Welcome aboard janann, All your answers are right here on this forum. If at all possible...post along a couple photos concerning your trees for accurate responses.
Al

we definitely need pix for the best info ... can you provide them??

ken

ps: i was going to say.. the emails are in your SENT box.. but you used GW ...

pps: you said this:

And we bought four conifers a couple of weeks ago. (partly your fault as I read your posts. :) ) And now we need to stake/train them and everything we read contradicts the other and confuses us. So I am hoping you will take the time to answer my emails and tell us what to do. So....we have weeping norway spruce that we want to train to go upwards more, as it is wanting to weep over already and be short, but when we took it out of the pot we were surprised to see it has a small root ball. Do we need to stake the bottom? If so how? Then how do we train the top part to grow upwards? I will go look up the name of the other one and send you a seperate email on that one. Thank you, Janann

and you said this:
Next question, so this guy we want to train to grow up straight, or as straight as we can get him to grow. In his pot he was leaning slightly at the bottom, and then he bends about halfway up, making the whole tree growing at roughly a 45 degree angle. We planted him slightly crooked, which straightened the base of his trunk so now the first two feet of him are going straight up. My idea, hubby thinks this was bad. Was this alright? Now how do I train top part of him to grow straighter? Or do I need to dig him up, plant his back according to how he was potted and start over? And by the way, it wasn't much of an angle, planted on a slight angle, so did not cover the root ball more on one side than the other. Hopefully this all makes sense. Once again if you can tell us what to do with these beautiful trees, we would really appreciate it. And don't worry about telling us who is right or wrong, you don't have to do marriage counseling, we will figure that out on our own.

Ask the husband if he would buy a cut Christmas tree that was bare at the bottom, and display that without shortening the stem so the branches came to near the floor.

Grafted conifers I see at outlets here pretty much invariably are trapped on terribly root-bound root-stocks. Hence, no doubt the small ball of the Norway spruce, and probably the floppiness of both. I've thrown out a grafted Nootka cypress I couldn't fix the roots of at planting - I don't want a tree I plant to pivot over (or break loose) on bad roots years later, after the top gets heavy enough.

hmmm, I have never done this before, so we will see if it works. If so this is the photo of the Picea Orientalis 'Nutans' that we planted at a slight angle to straighten the trunk. Now we need to straighten the top so it doesn't grow up under the eaves. :) J

It worked! Now the photo of the other guy we want to at least go out if not up for awhile. The post is just stuck in the ground. My hubby found it in the shop and thought it might work. And that is as far as we got. This is the guy with the small root ball. Thanks! J

and here is another photo of the first guy, so maybe you can see the his bend better. J

I wouldn't point it at the house due to the unsettling psychological effect. And the possibility of it actually growing up to lean against the house. Unless it straightens itself out.

The other one is, as usual a 'Reflexa' and looks like it was attacked by rabbits with the bottom having been pruned off - not an attractive effect. It will bend to the ground unless you tie it in and stake it up. The stake you have now is only a little taller than the tree is now, will not be able to do much to get the tree taller - you need the pole to go as high as you want the tree to be, as it will head back to the ground from wherever the high point of the support is.

Cultivar name refers to how the branches go down and then up on the ends. It is usually sold as 'Pendula'.

hmmm.. whats the deal with that school back there.. looks like very school built in MI in the late 50's ... lol .. are you in MI???

now.. riddle me this batman ... why do you want that taller one so close to the house ...there isnt even a window there to look at it from inside ...

crikey.. the bed looks like it goes another 6 to 8 feet wider... put it out there ...

and when you plant it.. forget about it being straight out of the ground.. PLANT IT CROOKED... so the TOP IS STRAIGHTER ... i am not going back to read who wins in the marriage bonanza.. lol ...

since it was just planted.. do it now..

if its been there since spring .. leave it be until later sept ....

you can not start pulling back a branch.. on a newly planted tree.. there arent any roots to hold it in place while you do that ....

the other one .... LISTEN TO ME.. i will send you an application for the WEIRDER THE BETTER CLUB ... enjoy it for whatever it wants to become ...if you wanted a straight one.. you should have bought such .. [but do get rid of the tiny shipping bamboo and pull ties .... and the big pipe while you are at it ...]

you have a couple real nice specimens there ... enjoy them for what they are.. rather than forcing them into some preconceived notion of what you think they should be.. kinda like teenagers ...

what do you think???

ken

ps: did you amend the planting hole or any of that nonsense... if so.. replant it properly ...

I am in central Iowa Ken, I am sure there was only one school blueprint for the midwest in the 50's. But it is nice to have it back there, it is kind of like having a great big yard to play in, that someone else mows. Thus I can keep planting hostas and trees on my half acre until the grass is gone. :)

Ok, this conifer thing....what is amend the planting hole? What is plant properly? You might as well give the whole lecture if I am about to start over. I like the weirder the better, but I want the tree by the house to be somewhat upright. And if I planted it straight, it would be even more crooked, straight out of the pot the top pointed at a 45 degree angle if not more. The person we bought it from told us to stake it to make it go straight. I was so overwhelmed by all the choices when we left there I couldn't remember how they said to stake it. Now you tell me not to stake it. Feeling overwhelmed again. LOL So the one in the back, I would gladly let it be as weird as it wants to be, but I just thought i am going to have a whole tree on the ground if I didn't try to get that top branch to go up a bit initially. So I am still confused.....

And the rabbit comment, don't get me started on the bunnies! The bunnies didn't do that, but if you could see what all they have done to my clematis and the hostas, you would know that there is a war going on here. I wouldn't be so upset, but they don't even eat them, just chew the leaves off and drop them on the ground. And the clematis they eat to the ground early in the spring, and now they are just chewing the stems in two on the ones that did make it up the fence. I am one of four girls, and I always joked about being my Dad's only boy. I was the one that went hunting and fishing with him. So my DH, who didn't grow up doing any of that, was shocked at what a good shot his wife is. I have tried spray, and still spray, I have put bloodmeal under the gazebo, pirate ship and deck along with moth balls, and I have a live trap. But now that school is out, my Dad's pellet gun and I have moved 8 bunnies out of the neighborhood for good. So they had better not touch my trees. Our little town is overrun with rabbits.

Ok, I know now Ken is going to tell me that I am reminding him of Caddyshack and the gofer thing.

I am now awaiting further instructions....

I have the same problem with the rabbits ( here they are jackrabbits almost as big as deer) - they chew off branches and leave them lying there. Makes me nuts!

Sara

Ps i am a member of Ken's 'weirder the better club'

Hi Janann,

try as you might, I doubt that you're going to get Picea orientalis 'Nutans' to become a straight symetrical tree. They all seem to want to grow off at an angle like that, the lateral branches later weeping downward. If it were my tree, I would reverse its direction.

That's why I like this tree; it has character.

~Dave