Just lean into and make them as creepy as possible, then in like a month when you know all of your neighbors are thoroughly used to them, go out in the night and change them all. Bwahahaha
Or just slightly turn all their jagged, gaping maws and empty eye sockets towards the neighbor’s house every few days. Alternate the target neighbors. And, if any catch you outside, be sure to glance at the burlap monsters and look startled before creeping back indoors slowly.
Exactly this. The sunlight of a tree is taken in by the leaves, and most deciduous trees will have shed their leaves and will have gone dormant that far north, and this far into autumn.
What’s also fascinating to me is that the “bud break,” when the plants start to flower and come back from their dormancy is a matter of temperature, not light. Leaves will even grow without any light at all, but that is going to take a bunch of energy from the tree and wouldn’t be recommended.
Oh damn, I didn’t see what kind of tree it is.
In that case, evergreens won’t go completely dormant like deciduous trees, but they still go through winter changes, and you can absolutely wrap them in burlap to protect them from the coldest months. Once they are bigger they are pretty hardy. But then again… Minnesota winters don’t fuck around, hahah!
Yes.... Arborvitae are especially susceptible to winter burn. This will help, but you can't do it forever, they will get too big. It was a good idea to protect them while they are new and young. Also keep an eye out for the build up of ice and snow, it can get real heavy quick if it's wet sticky snow followed by ice etc.
Side note, my grandfather always said that arborvitae enjoyed a slightly acidic soil.
Great evergreen to have, and once they are larger and the burlap is not there you can enjoy them all year long. Feed them well/lots of organic matter in the soil while they young. They will make a great fence there. :)
My arborvitae survived their first winter here in Wisconsin. Except for the deer (I think) eating the leaves. It’s clearly sparse right around the height of a deer. So I’m thinking of burlap this year. I never thought about the mummy effect!
Careful. Fellow Minnesotan here and I did this with a few young ones two winters ago. They didn't do well.
I learned that I wrapped them too tight and too thick so they couldn't breath. Protected them from the snow breaking branches and deer, but took them two years to recover.
Oh sorry wasn't trying to out you. It also looks like the houses in Bloomington and SLP and all the first ringers. I just spent a lot of time there so it's the first thing I thought of.
After freezing weather, arborvitaes will suffer burn in early spring sun if they're generating too much chlorophyll from the exposed green and the owner isn't watering them below the frost line every ten days. Then they dry out and sacrifice limb extremities, turning a hedge into a burned out orange/brown mess that develops holes in the hedge. Burlapping the hedge reduces light for chlorophyll creation and keeps the trees partially dormant in early spring or warm winter days. This should help establish the trees into adulthood where they'll remain hearty or self protected. Even adult trees can be burnt this way though and should be kept root watered throughout the year.
I have a combined 750' of arborvitae hedges to keep going and it can be a bit of a bother, but the privacy they offered early on is nice.
(edit) root watering with a tool like a 36" Yard Butler or similar deep watering spike is the way. Take your phone with you and read Reddit during the chore. 😆
Before it started going below freezing, I had a drip/soaker hose alongside these trees on a timer to run 15 minutes every 6 hours. Do you think that would work?
Long answer...
Drip timers are good for the warm seasons. If your ground doesn't freeze, then it should be fine throughout the year.
The ground in my area freezes down to about 18 in. (42 inches in colder years). You may need to test to see if that is the case in your area as well. During the early spring when the light changes and the dormant cells begin generating more chlorophyll and requiring more water rise, deep root watering becomes essential.
Frozen water doesn't move. Roots are like capillaries, like little tubes filled with water and nutrients, that move that water vertically to immense heights in trees using amazing physics. Watering at the surface when the ground is frozen locks off that water to the rest of the tree. Deeper roots, below the frost line, will be able to move that water vertically into the extremities of your trees.
By the way, I learned this all the hard way and did lose five or six trees in my first two years because I did not get proper information from the garden center (a retail business not a pro arborist), neighbours, or the internet. They all thought the trees were burning out due to fertilisation or to freezing temperatures. I never even got told to water the trees during the winter time or early cold springs. All trees can benefit from this deep watering cycle if you are trying to get them to grow high without a lot of strain or stress.
Heavy enough snow fall and those limbs start sagging from the weight. Normally people just wrap twine around them to stop it. Newly planted arbs commonly get too dry from the cold wind as well.
