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Norway Spruce Struggling

9 years ago

I had three Norway Spruce (10 to 12 ft tall) planted in the fall. All are in optimal conditions. This spring two of the three have a lot of new growth. The third has NO new growth and it's June 17th. i don't know if there's a problem. should i remove and look at rootball, replant etc or just sit tight and see what happens.
Thanks nancy

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Comments (6)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
9 years ago
if it hasnt budded out by now.. i would say it is dead ..

and that its growing conditions were NOT optimal ...

that is all i can surmise w/o a pic..

talk with your seller ...

ken

ps: i dont know how you look at a 12 foot tall trees root mass ... and then replant it ...
thetman
9 years ago
don't give up yet. is the tree browning at all? I had two nor ways I was worried about this spring. they seemed to lose some their green and were dropping a few needles with no buds at all- while all the others were already budding or were in full bud mode. not until last week did I see signs of buds and now I am certain they will be fine. many have budded a month ago already! Like Ken says- a pic would help a lot. we had a colder than normal winter here like a lot of folks so I think it was a bit much for some trees that weren't fully adapted yet.
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I'm very sorry to hear about this bad experience. With the lack of jobs and the economy, suddenly there's a lot of "landscapers" out there looking for work online. I've tried dealing with some of them and they may be well intentioned and ready to work but they really don't know the first thing about landscaping or even good cultural practices. The ones that do... they aint advertising online. Here's what you need to know so that this doesn't happen again. -->Know what to plant that's appropriate for the site. Doublecheck online or here for opinions before plants are selected. -->Know how to plant properly the first time and supervise. In the south, digging ends pretty much by the end of March. If it aint dug by then, hold off until the trees drop leaves and harden off in winter or in the case of evergreens, wait until the deciduous trees do this. Evergreens in general are harder to transplant. -->Do not plant during the summer, especially if you can't water daily until established. -->Even if someone has good feedback/reviews online, ask for references and go see actual projects that they have completed and go by and look at them and try to talk to the owner to verify. If you can't find any that appear to know how to plant a tree, or they are all super expensive, that's ok... just find someone who is receptive to your input and does not claim to be an expert that already knows how to do it. It sounds like the underlying issue here is that you took a cold climate tree and tried to grow it in the south. Then your gardener tried to monkey with it in the heat. Then dug it up again and replanted it. That's enough to kill even a well adapted plant let alone a norway spruce.
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Winter was fairly typical of Utah...nothing out of the ordinary, but the tree was doing great this spring. A plethora of soft new buds like the previous year and it was looking great up until a few weeks ago. On the back side of the tree the new buds are still unaffected by whatever is bothering this tree, but I do see a few branches starting to brown on the back side (just hasn't started dropping needles like the front side yet), so maybe the whole thing is a goner. The shallow roots can only be from this tree, there isn't anything else close by ,except for a couple of hostas. Again though, this tree has been in the ground and doing great for almost 3 years. It had new growth last spring and new growth this spring. Looked good until a month ago. I didn't change watering habits but have read on other threads that watering can be an issue so I was hoping it would an easy fix...the shallow roots made me scratch my head so I'm thinking there is something amiss there or possibly a disease. I realize it is dying and am hoping for some suggestions to help me pinpoint the problem. Not sure where to turn. I'm not sure what Dave means by a bad dig? Are you saying that I possibly damaged the feeder roots when I dug around the tree to check moisture levels or that it was planted wrong a few years ago? Thanks for the input. I really do appreciate it! Hope I can save this little tree!
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Embothrium Thanks for your response. I'm not looking to prune the top but am wondering about the branches coming up the sides from the base. Is this supposed to be a single trunk tree? Are those two branches growing along side of the trunk a leader situation? You mention "a lean near the base." Overall the tree visually seems to be straight upright but in the pictures I see what you mean; is that a sign of girdling already or is the main trunk slightly curved? When planting I don't recall specifically what the root ball was like. I did the four cuts down the sides of the root ball and a cross on the bottom and soaked the ball to tease out the roots. I'm struggling to recall but it seems I pruned off the worst of the deformed roots. 60 feet? I hope it took a long time to reach that height! My tree isn't under an overhang and I'm not emotionally attached to it. I don't mind replacing it if I'm still here when it gets too big. Kay
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nancy0903
Original Author
9 years ago
I don't know how to attach photos. I will hope that the last Spruce buds out this week - Thanks,
nancy
wisconsitom
9 years ago
Yes, you're right in thinking that by now, all spruce should be into new growth phase. But.........Norway spruce are among the most resilient things I've ever seen. It would not be totally shocking if it still had a surprise or two up its sleeve. But at this point, it's up to your own tolerance for waiting and wondering. And afterall, it is nearly July, so you may simply have to face the fact that one of your transplants died-a not unusual occurence, Norway spruce or other species.

+oM
thetman
9 years ago
the two nor ways I mentioned have budded but not full yet - I know its crazy that its almost july. when all others have fully budded out a while ago. don't understand it- but just happy they are still among the living. don't give up hope- unless you see massive needle droppings and discoloration in the tree. Actually last year I had a norway lose many needles from mites. this year it looks fine. tough trees.
wisconsitom
9 years ago
On this general subject, most of the Picea pungens, P. abies, and whatever else is scattered about, look better than they have in years around here. This following an extremely cold winter. I have no idea whether or not the two circumstances are related. But take P. pungens for example: In the last few years, between foliar blights, cytospora canker, and whatever other maladies seemed to be afflicting this tree, it really looked terrible more often than not. This year, there appears to be a rather amazing degree of recovery taking place. Norway spruce, just generally being a more fit species for most of the E. half of the US, never looked as bad, but certain individuals certainly were ragged. Now this year, even these seem to be improved.

We've had copious rainfall and of course, that has helped immensely. But last year was very wet also, and the improvement was not yet so obvious as it is now.

Sorry OP, I guess I like talking about spruce!

+oM

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