Another picture of the hedge.

Trim out the dead needles with a hand pruning shears, being careful not to remove any live parts. That should take about 10-15 minutes if you take your time. Then brush the plant a few times with your hands to knock out any loose dead needles, and let the new growth fill in the holes.

thanks for the reply. what would have caused this damage in the first place?

Sometimes I wonder if dead spots appear in the foliage because of flaws in the root system from a pot-bound container plant, that eventually catches up with the plant. Could it be herbicide drift? Do you have a dog, cat or other animal that pees on the plant?

I planted 8 large Arborvitae 'Emerald Green' (same as Smaragd) about 5 years ago, and 2 died for no apparent reason, replaced those and 1 died again, so I replaced that one again. I have no idea why they died, but the remaining are now big and thriving and don't have any dead spots. I just give them some compost and mulch and kept them well watered for at least 2 years after planting.

I can see why you would like to block off that view. Have you consider growing annual vines like morning glories up your chain link fence? By late summer they'll have that fence covered.

I probably should have planted morning glory instead of the cedar hedge. These guys grow too slow for what i wanted to acheive :( the neighbour is a junk yard hoarder!

that is where the rockets scientist grabbed it to pull it off the truck.. or load it on the truck..e tc ...

snip out the brown pieces ..... and be done with it ...

i thought that was a marina behind you ... yes.. the growth rate on these will take a while to cover that up ...

ken

That's exactly what mine are doing too, just how the OP pictures look.

Today i started to snip away at the dry leaves. Upon closer inspection, 50% of the leaves are dry/brittle and light brown. The other 50% are actually black and not so dry. It's like someone spilled dirty motor oil on them but they are dry to the touch. What can it be?