I have used Al's Mix in many of my conifer containers and the conifers did great. This conifer probably grows a little faster than some of the one that I have planted but I think it will be ok for a few years in this pot. I assume the wooden pot has a good size hole for drainage?
Although conifers do not need much fertilizer, this mix probably does not contain much in the way of nutrients. Read the discussion by Al on fertilizer. Not much is needed, he has some very interesting discussion - see link decide for yourself -

BTW nice plant - Mike

Here is a link that might be useful: Fertilizer

Thanks for the response! Yes the wood planter has a large hole in the center in the bottom, and also water drains out in the cracks around the edges.

I figured I was going to need to do some fertilising. I am a bit familiar with Als gritty mix, and the perched water table issues that many container plants face, which is why I used it. The mix does drain rather fast.

I guess my main concern was the compacted / root bound root ball, and the breaking of some roots, especially since it has just started bud break.

I'm hoping to only have it in that container for 2 years at most, and if need be I will repot it in a larger pot after that, or hopefully by then it will go in the ground.

I could not resist bying this tree because I'm the type that likes the natural looking spruces with more traditional narrow crowns. Even though it was badly root / pot bound it was a great deal and I just had to have it. $60.00 at a local nursery.

the mix looks close enough ... bottom line.. its not perennial grade.. and you increased drainage significantly ...

i would keep it in shade for a couple weeks ...

you did the best you could.. or so it sounds.. and its a bargain.. i will yell.. QUIT WORRYING ABOUT IT ...

presuming you moistened the media before use ... just be very careful about how much water you give it ... and it really should not be all that much.. not like the daily dose for annuals and perennials ... insert finger .. rather than just giving it drinks all the time ...

i would not fert until it is less stressed ... and maybe not fall ... in your zone.. or next spring in mine ... it is a tree.. not a child.. it does not need to be fed ... but for the pot ... and we never fert stressed plants .. [i dont anyway]

good luck

ken

Thanks Ken! Appreciate the response and advice. The media was pretty damp (even kind of wet) before I planted it. The rootball was DRY DRY DRY. I gave it a very good dousing after planting, and it rained (finally) today. I don't think Ill be watering it nearly as much as other stuff. My potted trees I tend to water much less. Maybe once a week, and some of them much less than that. The only two trees I have found that wilt if they don't get water after about 5 days are my two red dwarf japanese maples. I have a few other conifers I need to repot, and at least one of them is likely to have the same root ball situation as this spruce did. It is dwarf blue atlas cedar (horstmans blue dwarf I think) and it is also VERY pot bound. I hope to get to that one next week.

So you think I should move it out of the sun for about a week huh? That pot is HEAVY! Its on the SE corner of the house and gets full sun for about the entire first half of the day up until about 2. Maybe what Ill do is pop a beach umbrealla over it for a week to give it shade. LOL! My neighbors are going to think I'm nuts. LMAO!

Thanks again for the advice! Much appreciated!

That pot is HEAVY!

==>>> welll .. DUH!! ... lol

if you foresee a gaggle of large pots in your future... think about investing in something like what is shown at the link . and the key.. is the larger lip on the bottom .. not just some 3 inch thingee ... i think it might be called the nose plate

closest i could find to mine ... is at the link .... you can move anything with these.. including washers out of basements.. etc .... i even add a sheet of 5/8 plywood to the nose.. when i need a solid base .... look for weight capacity.. and air tires [better for stair use, and rolling on grass] .... and i did buy mine local ... but i dont remember where ...

below is a pic of mine hoiking a roll of irrigation tape.. in a box that came with the barn ... and let me tall you.. it aint easy to roll 450 feet across grass.. over non-flat grass ...

ken
{{gwi:687088}}

Here is a link that might be useful: mine is like D with the optional nose extension ...

So, not that I don't love and trust Ken, but anyone else want to weigh in? Just wondering. I have another one to do next week that has not broken bud yet.

Appreciate it. Thanks yall!

If it was in low light conditions over the winter I wouldn't keep it there. It will need to slowly adjust to the increased sun levels.

Otherwise I wouldn't worry about it. During very hot dry spells I might shade the container though.

so what.. i give you the truth ..

and you reject it.. and ask for other opinions.. looking for one more likely more favorable to what you already have decided to do ...

just like mythbusters.. i reject your reality.. and substitute my own ...

rotflmbo ... good luck

ken

I've used variations of the Gritty Mix for many of my conifers, maples, citrus, et cetera.

First, the bark in your mix is larger than ideal - the mix calls for bark particles in the range
from 1/8 to 1/4 inch.

Secondly, did you remove the old soil from the middle of the root-ball? This is very important,
as you don't want two dissimilar types of media in the same container. It makes maintaining
even moisture much more difficult.

After re-potting, you'll need to keep the mix moist so that roots in the upper layers don't
dry out while you're waiting for the lower layers of the mix to dry. Once the tree is established,
you won't have to water as often. Indeed, shade the tree for a couple weeks to help it adjust.

