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Browning Newly Planted Blue Spruce

8 years ago

We recently planted a 3' blue spruce in our backyard in NJ and he recently took a turn for the worse. <see picture> The tree has been in the ground for about a week. He lived in a pot from December until a week ago because we thought it was too cold/wasn't big enough to survive our dog in a backyard. He was doing fine in the pot but not so much in the ground. What could be wrong?? We love the little guy. We even named him Herb.

Featured Answer

brandon7 TN_zone7

8 years ago

What have temperatures and weather been like in the past week there?

How did you plant it? How did you deal with pot-bound roots? Did you amend the backfill soil? Why such a seemingly narrow planting hole?

Tell us about how you've been watering it or determining whether/when it needed to be watered.

Planting a Tree or Shrub

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Comments (8)

Dani Mac
Original Author
8 years ago
The plant was in a very small pot so we thought it didn't need a bigger hole. Of course this week we have had a heat wave, the humidity has been ridiculous. It has been the high 80s 70-90% humidity. We thought we were in the clear because it has been fall like outside low 70s. He was outgrowing his pot and we thought we had limited time. We tried to nicely break apart the circular roots but we didn't go nuts because we didn't know much about how to not hurt the tree. We had some bad storms this past week with extremely heavy rainfall so we didn't water him at all.
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have any of you HARDENED them off to full sun application .... IF THEY CAME FROM A GREENHOUSE/shadehouse ... perhaps they are burning up.. because you blasted them out to full blistering sun???? when i order conifers.. i always try to remember to ask upon order.. or call them back when i get them.. to ask if they came from a greenhouse ... the next question would be how your zone compare between yours and where they are shipped from ... if they are growing lushly in z8 .. and you plant them asap in z4 in very early spring ... again.. there might be hardening off issues .... but to temps this time .... just speculating ... the grafters in WA and OR... tend to leave them outdoors the second winter.. or what they call winter.. lol ... but GG's are a rooted plant ... and it wouldnt surprise me if they are in green or shade houses .... ken
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Mike and schmoo: This cross section is very interesting and certainly raises doubts in my mind about this being white pine weevil. Schmoo--I compliment you on your observation of the detail in the original cross section picture posted by Mike. OK, now my interest is really high in this case. Mike--do you think you could take your samples, both the shoot and the grubs, if you still have them, to some kind of university extension, or forest service, or something for a positive ID? One thing I have seen with some spruces from time to time, both Norway and blue, is a fairly large portion of the top of the tree dying, sometimes four to as much as ten feet or more. These trees quickly re-establish a leader and grow back the top quickly, so it is not a problem with general decline. I have always suspected a borer or some kind, but have never had the opportunity to make any observations/diagnosis. Anyway, what killed the small portion of the top of Mike's tree may be what has killed the larger portions of the tops of some other spruces I have seen. I have always wonderered. Anyway, Mike, I would be very appreciative if you could follow up with some appropriate source of info and get an answer for us. --Spruce
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rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
8 years ago
Was your little tree sitting in the full sun before planting?
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
8 years ago
its future is all in the buds.. and i cant see them in this pic

you did just about everything wrong ... do read brandons primer ...

whether it will live is left to fate ... dont be surprised if all those needles fall off eventually ... it all depends how it flushes out in spring.. and if you can live with how ugly it might be for a few years ...

i would extend the removal of grass at least 2 more feet around the tree.. to keep the dude with the lawnmower and weedwhacker away from it ...

it will still be a place for a replacement.. should this one fail ...

ken
Dani Mac
Original Author
8 years ago
Yes he was in full sun before
Dani Mac
Original Author
8 years ago
So, in the future...how would "doing everything right" go?
brandon7 TN_zone7
8 years ago
Here are some of the potential problems:

1) planting time - I understand that the weather didn't turn out like you expected, but waiting just a little while would have been less stressful for the tree.

2) planting hole size - Based on the picture, it appears your hole should have been around three times as wide as it was. Unless the rootball was absolutely tiny in comparison to the tree (which hopefully it wasn't), your hole was just barely big enough to hold it. See section 4 in the above link.

3) roots - From your description, I wonder if you eliminated circling/pot-bound roots. If not, the tree is likely to suffer or fail later on. See section 3a in the link.

4) watering - You should definitely have watered the tree when it was planted. Even if you planted it in the middle of a rain storm, it needed to be watered in well. Now, you need to keep a careful check on soil moisture both around and inside the rootball. See section 12 for information on how to do this.

5) grass - As Ken suggests, I'd eliminate a 2' radius ring of grass from around the base of the tree and apply some good mulch.
Dani Mac
Original Author
8 years ago
Thank you for your help

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