“Tipping Back” Spruce

[Jzack605]

Wondering if anyone has found that they can tip back, or prune back, spruce past the first years growth with success. I’ve seen them in landscapes improperly hedged back to older needles and still seem to come back on occasion. So I’m wondering if there’s a little more leeway if you prune to the second or even third years growth without killing that branch.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

If there are viable and visible buds, then it might work.
It depends a whole lot on how much risk you're willing to take and the strength of the branch. I think Walter Pall said a couple of times that 'with spruce, you work with what you have'. And honestly, I agree that's the safest approach.

I don't know if post hardening pruning (bonsai mirai did a video about it recently) will help in backbudding. But I wouldn't cut back to the part of a branch where there are no buds.

 

[0soyoung]

I don't know if post hardening pruning (bonsai mirai did a video about it recently) will help in backbudding.

In my experience it will, but only if the tree is growing vigorously (aka healthy). Else it just accelerates the decline.

 

[raydomz]

I would suggest not going past viable buds on this years growth. Now, if caught early enough (re: before buds really extend - I pinch by blue's when the new growth is about 1" long) they can be pinched which will induce further budding at the base or even on the pinched shoot (sometimes right at the sight of the pinch). In time those pinched shoots are removed in favor of the new growth the pinching produced. If the growth has already begun to harden for the year your only choice is to cut to a young bud on that shoot. You can decide to cut it wherever you want and hope for a new push of buds on that shoot next year, but that is a 50/50 in my experience and you have to be ready for that shoot to ultimately be removed.

As mentioned above, work with what you have at the time and pinch/prune to provide more options. If you have long leggy branches it's not impossible to reduce the length but, it is a long process and don't expect dramatic results.

 

[penumbra]

Spruce... if there is green on the remaining branch it will make new buds. No doubt. Commercial growers shear the hell out of them.

 

[Jzack605]

Well we shall see! I experimented with how far you can take a blue spruce a few days ago. I’ll post results.

 

[penumbra]

By the way, what kind of spruce is it?

 

[jimib]

I have a blue spruce I was going to throw away because i thought it was dead. It literally sat out all winter in the open on its side half out of the pot. When I went to get it to throw away this spring it had me growth in several places, including on old wood.