Shohin Norwegian Spruce

[Lazylightningny]

Last July, this Norwegian spruce went from this



to this



And now, I have been rewarded with a lot of spring growth.



The plan for this one is to shorten it way back and ramify the branches.

My question is, should I start pruning back the really vigorous branches now, or should I do it in the fall in order to give it a full year to recover from last July's heavy work?

Or, should I be doing something completely different?

 

[Handsome John]

I usually prune back once the new growth hardens off if I'm reducing or I'll pinch the new growth for refinement. If you pinch, you sometimes get a second flush of growth but I only work with white spruce so I can only speak for that species haha. Not to mention its throwing some healthy growth too so I wouldn't be worried to do some work on it.

 

[Mike Hennigan]

I usually prune back once the new growth hardens off if I'm reducing or I'll pinch the new growth for refinement. If you pinch, you sometimes get a second flush of growth but I only work with white spruce so I can only speak for that species haha. Not to mention its throwing some healthy growth too so I wouldn't be worried to do some work on it.

I’ll echo that. Prune branches back to a bud/side shoot after this spring growth has hardened. Start pinching spring growth in a few years when you get the tree into more of a refinement stage.

 

[PiñonJ]

It looks like insanely vigorous nursery stock, so in its current state, it will be hard to kill no matter what you do (I still have mine from 7 years ago when, as a noob, I pruned half the roots to re-pot, trunk chopped, branch pruned and pinched buds all at the same time!). Since you haven't done anything to it since last year, you can either pinch exterior shoots now to stimulate interior shoots (though it hardly looks like it needs it), or wait until it hardens off (which will result in more back budding) and prune to correct structural issues and let more light into the interior. Next spring, as buds are swelling, you can perform "final" branch selection, structural setting and full wiring.

 

[Lazylightningny]

Thanks everyone. Looks like I'll be pruning back once this growth hardens.

What about the little sprouts that have no buds at the end? Should I be pruning them off?

 

[0soyoung]

Any branch (segment) without a bud at the end will be dead, eventually. So,

What about the little sprouts that have no buds at the end? Should I be pruning them off?

yes.


After the foliage has hardened, you likely will have far fewer, if any, of these budless tips.

 

[Lazylightningny]

This year's new growth. It's very vigorous, with some interior budding also. I pruned this back last year after growth hardened, and it back-budded nicely. I recently removed all shoots without buds at the ends. When this new growth hardens, I'll prune back again like last year. I may put some wire on it this fall and spread some branches out a little.