Identification assistance

Bearded Mayhem

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Hey everyone,

I recently got this gorgeous tree locally but need assistance identifying the species. Assuming its a spruce but not entirely sure.

Thanks!
 

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Bonsai Nut

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I'll leave it up to the spruce experts :)

In the meantime - put your location in your profile so people know where you live (in general). A spruce in North Dakota will be different from a spruce in France :)
 
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HorseloverFat

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I was gonna say my guess was Picea Abies....

Buuuut depending on where you ARE.... I’ve seen doug firs look like that too.. needles do strange things when CONSISTENTLY cold.

...I’d still cast my hat on Picea Abies though.
 

HorseloverFat

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Oh crap! Sorry, just saw you updated your location.

5b Illinois?... you over by Iowa? ;)

Pleasure to make your acquaintance!

The Woody Dwarves (Pa-is) are pleased at the knowledge of your arrival, here, in the tiny forest!
 

ShadyStump

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Not sure this is the exact article, but it made a heck a difference for me when I was first learning to identify trees.
Still learning, but at least I can get the right genus right off the bat now.
 

Bearded Mayhem

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Oh crap! Sorry, just saw you updated your location.

5b Illinois?... you over by Iowa? ;)

Pleasure to make your acquaintance!

The Woody Dwarves (Pa-is) are pleased at the knowledge of your arrival, here, in the tiny forest!
I'm in Lake County so not close to Iowa, really close to WI though.
 

Cruiser

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Also, a close up of the twigs would be beneficial. Some species have fine hairs, other do not. How sharp are the needle tips? How long? Is a needle flat or does it feel “squared” when you roll it in your fingers? If you brushed your hand through them would it hurt?
 

Leo in N E Illinois

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I live in Lake County, Illinois. If you bought it at a nursery, it could be anything, as nurseries bring in a wide variety of material, though by and large, the most common spruce planted in Illinois is the Norway spruce, Picea abies.

There are almost zero wild places in Lake County where the native spruce, Picea glauca can still be found growing. I know many of the preserves that still have wild orchids in Lake County, and none of them have any white spruce, Picea glauca left. Only one location, Volo bog, still has larch. They are gone or absent from Lake County. Not common at all in Illinois.

Picea abies has naturalized itself in Lake County, I've had volunteer seedlings pop up in my backyard. So just "playing the odds", you probably have Picea abies. But do work your way through the identification guides to sort it out for certain.
 

Bearded Mayhem

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I live in Lake County, Illinois. If you bought it at a nursery, it could be anything, as nurseries bring in a wide variety of material, though by and large, the most common spruce planted in Illinois is the Norway spruce, Picea abies.

There are almost zero wild places in Lake County where the native spruce, Picea glauca can still be found growing. I know many of the preserves that still have wild orchids in Lake County, and none of them have any white spruce, Picea glauca left. Only one location, Volo bog, still has larch. They are gone or absent from Lake County. Not common at all in Illinois.

Picea abies has naturalized itself in Lake County, I've had volunteer seedlings pop up in my backyard. So just "playing the odds", you probably have Picea abies. But do work your way through the identification guides to sort it out for certain.
My first fellow Lake County Bonsai reply!!! Thanks for letting me know, I’m assuming Norway Spruce as well but I’m going to take more pics soon to post.
 

Leo in N E Illinois

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Norway spruce make fine bonsai. Walter Pall has posted many. Search on his name for his threads for inspiration.

Spruce are normally treated as forgotten step children. They are best when worked relatively infrequently. For example You dug it up this year, I would not do any pruning, nothing except sun and water for at least 2 years.

If the second summer, this shows lots of new growth in spring, then in late summer, I would prune tips of all branches back to a back bud. the buds should be visible in September. If you don't see a lot of interior buds, don't prune anything, fertilizer more heavily the next summer and look again in autumn. If a lot of back buds are visible then you can go through and short all the branches to a back bud.

You can wire in late summer through to late winter if you have a plan, but right now this is a bit young, I would not wire for a while.

So every other or every third year you work on a spruce. You can be pretty aggressive when you work on them if you give them 2 to 5 years to recover.

I did an extreme pruning on a Colorado blue spruce, it took 5 years before it had recovered enough to begin another round of pruning. This is not unusual for spruce. If you work 'em hard, you need to let them recover.

So "forgetaboutit" for a couple years, then it will be ready for the next step.
 

Bearded Mayhem

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I took some more pictures of this tree to hopefully narrow down the identification a bit.
 

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sorce

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I've never seen a spruce with mites, but you may want to verify those webs are from spiders.

Welcome to Crazy!

Volo!

Sorce
 

Cruiser

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Thanks. Looks prickly.
I’d narrow it down to either the Norway or White spruce. White spruce needles average a shorter length (1/2”) and are “pokier” than Norways (3/4”). If you’re feeling sadistic take a few needles, crush them up, and have a whiff. White spruce has a more pungent-skunky scent. If there was a verified Norway nearby, the two could be compared.
Seeing the cones would be a sure fire way to identify it. Norway cones average 6”, bigger than any other spruces cones that I know of.
 

hinmo24t

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I'll leave it up to the spruce experts :)

In the meantime - put your location in your profile so people know where you live (in general). A spruce in North Dakota will be different than a spruce in France :)
business is up during these times :) for you. only booze and gardening industry (maybe marriage counselors) are up markets during the last two year,
i heard that from someone at a nursery.

best year or two ever for new members for you?





looks like a nice tree, OP
 

sorce

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I saw a little white spider on it earlier and I’ve definitely seen some crazy webs on it all over. Any recommendations for dealing with it?

Leave em! Spiders are good!

Sorce
 
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