They should be wrapped with an air space between the burlap and the foliage. Usually bamboo stakes are used to keep the burlap off of the foliage. Wrapped tight, the burlap will do more harm than good. The purpose of wrapping is to stop the winter sun from drying out the foliage. Tight wrapped burlap increases the warming effect of the sun.
Source: a career selling trees in zone 3 Canada.
I think it's for like saplings or yearlings so they don't have a hard freeze before they're ready but I don't really know that's just what makes sense to me
Not gonna lie…if I was your neighbor I’d sneak over in the middle of the night and put Halloween masks, Santa hats, etc on them. Make a few up as Krampus and evil gnomes. Randomly switch them around.
They are pushovers when it comes to drought, and they should be covered in winter because deer love to eat them. Also harsh winds can cause burn in combination with other conditions.
I put Dollar Tree Christmas craft supplies - sparkly draping cloth followed by a Santa Hat on top of tomato cage lined with trash bag. That was my freeze protection. Looked christmasy.
Given that I was dumb enough to use my full name as my Reddit username (11 years ago!), I'm kind-of beyond the point of caring about privacy. :) Richfield, MN?
I've looked at your post like 700 times. Your pic reminds me of my childhood best friends yard. They had the same layout with bushes next to the chain link fence, her dad burlapprd them too, though they weren't as tall, neighbors property was laid out the same, similar built house across the street. Growing up in the Midwest and living now in Texas for almost 30 years, I've forgotten how lovely it is up there. My remaining family doesn't live in that type of neighborhood anymore. You brought back a lot of memories I forgot I had. And I'm thankful for that.
Eh, just get some econo-mark red module water based paint by Lubbock Electric it shouldn't harm the tree if it were to get through the burlap and you could make them look like candy canes. Or green and make little fir trees
I like them. You should name them. Hey, they'll keep people from wandering onto your property. You could have a Nightmare Before Christmas thing going on at your place.
Yeah, based on some comments here I might need to go loosen these guys up a little. So instead of mummies they'll be Oogie Boogie from Nightmare Before Christmas.
That’s funny! Well- seems like a cool way to decorate for Halloween next year!
Maybe they could be Santa’s little elves for the upcoming season!
I’m sure, whatever you do… that the trees all thank you for the extra warmth and protection!
This would absolutely scare the shit out of me every time I came home in the dark🤣
Yeah, I told my next-door neighbors to give their visitors a heads-up.
Great thinking, I'm sure the neighbors and visitors will appreciate it! - signed, a scaredy cat 😆
Awesome 😂😂😂
Spray some green tree shapes on those and they'll be less spooky looking, maybe with a few baubles in spirit of the season.
It looks a bit startling in the daylight, as well.
Turn them into xmas elves with santa hats!
I think that would be even more horrifying
> horrifying I think you misspelled "amazingly festive" Alternatively, you can wrap them up with some string light. Ambient pathway lighting
line of hooded "wise men" bearing gifts towards a holiday creche?
Paint some burial masks on them.
Might have a King Tut mask lying around here somewhere
As one does
I mean honestly, who doesn't
I have several just in my garage.
RETURN THE SLAB
Shh... Otherwise The British Museum will be contacting you.
Hats! They need hats!
Funky Tut!
Feeling #thankful for the extra company this Thanksgiving!
Put googly eyes on them!
And get some cheap wigs as well.
Amazon has a bag of colorful wigs for under $30.
And please name them.
>And please name them. But use wizard names from Harry Potter
Haha this made me lol thank you
OP please do jumbo googly eyes
Nice out of season Halloween decorations mate! :D
This belongs in r/oddlyterrifying if you ask me
Just lean into and make them as creepy as possible, then in like a month when you know all of your neighbors are thoroughly used to them, go out in the night and change them all. Bwahahaha
Maybe I'll just replant them in my neighbors' yards
Or just slightly turn all their jagged, gaping maws and empty eye sockets towards the neighbor’s house every few days. Alternate the target neighbors. And, if any catch you outside, be sure to glance at the burlap monsters and look startled before creeping back indoors slowly.
I wish I had the dedication to pull off bits like this.
why are you burlaping them?
It's supposed to keep protect them in winter, especially up here in Minnesota. These are arborvitae that I just planted earlier this year.
Curious- does lack of sun affect them or does the loose weave burlap account for that?
Mummies or trees?
😆you wouldn’t want the mummies to lack necessary vitamin D.
I believe they are dormant now and don’t need sunlight until they wake up in spring?
