Black Spruce Transplant Question

[DarthDrogon]

Hi! I'm pretty new to the hobby, having started a year ago with a couple of potted trees. I decided to start my own trees from seed using either soil or an Aerogarden. I've had a few pines and spruce germinate in the Aerogarden, but they die off within a couple of weeks after moving them to a new home. I usually move them when they have eight or so needles, but I have left the Black Spruce below in for much longer. It's been in place for about two months or so. Do you think it's safe to move to a larger pot or should I let it mature in the Aerogarden longer? I haven't seen a lot of vertical growth in about a month, though the crown has filled out.

 

[sorce]

Welcome to Crazy!

Try starting em outside just regular.

Sorce

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Most conifers are bound to seasons. They grow in spring, go close to dormant in summer, send out new roots in fall, thicken up and go into hibernation for winter. In a broad sense that is..
Whether you're growing indoors or not, if you pick the "wrong" time of doing things, they might not like it. If they stop growing, it's not always because conditions aren't right, it's just that they're programmed to just grow once every year.

Transitions from indoor environments to outdoors can be devastating if done too fast.
Starting outdoors and keeping them outdoors can be a great help, they stick to the seasons, the outdoors sticks to the seasons, everybody has a good time.

 

[DarthDrogon]

Thanks for the info! So I guess December would be the best time to move it to a pot? Thanks to limited mobility and the desire to try out a lot of different tree species, I start all of me seeds indoors. It's also a precaution to control size, though I guess I could just start them outdoors in a pot. Might try that with the spruce and redwood. Is now the time to get them going, or should I put them out in fall to stratify?

 

[MorddexxBonsai]

Black spruce have been pretty resilient when moving them into bigger pots for me just make sure you slowly introduce them to the outside when you move them out. Maybe a hour or 2 a day for a week before you move them out for good.