Arborvitae Are Producing Lots Of Seeds

Question From: H. Sherman - Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, United States
Q: Can an arborvite tree produce too many seeds? I have a few which are almost all seeds on the top 1/3 of the tree. Do the seed pods fall off on their own or do they need to be manually removed after they have opened.

A: Hope, Let Mother Nature do her thing. Plants under stress often produce excess seeds. It's their way of insuring the specie does not die out. We had a brutal winter her in Michigan and the sugar maples went bonkers. Millions of seedlings sprouted in spring. I live in the middle of a sugar maple forest and they were everywhere. Best And Happy Yardening, Nancy