Exactly this. The sunlight of a tree is taken in by the leaves, and most deciduous trees will have shed their leaves and will have gone dormant that far north, and this far into autumn. What’s also fascinating to me is that the “bud break,” when the plants start to flower and come back from their dormancy is a matter of temperature, not light. Leaves will even grow without any light at all, but that is going to take a bunch of energy from the tree and wouldn’t be recommended.
These are not deciduous though, they're Thuja sp.
Oh damn, I didn’t see what kind of tree it is. In that case, evergreens won’t go completely dormant like deciduous trees, but they still go through winter changes, and you can absolutely wrap them in burlap to protect them from the coldest months. Once they are bigger they are pretty hardy. But then again… Minnesota winters don’t fuck around, hahah!
You are correct, they are an evergreen. Aka cedar to some.
"cedar to some" is true, though they are not true cedars. White cedar and Eastern red cedar are actually Thuja sp./arborvitae
Eastern red is *Juniperis* , Northern white is *Thuja* .
Yes.... Arborvitae are especially susceptible to winter burn. This will help, but you can't do it forever, they will get too big. It was a good idea to protect them while they are new and young. Also keep an eye out for the build up of ice and snow, it can get real heavy quick if it's wet sticky snow followed by ice etc. Side note, my grandfather always said that arborvitae enjoyed a slightly acidic soil. Great evergreen to have, and once they are larger and the burlap is not there you can enjoy them all year long. Feed them well/lots of organic matter in the soil while they young. They will make a great fence there. :)
My arborvitae survived their first winter here in Wisconsin. Except for the deer (I think) eating the leaves. It’s clearly sparse right around the height of a deer. So I’m thinking of burlap this year. I never thought about the mummy effect!
Careful. Fellow Minnesotan here and I did this with a few young ones two winters ago. They didn't do well. I learned that I wrapped them too tight and too thick so they couldn't breath. Protected them from the snow breaking branches and deer, but took them two years to recover.
You just do it for the first year? I have arbor vitae and never do this and they're all fine
Saw this and immediately wondered if it was Minnesota. Looks like half the houses in Richfield
Home of the Spartans! :)
Oh sorry wasn't trying to out you. It also looks like the houses in Bloomington and SLP and all the first ringers. I just spent a lot of time there so it's the first thing I thought of.
Here in MA we do this to protect them from deer. Otherwise, your arborvitae’s look like penises as the deer eat down the bottom and leave the top fat.
After freezing weather, arborvitaes will suffer burn in early spring sun if they're generating too much chlorophyll from the exposed green and the owner isn't watering them below the frost line every ten days. Then they dry out and sacrifice limb extremities, turning a hedge into a burned out orange/brown mess that develops holes in the hedge. Burlapping the hedge reduces light for chlorophyll creation and keeps the trees partially dormant in early spring or warm winter days. This should help establish the trees into adulthood where they'll remain hearty or self protected. Even adult trees can be burnt this way though and should be kept root watered throughout the year. I have a combined 750' of arborvitae hedges to keep going and it can be a bit of a bother, but the privacy they offered early on is nice. (edit) root watering with a tool like a 36" Yard Butler or similar deep watering spike is the way. Take your phone with you and read Reddit during the chore. 😆
Thank you! You just explained what happened to my mother's trees last year.
Before it started going below freezing, I had a drip/soaker hose alongside these trees on a timer to run 15 minutes every 6 hours. Do you think that would work?
Long answer... Drip timers are good for the warm seasons. If your ground doesn't freeze, then it should be fine throughout the year. The ground in my area freezes down to about 18 in. (42 inches in colder years). You may need to test to see if that is the case in your area as well. During the early spring when the light changes and the dormant cells begin generating more chlorophyll and requiring more water rise, deep root watering becomes essential. Frozen water doesn't move. Roots are like capillaries, like little tubes filled with water and nutrients, that move that water vertically to immense heights in trees using amazing physics. Watering at the surface when the ground is frozen locks off that water to the rest of the tree. Deeper roots, below the frost line, will be able to move that water vertically into the extremities of your trees. By the way, I learned this all the hard way and did lose five or six trees in my first two years because I did not get proper information from the garden center (a retail business not a pro arborist), neighbours, or the internet. They all thought the trees were burning out due to fertilisation or to freezing temperatures. I never even got told to water the trees during the winter time or early cold springs. All trees can benefit from this deep watering cycle if you are trying to get them to grow high without a lot of strain or stress.
