Black Hills Spruce nursery stock

[James W.]

I bought a potted Black Hills Spruce (Picea glauca var. densata) from Lowes last weekend. It appears to have been dug recently and just dropped into a pot. The soil is fine sand/silt and washes away easily (and weighs like it is solid rock).
Can I re-pot this tree into good bonsai mix now? or would it be better to wait? I have no intention on doing any other work on it right now.

 

[leatherback]

I have just ast weekend semi-bare rooted a bunch of field-grown stock and planted it into substrate. To me it feels like (here) fall has arrived and we are in the fall-collection period. Probably a lot will depend on how clean you try to get things. I only remove the big segments of soil, leaving little bits between roots and innercore all to be dealt with at the next repot.

 

[penumbra]

Probably a lot will depend on how clean you try to get things. I only remove the big segments of soil, leaving little bits between roots and innercore all to be dealt with at the next repot.

I think this is the best advice you are going to get.

 

[James W.]

My inclination is to repot now. We are in late summer weather right now but that could change pretty quickly. I do not expect a hard frost for another month or so.
The soil it is in looks like it will all just fall away when I knock the pot off. I won't power wash the root ball but it will be pretty much bare root.

 

[hinmo24t]

id just add some good insulating top soil and wait it out, but your call.

im going to be damn busy in March onward this year unless i pull the trig to get jump start on some
plants in february (MA, damn cold winters where one in every 3 days can be freezing, and every other night temp)


next year*

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

I've repotted spruce in late summer, but not in autumn. You probably can "get away with it". I would otherwise just top up the pot and leave it until next year. Its really your call. Black Hills Spruce are pretty forgiving. You probably will get away with it either way.

 

[James W.]

I've repotted spruce in late summer, but not in autumn. You probably can "get away with it". I would otherwise just top up the pot and leave it until next year. Its really your call. Black Hills Spruce are pretty forgiving. You probably will get away with it either way.

My assumption is that because it was dug recently that any additional damage I do will be minimal compared to the damage already done. If the tree was essentially collected within the last couple of weeks has it begun to put put new rootlets that will be damaged now?

 

[Dav4]

My assumption is that because it was dug recently that any additional damage I do will be minimal compared to the damage already done. If the tree was essentially collected within the last couple of weeks has it begun to put put new rootlets that will be damaged now?

Yup. I'd recommend caution now and leave it alone until spring re-pot season.

 

[James W.]

I can wait.
What is ideal re-potting time?

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Most repot in spring, after the buds show some stirring, in that the buds have begun swelling and growing. But before the buds have moved too far.

Myself, in MY CLIMATE, Chicago-Milwaukee area, I have excellent results repotting between Aug 1 and Aug 30. My summers are relatively cool. If you have hot summers, more than 14 days above 90 F, I would advise in favor of spring repotting.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Pre and post repotting care makes a difference. I do not do drastic pruning the 6 months or so before I do serious root work. I do no pruning for at least one growing season after root work. I repot my spruces into pots with mostly inorganic media- pumice dominates, that will allow me to let the trees roots be undisturbed for 5 or more years at a time. I do not repot spruce very often.

 

[James W.]

Thank you.
Re-pot in spring 2021, start working in 2022.
The waiting is one thing that makes spruce difficult for beginners.

 

[James W.]

Well, wandered back past. Noticed 50% off . . .
Ended up getting two more at 25% of original price of $63.
Wifey is like .
One had been tipped over and spilled, I will repot it.
Pictures tomorrow.

 

[James W.]

 

[James W.]

Soil just fell away when I pulled the pot off. I didn't get it into its box very straight. Turned out to be a lot of work. I hope it survives.

 

[James W.]

The one I repotted got knocked over at about Christmas time, most of the soil dumped out of the pot. It never looked good even before that incident. It did not survive the winter.
I chickened out on repotting the other two this spring, they are looking good now but I will have to repot at some point to get them out of their fine sandy soil.
Question: can/should I start removing branches to eliminate bar branches now? Or should I wait for them to recover from root work which may occur this summer or next spring?

 

[James W.]

I trimmed them:
Before:

After:
The other one is similar.

 

[Backwardsvg]

Any update on these got the same size from HD today for 15 bucks. It’s in the same container and soil.

 

[James W.]

I repotted both of them early this spring, pretty much bare root. They are both doing well. I will post some update pictures in the next week or two.

 

[James W.]

Looking at my pictures, I did NOT bare root This spring. Dates were 4/2/22 and 4/8/22. I reduced the root ball too much on the first one and it is not doing as well. I will try to get some current pictures later this week.