Hi Bluespruce, Yes, I am interesting too, but you know next year can be this nice witch dead.., so let´s try it, because lost fight is good for real gentlemen.., sorry for my english, but I have red this words somewhere in english literature...., maybe you improve me.... Jan wbgarden Here is a link that might be useful: wbgarden

It does look like a witch's broom, good find! The growth should have no ill effect on the parent tree (i.e. it won't kill it or harm it in any way, except if it were to break off and leave a scar on the main trunk). The tree itself looks like a Norway spruce (Picea abies) and not a pine tree. Pieces of witch's brooms are often grafted onto the roots of seedlings to create a dwarf tree that stands by itself. Norway spruce brooms are pretty common, and many people don't want to graft large-growing brooms because of the size they would take up in the garden (I personally like the larger growing ones!). So, to answer your question, I would just leave the broom in the tree and enjoy it for what it is - a unique genetic dwarf off the side of the parent tree.

Below is a pic of an entire tree (the best looking one from the row and another closeup)- none of the cones remained on the trees from last year so I won't know until later this season exactly what the cones are like. Definitely don't think Doug Fir based on buds. I was thinking Fraser Fir or Canaan Fir as it was sold from a place that does primarily windbreak trees but why in the world they would even plant Fraser Fir here in Iowa is beyond me. Haven't seen enough Canaans to know what they look like up close. Oddly enough the broom looks incredibly healthy and buds appear viable- I didn't remove any of the foliage (it hasn't had any for at least 2-3 years) and in fact the boom looks just as healthy as it did 5-6 years ago when it had foliage! I can snip a few cuttings off later this week to make sure it is alive but it certainly appears to be. Way back when I had assumed it was just another blob-type Norway Spruce broom so didn't think much of it, but now knowing it is some type of fir has me interested. Here is another closeup of foliage/buds: Any more ideas for identification? Oddly enough I wonder if there are a couple different types of firs in the row because around 1/3 are dark green, healthy and vigorously growing and the others are more green-yellow and beginning to die out (including the tree that the broom is in).

Sure. All of the original grafts I did in early 2019 failed. Almost certainly due to rookie mistakes (My guess is I didn’t keep the fresh grafts humid enough). My buddy with much more experience got a few to take and of those one is still alive, but its not a great looking plant so far. Here’s a fairly recent pic of it: This is a double graft on one rootstock and I think he may still have some of the rootstock left on it. The broom is still on the tree and seems fairly well, though somewhat shaded. On the tree it’s a nice baby blue color, but this graft is sorta dull in color. He has it in full sun. Not sure if that‘s a good thing or not. I went back and collected more scion material this past January to try again. This time I sent a good number of scions to a professional and I grafted 7 or 8 myself. This time I had a 100% take (initially), but with varying degrees of vigor amongst the individual grafts. Some pushed very strong and others are still alive, but pushed very little and they don’t look good. The ones that pushed strong all died after about 6 months. Not sure why, maybe too much shade and too much rain. Before they died they looked like this: I had some that looked even better than that. One thing that was encouraging was they seemed to be growing a bit more densely than the broom on the tree. Hopefully I can keep the stragglers alive over winter and get some healthy lasting growth next year. The professional grower is having better luck, but even they haven’t been particularly impressed with the results As their grafts are pushing slower than they expected. It‘s my understanding that some brooms are just stronger/tougher/more graft friendly and I’m afraid this broom might be a bit on the weak side, but it’s my first broom and Deodara is my favorite so I’m not giving up on it that’s for sure. Deodara was planted heavily in my area around 100 years ago. There are many huge trees of the species. Since I found this first broom I have gone on to find almost 90 more, mostly on native pines, but I have scoured many more Deodars for brooms and was beginning to think I would never find another broom in one. About a month ago I was excited to find this guy though: It’s definitely not as dwarf as the other, but I’m hoping that means it might graft more easily and be a little stronger in general. In my part of the world I find that I’m having better success grafting in September/October so I didn’t waste any time getting scions off this guy (twice now I’ve had trees with brooms get cut down before I collect so I’ve learned my lesson). I ended up doing about 12 grafts on 7 rootstock. It’s been almost 3 weeks and I’m starting to wean them off the humidity. So far they all look good. I put some cuttings in my rooting chamber as well. Fortunately once again the broom is pretty accessible so I can always get more. And I’ll probably send some to my professional friends when they graft this winter.