I bought a home that had very tall arborvitae that had been damaged due to a heavy snowfall. Many branches were bent. My husband and I cut them and took about 6-8 feet off the top of each tree. Now I am noticing the trees are turning brown on the tops of several of the trees. It has been very hot and perhaps they are not getting enough water. Or perhaps we damaged them by cutting them. Would love some input. Thanks!

All evergreens are alive year round and benefit from even moisture in the soil. Exposing interior needles to sunlight could have sunburnt them and caused them to brown. Any new needles produced will have the protection they need from the sun. If very tall meant 30+ feet high, removal of 6-8 feet was a lot but that also left a lot of the tree intact. If very tall means 20-25 feet, then removal of 6-8 feet would have a much larger impact on the plants health. Arborvitae do have the ability to generate new buds and needles on wood that appear very woody and interior to the plant.

Thank you for your reply. The trees were somewhere between 25-30 ft tall and we cut them to 12 feet tall. Do you think cutting that much off the top compromised them?

I miscalculated. The trees must have been about 20 feet tall, as we only cut 6-8 feet off and they are now about 12 feet tall. We cut about 1/3 off of each tree.

Be patient a little longer and keep looking for new buds and growth where you removed the branches. While that was quite a bit of reduction, 2/3rds remains. Be aware of the weather conditions and do not wait to water if you start to go through a period of dry weather.