Colorado Blue Spruce

karen82

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I was at a local nursery just looking at the trees today (they're starting to discount the old nursery stock). There was nothing too exciting but the blue spruce were cheap and looked healthy. I got one in a 1 gallon pot for $10. Of course after I got home and looked up the species, I found that they are known for being difficult.

It needs a trunk chop and a lot of pruning and eventual repotting. I'm just wondering if any of you can give good recommendations as to when it would be best to do this.

I've read that they should be limited to one major operation per year - pruning or repotting, not both - and that no more than 30% of foliage should be removed at a time. So it looks like this one will be very slow to work on.

I'm thinking I will prune as much as I can safely this fall... then do I need to wait til next fall before I can repot it? Or would next spring be OK if I don't do too much to the roots?
 

sorce

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Near certain of summer repotting for you up there.

@herzausstahl may have some info.
@Leo in N E Illinois too with a few more decades.

I'm trying to NOT cut and style things right away...
With a mission of first getting them in recent soil.

Matter of fact....
Right now might not be a bad repotting time.
If it grows in spring...
You can wire it next fall.

Sorce
 

herzausstahl

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@Leo in N E Illinois will definitely have more info than me! lol I have 2 but haven't done much to them. My initial reaction is if it's in a 1 gallon pot it probably needs to be grown out first. But really that is decided by how large you want the final tree. I have one in the ground I need to hack back tremendously so I'll let you know how it does.
 

karen82

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Here's the tree: 8-17-17.JPG

I'm very much a beginner and don't know anything about spruce, but when I got it, I was envisioning something like this for the front, cutting at the line (the trunk gets a little fatter above the line).
8-17-17 front 2.JPG


Another of the possible front.
8-17-17 front 3.JPG

And back.
8-17-17 5.JPG

There's no visible nebari, none of them had any. I just got it mostly since it was something cheap to practice on, although I would rather not kill it. I now know they don't like to be chopped or pruned too hard so it sounds like I will have to trim it back over several years.
 

sorce

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Pretty nice bark on that for one gallon!

Usually they are still smooth at that point.

Seems special!

They aren't really doing anything till fall but storing energy and growing roots...
I might be inclined to find that Nebari And get it in better soil now.

Sorce
 

karen82

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I did really like the bark on it!
I gave it a very light trim just to help open it up a little bit - it was so dense and I didn't want the lower branches to die back.
Other than that I'm letting it be for now.
Would it be better to repot or do a heavier trim this fall (assuming I can only do one safely)?
 

sorce

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Would it be better to repot or do a heavier trim this fall (assuming I can only do one safely)?

It depends! As always!

The question I would ask myself is.....

What gonna get worse (unusable for design) faster?
The top or bottom?

And work that first.

I'd assume you'd want to get a few more branches out of the top, usually you have to with spruce.

Have a look at those branch tips now...
That is your 100% health.

If after next Springs growth, it sets strong healthy buds like that all around again, you'll know it's safe to repot next year.

Speaking of them healthy buds....

Try to leave as many of those as you can!

For instance, if you want to make that orange chop...eventually....20170819_045550.jpg

All you have to do now is clean that transition area out.
Except for that one branch under your orange line! Oops! That's a good back branch!

But everything else that is going to ugly swell your transition can go. Along with stuff directly above it, to keep it lit.

But leave that tippy top with all its strong buds!
That'll power you thru next year's repot and you don't have to worry about Messing up your transition.

Grab a zip tie, and some padding for your keeper leader , (blue line), and you can easily pull that new lead a bit more upright if you wish.

This one is special!

Sorce
 

defra

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According to the link i provided its said its the time to do branch selecting now by going trough every branches counting buds in search for the weak normal and strong shoots

If it where mine ill do an initial styling now and do a repot early spring

Maybe you could do both at the same time now i mean i saw bill valvanis post a blue spruce last week wich also was repotted and styled in one go and i guess he wouldnt do that if that couldnt be done now.

Edit: note the link is based on the climate in the uk so dont forget to take your difference in climate into consideration
 

M. Frary

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I would trim it and wire it now and repot it in the spring.
 

karen82

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Thank you everyone for your advice.
I decided to wait til next spring or fall to repot, depending on how it's doing. It should be in better soil, but seems happy and healthy enough for now.

That means doing some more trimming and other work now or this fall. Most of the branches seem very strong and covered in buds, the only weak branches are some of the lower, shaded ones.
I've read conflicting things about trimming them - that it's good to trim in mid-August so that they can form new buds before winter - but also that it's better to trim in fall/early winter when dormant. I'm leaning towards trimming it a little bit more now, but waiting until it's dormant to remove any larger branches (though I'm not sure if I will take off any large branches yet).
 
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