Help! Is this normal for a Blue Spruce?

10 years ago

WARNING!!! DO NOT DO BUSINESS with Oregon Grown Nurseries LLC

This seller offered me a full refund for the poor examples of trees shown below, but upon return of the plants, the seller stopped responding to communications, kept the plants AND kept my money!!!

Seller info:

Oregon Grown Nursuries LLC
www.Japanesemaplesandevergreens.com
Email: oregrongrownnurseries@yahoo.com
Located in Vancouver, WA

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Original Post:

I just bought the two Fat Albert blue spruce trees pictured below over the internet and was surprised at how they looked when they arrived. One tree looks like it has a severe case of scoliosis and the other, while to me seems better, is still not as straight or evenly proportioned as I would have expected (the "branch" at the top is larger and heavier than the more upright/staked part of the tree). These are obviously young, grafted trees, but I figured they would have been a little more, I'll say, blue spruce-like in appearance.

Are my expectations unreasonable or is there something wrong with them? Can/should I do anything to help facilitate straight and healthy growth other than plant them in a bigger pot, water them, and make sure they get the right amount of sun (prune, stake, etc.)? Should I give up on these and buy a better example from another nursery?

For what it's worth, I looked, but could not find an example of what a blue spruce should look like until 3 or 4 years old. I can only assume these are much younger.

Thanks in advance for helping someone who hasn't planted or grown anything in over 20 years.

This post was edited by vapa11 on Wed, Jul 31, 13 at 20:37

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (11)

