hep me rhonda.. hep, hep me rhonda ....

anyway..

whats your base soil???

what you took out.. was probably a shipping stake... good for you ...

if the soil will not properly hold the root mass still ... then the plant should be staked ...

thought trees are supposed to blow in the wind.. their roots are not supposed to move ... and that is a stakes main purpose ...

in my sand... there is no real reason to ever stake a plant of that size... well watered sand is stable ...

sooo.. whats your soil type???

there are some trees.. that need to be trained to height.. and that is a secondary use of a stake.. but this aint that ... to coin a phrase ....

ken

ps: do you SEE.. the growth between the whorls??? thats its annual growth rate .... in a year or two.. your plant will be back to that rate.. and if you measure it.. and multiply by any given number of years.. you can predict how fast this conifer.. is going ot swamp that space ... do you have any better space for it .... if you do.. now is the time to move it ... i would be more inclined to suggest his little brother tom thumb for that space

Thanks for the reply Ken! The area is sloped with loam and some clay about 6 inches down.

For the space issue-what if I was to expand the bed and move the tree 3-6 feet from where it is? Would that give it enough space?

Thanks again!

Rhonda

i dont know how old it is.... but the one at hidden lakes is 40 to 50 feet tall ...

that said.. my 15 year old plant.. is about 6 inches smaller than yours.. lol .. what a piece of carp ...

just enjoy the heck out of it.. and get rid of it.. when you get a hate on for it .... maybe you will move before then ....

ken

pics 2 thru 5 at this link:

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-a&hs=YVF&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=rcs&q=Picea+orientalis+%22Skylands%22+hidden+lakes&bav=on.2,or.r_qf.&bvm=bv.52164340,d.b2I,pv.xjs.s.en_US.CQsooEYev9Y.O&biw=1285&bih=810&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=-SoyUryOC4ni2wXSh4DACg#imgdii=_

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:703381}}

Continued staking of grafted conifers at time of purchase is due to deformed root-stocks that cannot hold the scion up even years after grafting having been used at the production facility. I find this situation to be pretty much 100% the case here.

Except where the stake is no longer needed and nobody bothered to take it away.

Your tree may need to have whatever correcting of the roots may be possible undertaken to assure it does not fail later.

And it needs a much bigger spot farther away from the lawn and other plants in order to not be growing over them in a few years.

The smaller plants don't concern me-I can move/eliminate them easily. My main concern would be the "Skylands interfering with is the Picea abies "Pendula" which has been in the ground a few years already. As of right now they are about 3 and a half feet apart, so I am going to try and move it before Fall.

Thanks for the insight!

Rhonda