Plants in containers must be fed, and you'll experience the best results if you fertilize your
tree regularly so that adequate levels of nutrients are always present in the mix. The Gritty Mix
offers no nutrition of its own, so you must shoulder the burden of feeding this tree. I fertilize every
one to two weeks during Spring and Fall, and I limit the fertilizer during the peak heat of Summer.

Josh

Novaplantguy

Great plant. I bought one that size for cheap last summer at Menards. I planted it last fall and it's doing well this spring so far.

I also plant a few of my conifers in the gritty mix and have had pretty good luck so far. I did lose a couple last year, but it was before I found the below info on repotting evergreens. I was treating evergreens like decidous trees/shrubs... Sorry, for not putting up the link. I cut and pasted this from an email I sent myself after I found it last fall.

"RE: Trees in Containers

Posted by tapla z5b-6a MI (My Page) on
Mon, Apr 14, 08 at 20:06

Generally speaking, the more natural genetic vigor a plant has, the better it tolerates root-pruning, but then comes along a plant like bougies that ARE vigorous but don't tolerateroot work well. That they (evergreens) do or don't tolerate it well, doesn't negate their need for root maintenance though, so I'll describe the safe way to root-prune the evergreens.

The first time you do root work on your plant, and after depotting, remove the bottom 1/4 - 1/3 of the root mass with a pruning saw. You aren't going to bare root the evergreens, unless you know they tolerate it well. Instead, remove the soil from 3 pie-shaped sections from the remaining roots. These sections should be conservative in size the first time you undertake the pruning (until you're able to gage tolerance) and should only remove about 1/3 - 1/2 of the remaining roots. Concentrate on removing the larger roots in the wedges and leaving the smaller roots. Buttress roots remain. Add soil to the bottom of the new container so the tree will sit at an appropriate height and fill the wedges with soil. Use a wooden chopstick to settle the soil firmly around the roots & water well.

Firmly securing the plant to the container to prevent movement of the plant in relationship to the container will fractionalize reestablishment time by preventing wind breakage of fine rootage.

The next time you work on the roots, concentrate on cutting wedges from the oldest part of the soil/root mass, away from your most recent efforts. In this way, you can replace the old rootage & soil in 2 or 3 sessions over several years while keeping your tree root-healthy. The equivalent work on the above ground parts of shrubs/bushes would be called cyclic rejuvenation pruning, which is basically removing 1/3 of the stems (trunks) of a multi-trunked shrub/bush each year and concentrating on the most vigorous (removing the largest). This type of pruning completely rejuvenates the shrub over 3 years & insures the wood remains young and vigorous."

I agree with Ken, keep it in the shade for a while. The SE corner of your home probably isn't that bad? The hot afternoon sun is what is really damaging for most plants that are newly potted. A shade cloth might help? Who cares what your neighbors think...

Thanks for the responses!

Ken, I don't reject what you said at all! I appreciate it very much! Your posts and knowledge is always very valuable. I just like to hear from multiple sources is all. =o)

I did the best I could with the root ball. I did not hose it off or anything. I did just what I sated. I did managed to get up inside of it from under neath, but no I did not get all of the media out of it. Just some of it.

The media is the best I could do for now. Its pretty close, but nothing is perfect. Its 100% better than anything peaty that is for sure.

I think I will wait on fertilising it for a while. Its been one week since I did the work / repotted it and it seems to be doing just fine. The new growth is pushing out and the whole plant seems to be pretty healthy so far. Only time will tell for sure, but I think it is going to be ok at this point.

The tree was outdoors all winter and did get plenty of sun during the winter, in the morning. Where it is now It gets plenty of sun until about 1PM or so. Then is shaded by a large sugar maple tree for pretty much the rest of the day. I suppose if necessary later in the season I might put up some sort of shading for it, but given that it is getting mainly morning sun I think its in a good place. Last summer it was in a smiliar situation on the SW side of our place but also getting shaded from 2 or 3pm on. Its also fairly protected from wind except for SW/SE or E or NE wins. The wind direction for very strong winds is almost always W, NW, and on occasion SW.

Another thing I should not and you can see this in the photo is that the branches go all the way to the ground / media, so the media remains fairly shaded. IE its not baking in hot sun nor drying out fast on top. Suffice it to say I check it every day to see how its doing, how fast its drying..etc and so far its been ok. We also had a couple of pretty rainy days here this week too so I have not had to water it much after its initial watering when I repotted it.

Ill keep you up to date on it though. and probably post a photo of the others when I repot them. Thanks again for all the good advice!

Ken

I should have mentioned that you should wait two weeks after re-potting to fertilize.
Soils that are cool and low in *initial* fertility are conducive to root-growth, and
root-growth is precisely what you want when putting a plant in a new medium.

Josh