Opinions on this spruce material

[potatofarmer]

supposedly blue spruce. I thought they would be more blue like others ive seen around. is it a tree maturity thing that is changing the colour to more green or is it actually not colorado spruce and some other variety?

they are in #5 pots and only 10 bucks cad each. it seems like a good deal? i'm thinking of picking some up. fingers crossed that i can find one with some interesting look trunk feature and it will fit in my small sedan car.

#5 is a pretty huge pot. i dont know if i can even get the root system to fit into a smaller pot. might turn out to be a giant boondoggle lol.

 

[Colorado]

Could still be Colorado Blue Spruce. Some are much more blue than others. Have fun!

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Pretty washed out photo, yet it seems there are some Colorado Blue Spruces in the background. Maybe on the right too, but so washed out not sure.

Would check if there is a graft, if so look for a good one.

There are pots for #5 trees. If one is going big, might as well continue the trend.

Cheers
DSD sends

 

[potatofarmer]

alright. sounds like you're encouraging me. i'm going. 10 bucks for that seems too good to pass up.

 

[jszg]

10 bucks is a steal honestly as long as they're healthy... I'd be tempted to get a few, a spruce forest sounds great, especially with big trees like those.

 

[potatofarmer]

10 bucks is a steal honestly as long as they're healthy... I'd be tempted to get a few, a spruce forest sounds great, especially with big trees like those.

true. judging by the picture they look fine. I will need to see up close.

 

[potatofarmer]

here's some of what i got. there is some die back and dead needles.
i dont know if it's disease though. opinions?
it kind of seems like neglect, like these had been sitting in these pots for the last 10 years. the soil level is only half way full so the root work should not be much of a problem after all.

there was some that were even more curvy but i ended up prioritizing healthy looking ones over bends. some of them didn't have any new growth on the bottom branches, so that's not good at all.

should i spray them with 1:30 lime sulfur?

 

[Cruiser]

The blue hue varies from tree to tree.

It comes from a whitish waxy coating on the needles. The word for this is glaucous.
New needles have more coating so they are “bluer”, but it rubs off/fades over time so they end up looking greener eventually.

Those trees look fine from here. As they’ve grown, older interior needles were shed/neglected in favor of newer distal ones. This is normal, especially if trees were packed into a large group and not open grown.
I probably would not spray them. Close up pictures of the needles would help diagnose if there is a disease.

You can promote new growth lower on the trunk. Blue spruce are capable of epicormic branching. They will bud directly from bare wood as long as there is healthy foliage between it and the roots. For this to happen you will need to fertilize and provide plenty of sun.

Here is a local blue spruce with epicormic branches low on its trunk. Old knot indicators from the original whorled branches are visible.

 

[potatofarmer]

well i sprayed it..

and i had to prune the roots but not that aggressively. hopefully it survives.

there's lots of dead buds on the one ive dealt with so far. some of them there did not look good at all. hopefully this one will start thriving now that it's not packed in and getting some tlc.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Not much to say after the trigger was pulled….

 

[potatofarmer]

Not much to say after the trigger was pulled….

not too interesting material to your eye or?

i forgot to even check if they were grafted. i was too concerned with all the dead lower branches and lack of new growth on some of them.

but they are not grafted.

 

[The Barber]

not too interesting material to your eye or?

i forgot to even check if they were grafted. i was too concerned with all the dead lower branches and lack of new growth on some of them.

but they are not grafted.

I think he wanted to say, don't do root work this time of year, but since it is already done, too late to go back in time.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Sorry.

Not that, reacting to the spraying of your tree(s). Without a known pathogen to react to can put the tree’s health back l

Best
DSD sends

 

[Paradox]

The point about timing of repotting is valid too. Summer not the best time for most species unless you really know what you're doing

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

The point about timing of repotting is valid too. Summer not the best time for most species unless you really know what you're doing

…and that is very true! Better to bulk out the trees until at least next year. You’ll get to know the trees better and have time to make better decisions. We have a good deal of stock in the yard growing out awaiting the right time for a repot.

Hey@paradox

Just noticed 9997!

Cheers

 

[potatofarmer]

Sorry.

Not that, reacting to the spraying of your tree(s). Without a known pathogen to react to can put the tree’s health back l

Best
DSD sends

it looks like needle cast. i dont just do things for no reason. lol.

 

[potatofarmer]

The point about timing of repotting is valid too. Summer not the best time for most species unless you really know what you're doing

since they were only 10 bucks i'm willing to chance it. the other 2 i have i might wait until next year.

 

[Paradox]

since they were only 10 bucks i'm willing to chance it. the other 2 i have i might wait until next year.

yea you dont have a lot invested at that price so worth a shot

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

it looks like needle cast. i dont just do things for no reason. lol.

Would have been nice to know that. Wouldn’t of posted in that case.

 

[potatofarmer]

Would have been nice to know that. Wouldn’t of posted in that case.

sorry my mistake. thx for posting anyways.