radhatter
Sapling
Starting this thread to detail the journey of my yamadori engelmann spruce.
Collected originally in October of 2009 from somewhere along the White River in Washington State and came to me in exchange for money in May of 2024.
This was it in the state that I received it. Growing fairly strong but certainly some leggy branching and multiple leaders. Hard to see in the center is that a lot of these branches originate from a single area just below the old broke apex of the tree. Concerned about inverse taper I decided before too long I would decide on a leader and thin this area out but I decided to take some time to admire and study the tree, as well as learn what I could about the species. Into a sunny space it went and it sat happily through spring, summer, and into fall.
I read that the best time to wire and work on engelmann spruce to minimize chance of die back is the fall, so as I felt that crisp in the air in mid October I got to work. I formulated a plan and decided on a front, a trunk line, and a dream. A single apex was chosen, the branches that didn’t fit into the vision were removed, and some light wiring was done. The branches are admittedly leggy but there are back buds all over the place so the plan for the next few years will be to fertilize and keep it happy as I prune back further and further to get the foliage closer to the trunk.
Here is the tree today, post repotting. March has come and temperatures are raising. The buds are swelling and I’ve spotted the bits of green as the first one or two buds begin to open. I decided now is the time to get it into a new pot. I chose a larger pot that it may eventually live in but I want to give it some room to spread its roots and recover from the repotting. As far as I can tell it’s been in that black pot for many many years, possibly since collection. It was absolutely full of roots and circling quite a bit but there were a lot of fibrous roots as well. This year’s plan is to let it recover and fill out again. I may do some light pinching to encourage more back budding. Engelmann spruce has a tendency to only send out one bud at the end of new growth as opposed to some other spruces which will have buds all along new growth that you can cut back to.
While the needles can be sharp, the tree has a lovely blue cast to its foliage and this particular tree has such wonderful movement, it’s a real privilege to have it in my garden.
Thanks for reading and if you’ve got experience with this species or any other tidbits of advice, please feel free to leave a note!
Collected originally in October of 2009 from somewhere along the White River in Washington State and came to me in exchange for money in May of 2024.
This was it in the state that I received it. Growing fairly strong but certainly some leggy branching and multiple leaders. Hard to see in the center is that a lot of these branches originate from a single area just below the old broke apex of the tree. Concerned about inverse taper I decided before too long I would decide on a leader and thin this area out but I decided to take some time to admire and study the tree, as well as learn what I could about the species. Into a sunny space it went and it sat happily through spring, summer, and into fall.
I read that the best time to wire and work on engelmann spruce to minimize chance of die back is the fall, so as I felt that crisp in the air in mid October I got to work. I formulated a plan and decided on a front, a trunk line, and a dream. A single apex was chosen, the branches that didn’t fit into the vision were removed, and some light wiring was done. The branches are admittedly leggy but there are back buds all over the place so the plan for the next few years will be to fertilize and keep it happy as I prune back further and further to get the foliage closer to the trunk.
Here is the tree today, post repotting. March has come and temperatures are raising. The buds are swelling and I’ve spotted the bits of green as the first one or two buds begin to open. I decided now is the time to get it into a new pot. I chose a larger pot that it may eventually live in but I want to give it some room to spread its roots and recover from the repotting. As far as I can tell it’s been in that black pot for many many years, possibly since collection. It was absolutely full of roots and circling quite a bit but there were a lot of fibrous roots as well. This year’s plan is to let it recover and fill out again. I may do some light pinching to encourage more back budding. Engelmann spruce has a tendency to only send out one bud at the end of new growth as opposed to some other spruces which will have buds all along new growth that you can cut back to.
While the needles can be sharp, the tree has a lovely blue cast to its foliage and this particular tree has such wonderful movement, it’s a real privilege to have it in my garden.
Thanks for reading and if you’ve got experience with this species or any other tidbits of advice, please feel free to leave a note!
