Thuja/Like them?

I have a full sun, area in Z5 where I'd like to make a living privacy fence and I'm considering Thuja Green Giant.
Are they hard to get going in a dry, fallow field area?
How much water would they require to get started good?
Any problems with this tree?
Thanks for any advise or recommendations for anything that would do well in this situation.

Greetings from the land of Thuya. It's everywhere here and in both wet and dry conditions. It does seem to prefer the wetter side, though. Water it in well and it should do just fine after a good year or more of considered irrigation.

The deer really love them :) Seems to be the main pest here.

How bout a nice line of Rosa 'Carmencita' or setigera? Who needs privacy in the winter anyway?

Shoot, I thought I read that deer don't like them.
I think roses would be even harder to grow in that dry field.

I bet watersedge is referring to the native Thuja occidentalis, which is different from 'Green Giant'. 'Green Giant' is a hybrid tree derived from the western North American native Thuja plicata.

Thuja plicata has an affinity for moisture as well, so establishment in droughty soils will be somewhat of a challenge. This species is supposed to be less desirable to deer, but I imagine the quantity of hoofed browsers and the choice of dining will make the biggest difference.

I think the 'Green Giant' I have will get moved, now that I read V.V's comments. It was a 6.00 plant that I ordered to meet a min needed to get some other shrubs that I wanted, so I have no affinity to it, but I will give it a better chance by moving it to inside the deer fenced area. I have it currently protected as I do all new shrubs and trees with a wire cage. It hasn't done much. No two feet a year. Patti

I have one GG. Definitely not as fast growing as advertised - about 1 1/2 feet per year, but I never had any deer damage and I have many deer. Of course they have other, tastier options in my garden.

Victor, But if I move the GG from where I planted it, I can put a nice Viburnum in its place. I also think I have a better spot where it will help block out my neighbors house. That house use to belong to my best friend and we built our homes together in the early 80's. We had a gate between our properties. I don't know the new owner yet or even their names as they bought it with some trust name. They bought last fall after it had been flipped, so it has been empty for 3 years. They haven't moved in yet. I took down the gate when she sold it to the flipper. He built a guest house and totally renovated her house, but he didn't put in the pool he had planned. Spent a ton, some nice, but a lot of what he did made no sense. I hope they are quiet and don't mess with the natural areas between us and nix the pool. So I think I will move the GG where the gate was. But if I like them we can put a gate back in another spot. They have had carpenters working inside this week, more changes. Patti

Patti - I was not advising either way, though I would take a viburnum over GG any day!