vapa11
Original Author
10 years ago
2nd Angle
0
vapa11
Original Author
10 years ago
2nd Tree
0
Related Discussions
Blue Spruce HELP (Pictures)
Q
Comments (7)
no ..no..no ... photobucket spammed me with popups.... NOT YOU ... dont worry about that ... leave bro alone.. lol ... the one that is damaged.. might be a goner .... perhaps its root system was bad when they dug it from a field ... the others look fine ... you need to insure proper watering ... see link about watering ... and lets discuss how you water them ... if you have any uncertainty .... they are conifers.. and there is a conifer forum ... ONLY if you are interested in other conifers.. conifers are trees.. so we all hang out here also ... no need to duplicate your post there ... the lawn looks rather weed free... was it sprayed with weed killer.. any time this year??? its been less than a year... do you have a warranty ... and if so... talk to your seller ... ken Here is a link that might be useful: link
...See More
Blue Spruce Dying HELP!!!!
Q
Comments (1)
Jdog- Congrats on the baby, sorry to hear about your tree. That's a great way to memorialize a big event, however it would have been smarter to wait until the spring to plant it. At a 6 ft. tall, you most likely bought at a nursery, and they will usually have a warranty. However, in Nov. I'm going to guess it was heavily discounted, and possibly not under warranty at the Disc. price. Check with the nursery. If you happened to find one that large at one of the big box stores, exercise the warranty, they will take anything back no matter what you paid for it. I would call the nursery where you got it and inquire about what to do, or have them come look at it. November might have been pushing it a little bit. Depends on the year, and how late in Nov. it was. I try not to plant anything after Oct. 31 in west central Ohio. From my experience though, once a conifer starts dropping needles at greater rates than normal, there is almost nothing you can do to bring it back. For conifers to dry is better than to wet, though neither is good. Someone with more expertise may be able to give you some better advise then me, but that's my experiences for what it's worth. Eliot P.S. It's never to late to plant another one, and you can have the baby out there with you for the planting too. Would be kind of neat to have a plaque or rock engraved or something that you can sit in front of it with the name/date etc. I've done that for a couple of trees before.
...See More
What's a better choice - blue spruce or norway spruce
Q
Comments (26)
Wow - you dug up a seriously old post! So I did end up planting a very long screen -- basically the entire length of the property line -- and I'm actually really happy with how it turned out. We used Thuja Green Giant arborvitae in the center where the tallest part of the house we are trying to block out is -- we planted them a decent distance apart, not all jammed up like I see people do for a property line screen. They have grown fast, widened out, and are basically almost up to the roof of the house we are trying to hide. I think they should cap out right about 35 feet or so, which won't block the view. We planted a few during our initial planting then filled in with a few more a couple years later -- those later plantings are a bit stunted - not sure if it's because we squeezed them into less space or they were just inferior to begin with (originals came from a nursery and were planted by a landscaper, later ones from Home Depot and we DIYed them). But they are all growing well and healthy, and seem impervious to deer, wind, cold, snow, etc. To the sides of the arborvitate, we used Nellie Stevens hollies. They too have grown fast. They don't much care for the wind -- they ended up looking pretty bad by the end of the last two winters (which were brutally cold and windy) but they filled in with new leaves in the spring. The deer don't seem to eat them either. And again, I think they cap out at 20 feet or so. To the sides of that (which is getting away from blocking the house and now just screening their yard from ours) we used forsythias planted very close together that we let grow wild into a thick hedge -- mainly because I love forsythia. It's not evergreeen but the hedge is so thick and branches are so close together that it does a decent job of screening even in winter. And in spring when it is in bloom, it is an absolutely stunning wall of yellow. Again the deer don't bother them and they seem to grow well without much care. And finally at the very end of the property lines, we used sea green junipers -- again, we were looking for something evergreen but it didn't need to be tall - we were only trying to hide the neighbor's "junk pile" which was unfortunately located so that it was the first thing you saw when you pulled into our driveway. Those are the plants that look the sickliest -- there's always big brown patches in them and the snow breaks the branches. But they are farthest from the house and from far away they look ok, so I don't mind them. I think if I had to do it over again, I'd have used all forsythia instead of also using juniper -- the forsythia are just so amazingly gorgeous when they are in bloom. I would take a picture for you but we are in the middle of a storm right now -- if I remember, I will get one tomorrow. Here's a link to a pic of what it looked like when we first planted itin 2009: Newly planted And here's a shot from the summer of 2012 (sorry for lousy pic -- best I could find): Three years old I would say that this year it really started to look good since the green giants are basically touching now.
...See More
2 Questions on Norway Spruce transplant and Blue Spruce color
Q
Comments (3)
cal ... do not buy the picea pungens .... wait until spring ... to verify its spring color .... the blue.. is a waxy coating.. its is prime.. the best ... at spring flush .. this is when you buy an unnamed variety ... if you want to buy now.. you buy a named variety.. [of which we can provide names and mail order places] ... and do to such.. there will be predictability of color .. as a waxy coating.. it wears off to some extent.. over the summer.. high heat.. rain storms... sprinklers.. just to piss you off ..... etc ... so they all dull up to some extent.. as summer rolls by ... if you look in the interior.. you will see 2 and 3 years old needles.. nearing the green color all needles are.. under the wax.. this is all normal .. regardless.. BUY A NAMED VARIETY ... even if you have to buy smaller and mail order ... and it will make your toes tingle.. too many peeps buy unnamed seedlings... which are kinda blue.. and hope they will be like the ones that make your toes curl ... odds are.. it wont be .... go for quality .. over the instant gratification of size.. pic below of my Picea pungens Hoopsi.. at spring flush.. showing its annual growth.. starting from a one gallon ... one foot turd ... ken it was a blue turd.. lol...
...See More
vapa11
Original Author
10 years ago
2nd tree, angle 2
0
Smivies (Ontario - 5b)
10 years ago
A Fat Albert spruce that size doesn't need to have a straight trunk. It will quickly out grow it's current form once it establishes and starts growing strongly. Who cares that the first 12" are crooked on a 10' tree?

