, dip in rootone and set in a potting soil mix.

Hopefully someone who has done it will chime in.
Good luck, I'd like to hear how it does.

[Ron Scott]

In your location, probably Northern White Cedar. Very hard to regenerate if you have a local deer herd. 
 

[saskatchewanman]

How big is the cedar? Are seedlings filling in the gaps. 

I have no real experience with cedar except for yard trees and the deer do love them. Will deer affect the growth and development of the trees? If the site is wet you could add tamarack to the gaps if cedar seedlings are not likely to colonize soon.

[saskatchewanman]

You likely have already seen it but just in case the Centre for Northern Forest Ecosystem Research has a publication "Silvicultural Practices for Eastern White Cedar in Boreal Ontario, Technical Report 005." It has a lot of info. 

[SwampDonkey]

He wouldn't have much for deer in the north of New Brunswick. You can get seedlings, but they are more expensive than spruce. On my land, it just grows like weeds, on areas that were cedar before it was cut. Sometimes they can be overlooked, you might be seeing these.



after awhile this...the first true leaves



You need to get a good seed bed and control the weeds. Cedar is a prolific seeder but low germination.

Here is an area on my land that was mature ceder and now coming back to cedar.



A Napadogan cedar, 36" diameter

[mrselfreliance]

Thanks.  I'll have a look this weekend.