Spruce saved from a wood chipper fate

[George Small]

Hello to everyone! Visited a local nursery a few days ago. Found this slightly distressed looking Spruce. It's about 43" tall and maybe 36+ inches wide. The base is 3" wide and tapers to 1"at the very top. Needles seemed a bit faded and it had a lot of dead branches. Got it for a pretty good price. I was told it would probably be mulched in a week or so. The other spruces there looked perfect.
First photo when I got it home. Second photo after cleaning .
Also, I was a bit surprised to see new inside back growth on some of the very barky branches.

 

[Wilson]

Nice tree, and a fun project! Good luck!

 

[sorce]

Nice Bonsai Department Back there!

You're killing me Small!

Welcome to Crazy!

Sorce

 

[George Small]

Thanks Guys!
I removed a few more branches. I'm at the point of seeing my vision of this spruce. Will post a couple new photos soon. I'm very much interested in opinions and advise on reduction in height and a couple branch issues. I notice that on most of the branches there is new inner growth . This will allow me to reduce the length of each branch. Does anyone have an idea of the age of this spruce? The trunk is 3". The pot looks to be 15-20 gal. Heavy as hell.
Thanks
G.

 

[Paradox]

Ok this is a nice find. I agree that it looks a bit stressed. I would strongly suggest that you dont do anything more to this tree this year. Working a stressed tree too much will kill it.
Give it some winter protection and see how it does next spring. You might be able to repot it next spring by doing pretty much a slip pot, without disturbing the roots, but Im not sure because it just doesnt look too happy right now. Might be better to put it in the ground and get it healthy. Might be better to leave it in the pot and try to get it healthy.
Hopefully someone that has worked with these more can chime in.

 

[George Small]

Ok this is a nice find. I agree that it looks a bit stressed. I would strongly suggest that you dont do anything more to this tree this year. Working a stressed tree too much will kill it.
Give it some winter protection and see how it does next spring. You might be able to repot it next spring by doing pretty much a slip pot, without disturbing the roots, but Im not sure because it just doesnt look too happy right now. Might be better to put it in the ground and get it healthy. Might be better to leave it in the pot and try to get it healthy.
Hopefully someone that has worked with these more can chime in.

Yes it's a bit stressed. Its not dropping needles. Guess that may be a good sign. At the nursery it was in the main field with three other spruces. When I asked about this spruce he told me they had moved it to another location close to the main building for some reason and was forgotten about. He thinks the area was too shady. I don't plan to repot till sometime next year maybe.
Thanks

 

[Cypress187]

Put in pot, and your done (in the correct season).

 

[augustine]

I'm with Paradox, slow, slow. Don't do anything else now, the next task will be to deal with repotting. Reducing the size of that rootball is a big deal and will take years.

My opinion - In the spring of 2018 saw off some of the bottom of the rootball and replace @ 1/3 of the soil at a time. Wait 2 years between repottings. (Looking at 3 repottings over 6 years to get it fully into bonsai soil and reducing the size of the rootball a little each time.) I would be very interested to hear other's opinions about how to deal with the rootball.

Also, you'll have to start managing the foliage to retain the needles close to the trunk. Big project.

 

[George Small]

I'm with Paradox, slow, slow. Don't do anything else now, the next task will be to deal with repotting. Reducing the size of that rootball is a big deal and will take years.

My opinion - In the spring of 2018 saw off some of the bottom of the rootball and replace @ 1/3 of the soil at a time. Wait 2 years between repottings. (Looking at 3 repottings over 6 years to get it fully into bonsai soil and reducing the size of the rootball a little each time.) I would be very interested to hear other's opinions about how to deal with the rootball.

Also, you'll have to start managing the foliage to retain the needles close to the trunk. Big project.

I'm in no hurry. I'm on board with rootball reduction.

 

[George Small]

Here are a few more photos. You can see the new foliage growing back towards the trunk on some of the branches.

 

[Paradox]

That's a good sign, a very good sign, but does not mean the tree is ready for more work...just saying

 

[George Small]

Yep you are right, no more for now. I'm just glad to see the new growth because before cleaning it up there was no sign of inner growth. Will update with new photos in 10 years.

 

[Potawatomi13]

Hmmm! Good find however in 2nd pic looked much better than last one.

 

[augustine]

you can still feed now til 2nd or 3rd week in October. Seaweed emulsion is a good tonic.

 

[George Small]

Greeting all !
My little spruce seems to be hanging in there. I have a question about the moss that is growing on the branches. You can see in photos above. I like the look but a little concern if it will cause any problems. If it should be removed what is the best way to do it? Maybe with a small brush? And should it be done now or in spring?

Thanks
G.

 

[Tycoss]

I'll be watching this thread closely, as I also have a couple of spruce that need major foliage compacting and rootball reduction. I see a nice trunk line and decent taper on this one. Good luck with it.

 

[sorce]

moss that is growing on the branches

Or lichen?

Either way, I'd leave it.

Sorce

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

I picked up a Colorado blue spruce nursery tree in 2014. It came from a ''going out of business'' nursery, and had been sitting for a decade or more in its nursery pot, extremely root bound.

I did the repot and root work, in 2015. It was drastic, probably removed 75% of the existing root system. For 2016 I got some new growth, but not much, I will not attempt any styling work until the year after a vigorous flush of growth. After a serious root work session, it is not unusual to have to leave the tree alone for 2 to 5 years to allow it to recover, build a new roots system and return to vigorous health.

I mention this, as I think your tree will need more than one growing season to recover after repotting. It was not healthy to start, so you do have a period of recover ahead of you.

You did say you are in no hurry, I am just echoing this point, and pointing out the period to recover can be longer than one or two growing seasons.

 

[Vance Wood]

Ok this is a nice find. I agree that it looks a bit stressed. I would strongly suggest that you dont do anything more to this tree this year. Working a stressed tree too much will kill it.
Give it some winter protection and see how it does next spring. You might be able to repot it next spring by doing pretty much a slip pot, without disturbing the roots, but Im not sure because it just doesnt look too happy right now. Might be better to put it in the ground and get it healthy. Might be better to leave it in the pot and try to get it healthy.
Hopefully someone that has worked with these more can chime in.

I agree, you need to give this tree a chance to recover and start to prosper. If the two photos you downloaded are more or less back to back then the tree may not be so bad. But you can do too much to a Spruce too soon and spend the rest of the year cursing the results.

 

[BobbyLane]

Nice potential! for me, the tree is in ONE of the two central trunks and deleting everything else....then using the strong top branches to style the tree, only having growth at the tips becomes less of an issue when the branches are wired to droop downwards, it will all fall into place then. nice elegant tree in there, maybe even literati.
I agree with everyone else, let it recover and become strong first