A bigger concern...why are you buying one of the most common Blue Spruce cultivars through mail order? It should be available everywhere, from Costco & Home Depot, to the best local garden centers.
0
clement_2006
10 years ago
It's a very poor plant, I hope you pay a very little price for that.
Clement
0
ricksample
10 years ago
You probably could have got a 1 gallon fat albert at Home Depot for $15. Smivies is correct... it may grow out of it in 10-15 years. You won't see the trunk on it when it's 10' tall x 5' wide. However, I've tossed things away that were shipped to me like that. I couldn't stand to look at them for the next 5+ years until they covered the bad aftercare of the graft. Who sold you that poor plant? Complain to the seller that they should not sell material like that and request a refund.
0
coniferjoy
10 years ago
You bought some rubbish instead of plants!
A good nurseryman would have repotted them in time so the result was a full sized plant without a bald underpart...
0
vapa11
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks for the feedback. I have asked the seller for a refund, but have not gotten a response yet. I will give the nursery the benefit of the doubt for now, but if this is not resolved in a fair and timely manner (i.e. refund), I will certainly share the name of the nursery so others don't have to experience the same problem.
0
vapa11
Original Author
10 years ago
WARNING: DISHONEST SELLER

See update to initial post.
0
ricksample
10 years ago
What a dumb company... I've said it before and I'll say it again... companies that request bad looking plants like are horrible companies. They spend so much of there time responding of complaints and thinking of new business names (because they keep getting bad reputations and have to contently change there name)... it would be much easier to produce a great product that make customers want to come back. Instead they produce very lousy products... get a ton of complains... tell people to send the plants back for a refund... then they do it all over again under a different company name.

A lot of these generic companies request the plant back because they are banking on the fact that you won't since you have to pay additional for shipping. As soon as they tell you to ship the plant back... most will say well it's not really worth the added shipping cost. However, you called there bluff.... yet they took the cowards way out of not responding and probably even blocked your e-mail lol.
0
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
10 years ago
BTW ...

blue spruce is a common term .... for a seed grown plant...

not all seed grown blue spruce are blue ... based on the genetics of the seed strain ...

and not all blues are equal ... some pop your eyes out.. some dull steel blue ....

that is one reason yours were cheap ...

the proper name is Picea pungens .... and from there you add names in quotes ...

and if you want a really blue one ..... you find one of the EXTRAordinary NAMED plants ... and pay a lot more than you paid for yours ...

some of the cultivars that are extra ordinary are Hoppsi.. thomsen. otto von bismarck .... etc... etc. ...

and then you can find ones that have the typical annual growth rate.. all the way down to the minis & dwarfs .... along the lines of St Mary ...

sooooo... if you really want a spectacular BLUE Picea pungens.. go for it ...

we had a dozen or so posts.. about PREFERRED sellers .... and this place wasnt one of them .... but i dont recall you asking first ....

but if you are interested in investing in some prime stock.. we can refer you to any
....number of sellers.. such as conifer kingdom.... coenoseum ... girards.. etc ...

got a pic for you below .. check out a normal Picea pungens 'Hoopsi'

i am a collector.. and have little use on more than one of anything... but i have two of these... and three other look alikes ... sublime ..

ken

ps: your stock plants could be used as grafting understock ....

{{gwi:205545}}
0

Help! Is this normal for a Blue Spruce?

Comments (11)

vapa11
Original Author

vapa11
Original Author

Related Discussions

vapa11
Original Author

Smivies (Ontario - 5b)

clement_2006

ricksample

coniferjoy

vapa11
Original Author

vapa11
Original Author

ricksample

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Help! Is this normal for a Blue Spruce?

Comments (11)

vapa11Original Author

vapa11Original Author

Related Discussions

vapa11Original Author

Smivies (Ontario - 5b)

clement_2006

ricksample

coniferjoy

vapa11Original Author

vapa11Original Author

ricksample

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

vapa11
Original Author

vapa11
Original Author

vapa11
Original Author

vapa11
Original Author

vapa11
Original Author