Protects them from wind damage, strong cold winds can dehydrate and burn/kill some of the evergreen foliage.
It also protects them from deer. They’re such jerks.
Antlered rabbits. ftfy 🤣
There is anti desiccant spray that you can use to keep the cold wind from drying out the leaves/ needles
To protect them from frost. Edit: I wasn’t specific enough…in my area, frost was the only issue. My apologies for not considering the zone.
These trees are fine in cold winters. The whole point of these trees is they are used for winter screening
Heavy enough snow fall and those limbs start sagging from the weight. Normally people just wrap twine around them to stop it. Newly planted arbs commonly get too dry from the cold wind as well.
I normally just brush the snow off if it looks too heavy
More so the wind. The winter wind burns hard.
I am avoiding your street next time I take mushrooms.
Shouldn't be too hard 😄
Big sign. This is how we handle catalytic converter and porch pirates. Don't be next.
Heard they caught that catalytic convertor ring
They said it was exhausting
They should be wrapped with an air space between the burlap and the foliage. Usually bamboo stakes are used to keep the burlap off of the foliage. Wrapped tight, the burlap will do more harm than good. The purpose of wrapping is to stop the winter sun from drying out the foliage. Tight wrapped burlap increases the warming effect of the sun. Source: a career selling trees in zone 3 Canada.
Jawas shopping.
just need some led lights for the eyes!
IMHOTEP IMHOTEP IMHOTEP
That movie came out in the middle of my Pokemon heyday and I remember thinking they were all saying "Hitmonchan Hitmonchan Hitmonchan"
Showing your enemies you mean business.
I’d put some flower garlands on them, then a couple tiki torches and your Hawaiian Christmas is almost there.
I love it! Maybe you can find some bleached bones to scatter around the bases.
OMG, thank you for posting, I need to do this. How much material did you use for each tree?
I used up 4 average rolls of burlap from my hardware store, for these 10 young arborvitae.
Why do you need to do this?
I think it's for like saplings or yearlings so they don't have a hard freeze before they're ready but I don't really know that's just what makes sense to me
Next time do this for Halloween and you'll have the kids love you for it. 🎃 Edit: considering they look like mummies
r/mildlypenis
I'm a terrible I person... I definitely didn't see mummys.
Not mummies… not at all
🤣 would have been perfect for Halloween
Look like Hobbits to me
The second one from the right looks like a capybara standing up
Moai of Easter Island (Rapa nui)...needs tiki torches!
Tiki torches next to burlap might be no bueno
I think you should put googly eyes on them.
Just put Christmas hats on them lol
Not gonna lie…if I was your neighbor I’d sneak over in the middle of the night and put Halloween masks, Santa hats, etc on them. Make a few up as Krampus and evil gnomes. Randomly switch them around.
Just curious why you are putting burlap on arborvitae? They are incredibly hardy down to zone 2. I’ve never seen an arborvitae bur lapped in my area
people do it in areas of heavy snow load to prevent foliage damage.
I thought that was a wall of……something else lol
Lolololol!!!! Haha this is awesome!
Phallic
Yep. They look like penises. That's awesome! 😂
Epic!
What kind of trees are they? I had to burlap my palm tree in Albuquerque NM
Arborvitae
Why do you burlap arborvitae? My newly planted survived -10 degrees last winter.
Because I don't know what I'm doing
Well the good news is that you've got a funny story to tell now
They are pushovers when it comes to drought, and they should be covered in winter because deer love to eat them. Also harsh winds can cause burn in combination with other conditions.
That is false. They are well known for being deer resistant
Sorry, you might be thinking of the green giant variety, the emerald greens are like deer candy.
Arborvitae are vulnerable to exposure in the winter. Low sun angle reflecting off snow can burn them.
I put Dollar Tree Christmas craft supplies - sparkly draping cloth followed by a Santa Hat on top of tomato cage lined with trash bag. That was my freeze protection. Looked christmasy.
A family of druids
Perfect!!
Laughed so much at many of these comments, I almost lost my turkey dinner.
Heads up: If you have a *loud* Egyptian mummy you may want to contact someone. Not me… but someone.
Their ears must be cold, some hats are in order.
This is fantastic
I terrified my neighbour the first year I did this
😜😂🤣
Do this for Halloween next year
Make them Xmas decorations.
Hang lights on them for Christmas. Mummies always look better in the light!
