Does it have potential? It was to cheap to pass up…

[Mike132327]

Was on a treasure hunt today and found a looker in the bargain bin. The tree is a hoopsii blue spruce about 5’ tall and a 3-4” trunk depending on side. I really liked the movement in the lower portion of the trunk and the taper is good. The lower branches seem to have pushed good growth last year if I can get some back budding they could shape up to some nice pads. If they end up not producing it could be an interesting literati with some bending and shaping.

I am planning to take a look at the roots in the next day and get an idea of how the soil drains and how the roots look. If everything looks good and percolation is good I would probably leave it in the nursery can this year and cut the apex down a little, and Cutting back new growth in spring to new buds on the tips to try to redirect buds closer to the trunk.

Does anyone have experience with blue spruce?
Do they handle harder pruning and taking the apex back well?
Is this a tree (if roots are healthy) I could set the structure for future development on this year before growth starts?
And finally I’d imagine I am treating this like a pine or juniper with one major action a season and at least a full year to recover in between correct?

I would really love to hear experiences/successes/troubles with this species and if anyone has any sort of design ideas I am open to all. Thank you

 

[Scriv]

This is pretty nice piece of nursery material imo. I would lean on its natural elegance and utilize most if not all the length (difficult to see the quality of the line in the upper portion with all the foliage). I wouldn't bother trying to get the lower pieces to back bud... this will never be a powerful, tortured looking spruce so there's really no point in trying to compress the design. If this was mine, I would jin the lower branches entirely, show the whole line from base to tip and make a nice feminine tree that can be repotted next year.

RE going hard on the tree... since this is a young mono crop piece of material and a bargain as you put it -- I wouldn't worry about going hard as long as your aftercare is on point -- don't over water and keep it from freezing. I see you are in NY, so that is a consideration until temps warm up.

Best of luck and good find.

 

[TrueSandwich]

I think it might work, but I don't think it will ever be a show worthy tree, but definitely a good project tree.

Here is what I would do if I had just acquired this tree:

1. I would check the root ball, if it is very root bound, then I would repot it soon (next couple of months). I recommend top-down repotting on most non-deciduous trees. I find it is usually a safer bet than other repotting methods.
2. Throughout Spring, Summer, and Fall, fertilize the hell out of this tree. This is to encourage back budding. Spruces can back bud on young wood, but not very readily.
3. In spring, the buds will be pushing new growth. Once the new growth hass elongated, pinch it. This will further encourage back budding.
4. I would particularly be aggressive with pruning and pinching at the apex of the tree. If you are not careful, the apex can stop the bottom branches from getting resources for growth.

After that, you should have a healthy tree that might have some branches closer to the trunk to work with.

 

[Mike132327]

This is pretty nice piece of nursery material imo. I would lean on its natural elegance and utilize most if not all the length (difficult to see the quality of the line in the upper portion with all the foliage). I wouldn't bother trying to get the lower pieces to back bud... this will never be a powerful, tortured looking spruce so there's really no point in trying to compress the design. If this was mine, I would jin the lower branches entirely, show the whole line from base to tip and make a nice feminine tree that can be repotted next year.

RE going hard on the tree... since this is a young mono crop piece of material and a bargain as you put it -- I wouldn't worry about going hard as long as your aftercare is on point -- don't over water and keep it from freezing. I see you are in NY, so that is a consideration until temps warm up.

Best of luck and good find.

I like the idea of a more feminine direction here I think something elegant and long would really do it some justice. Would you trim off any of the apex or just let it rock and maybe give it some movement?

I got it for $38 as the nursery was trying to make some room for their new deliveries. I have it in my unheated garage currently getting through this lovely freezing rain ill shuffle it outside on nicer days to get some sun.

 

[Mike132327]

I think it might work, but I don't think it will ever be a show worthy tree, but definitely a good project tree.

Here is what I would do if I had just acquired this tree:

1. I would check the root ball, if it is very root bound, then I would repot it soon (next couple of months). I recommend top-down repotting on most non-deciduous trees. I find it is usually a safer bet than other repotting methods.
2. Throughout Spring, Summer, and Fall, fertilize the hell out of this tree. This is to encourage back budding. Spruces can back bud on young wood, but not very readily.
3. In spring, the buds will be pushing new growth. Once the new growth hass elongated, pinch it. This will further encourage back budding.
4. I would particularly be aggressive with pruning and pinching at the apex of the tree. If you are not careful, the apex can stop the bottom branches from getting resources for growth.

After that, you should have a healthy tree that might have some branches closer to the trunk to work with.

I think the kokufu is already full for this year so it will just have to make do in my yard lol.

I will do some research into top down repotting. I plan on taking a look at the roots tomorrow, hopefully they’re in good shape and can rock for another year. I was planning to trim back the apex a bit to try to redistribute the energy throughout the tree and not just up.

This will be my first full season with my trees and I am planning to give all that are healthy a good fertilizing this year. Thank you for the response, much appreciate the direction!

 

[Scriv]

I would probably use one of the two longer branches sitting just below the current apex.

Introduce some movement… make sure it’s consistent with the type of movement you’ve placed in the rest of the branches, and lengthen the overall line.

 

[Mike132327]

I would probably use one of the two longer branches sitting just below the current apex.

Introduce some movement… make sure it’s consistent with the type of movement you’ve placed in the rest of the branches, and lengthen the overall line.

I like it a lot, tomorrow will be the judgement day for this years course of action. If the roots look good I’ll start working on the line and movement in the trunk .

 

[TrueSandwich]

I think the kokufu is already full for this year so it will just have to make do in my yard lol.

I will do some research into top down repotting. I plan on taking a look at the roots tomorrow, hopefully they’re in good shape and can rock for another year. I was planning to trim back the apex a bit to try to redistribute the energy throughout the tree and not just up.

This will be my first full season with my trees and I am planning to give all that are healthy a good fertilizing this year. Thank you for the response, much appreciate the direction!

Here is a video with more information on top-down repotting. I meant to include this in my original reply, but forgot.

 

[Mike132327]

Here is a video with more information on top-down repotting. I meant to include this in my original reply, but forgot.

Thank you for that I’ll get my note pad ready.

I got it out of the pot today and there is a lot more room in there for roots. Also no sludge soil in the shen. To my inexperience eye this looks fine, so she’ll stay in this pot for at least another year (please correct me if I am wrong here). I will start to mess around with some styling ideas and try to get it shaped up a bit before the growing season.

 

[Mike132327]

Took some lower branches off and thinned the whorls down to 2-3 branches each. I trimmed back the apex back to the previous whorl. I am thinking of taking this lower side branch up as the new apex. I edited out the current one to get an idea what it looks like. The second idea for the apex was to take the whole top off and have more a rounded apex.

Any thoughts?

Also any critique for the current structure?

Thanks.

 

[Mike132327]

*On this pruning I only took branches off I did not shorten any current branches. I was planning to pinch new growth and try to promote back budding and will trim back branches later. I also didn’t want to take to much foliage off in one go.

 

[Mike132327]

** I am also playing around with the planting angle for future repot. I think it leaning to the right is the the best angle, I couldn’t get a pic with rain but will get one when I can.