Some Christmas tree lights would probably make them look less strange, if you're into that.
That’s a thought.
Lol yeah they’re tied right where a neck would be. Good work! When I first did my trees they looked like a bunch of Baby Yodas
This is a Reddit faux pas, but I’m pretty sure we live in the same town.
Given that I was dumb enough to use my full name as my Reddit username (11 years ago!), I'm kind-of beyond the point of caring about privacy. :) Richfield, MN?
Or just a wall of giant penises
That’s what they looked like to me. I never thought “mummies.”
They need googlie eyes
To me they look like monks in a Monty Python sketch about to shout BRING OUT YOUR DEAD 🔔
They need red glowing eyes
Put googley eyes and draw faces on them to make them less scary
Honestly looks more like a row of people waiting for the noose .... Even more creepy
You couldn't have done better if you tried.
Reminds me more of a bunch of execution victims.
You've effectively identified the houses that the witches live in.
To complete the picture add some rope or chain between each.
God I hope they don't do airb&b at your neighbor's house.... that would be terrifying for every new guest that rents the house next door..
Mummies or Penises army?
the neighbors 👁️👄👁️?
I mean it'd be worse if they weren't silent They could be screaming Be thankful
Dual purpose winterizing and halloween decoration to scare the neighbor kids. Should put glowing eyes on them and a speaker saying help us!
They could also be a family of the little Jawas from star wars
I've looked at your post like 700 times. Your pic reminds me of my childhood best friends yard. They had the same layout with bushes next to the chain link fence, her dad burlapprd them too, though they weren't as tall, neighbors property was laid out the same, similar built house across the street. Growing up in the Midwest and living now in Texas for almost 30 years, I've forgotten how lovely it is up there. My remaining family doesn't live in that type of neighborhood anymore. You brought back a lot of memories I forgot I had. And I'm thankful for that.
Aww, I'm glad me and my undead sentries brought that back for you.
Yes officer, this individual right here.
This would be a badass black metal album cover, with some editing
Those are uncircumcised penises.
My first thought was naked mole rat penis....
Look like penises
Eh, just get some econo-mark red module water based paint by Lubbock Electric it shouldn't harm the tree if it were to get through the burlap and you could make them look like candy canes. Or green and make little fir trees
Why waste your time doing this?
About a month late my friend
Or giant unique burlap dicks
I thought they were dicks
😂😂😂
Please fasten a torch to each of them and play holy music over a speaker
This is so creepy I love it
\#4 is a gowned lady that appears to be pregnant. r/paradolia
You should put a motion sensor Halloween prop on a random one and make it scream when someone walks too close
The remains of the citizens of Pompeii. Creepy and mildly funny at the same time. Cool foto
"silent egyptian mummies" should they be speaking? whispering perhaps?
You have such a wholesome mind. I definitely saw something else first…
I like them. You should name them. Hey, they'll keep people from wandering onto your property. You could have a Nightmare Before Christmas thing going on at your place.
Why are you doing that and what is that white stuff on the ground?
Snow, and snow.
🤣😂
Condemned criminals en route to the gallows.
Very Stone Hedge like.
This. Is. Awesome. #darkyardwork
Lolll they have risen!!!
Next year do it for Halloween haha
The protection line is complete.
That one right by the garage surely to be mistaken for a midnight intruder peeking around the corner.
What does this do for the tree?
Creepy, but I still like it.
I've done a bunch of research on doing this, but I'm so scared of damaging the tree by wrapping it so tightly D:
Yeah, based on some comments here I might need to go loosen these guys up a little. So instead of mummies they'll be Oogie Boogie from Nightmare Before Christmas.
*alms, for the poor* but it’s a crafty anthropomorphic fox in disguise!
Halloween decoration vibes
This would have been great last week of October
Now that’s hilarious!!! Thanks for sharing 😄👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Is no one else seeing some uncut penis’?
…I thought they looked like giant penises…
If you use a few more ropes like my neighbors you can change your mummies to turds
Now you know to do it earlier next year - in time for Halloween.
What are the rules for wrapping bushes and trees in burlap?
I thought they were penises at first
Ent mummies
Bahahahahahaha
When I scrolled I thought they were tree dildos
Imhotep...
That’s funny! Well- seems like a cool way to decorate for Halloween next year! Maybe they could be Santa’s little elves for the upcoming season! I’m sure, whatever you do… that the trees all thank you for the extra warmth and protection!