weak..damaged .. broken or dead branches should be pruned out ...

the plant will start to fill the empty spaces back in ... though it could take years ... no clue on yours w/o pix ...

you really havent given us any info.. on size.. or anything else.. to help you figure out your potions.. a pic would be great ...

but i would still go out there and prune them out...

look at it this way.. even if they survive.. and the plant continues to grow ... as weight is added at distance from the trunk.. the branch will fail ...

interior wood.. is basically dead wood.. it will NOT heal.. as a bone in your arm might ... as such.. even if the bark heals over.. the branch will be inherently weak.. forever ...

on some level.. you are treating it like a child... its not.. prune it ...

ken

Conifers don't need light in the winter. They are dormant. The easiest way to prevent heavy snow damage is to go out there after a heavy snow and brush it off to relieve the stress. If relieving your roof of snow avoid piling the stuff on top of your conifer plantings.

If relieving your roof of snow avoid piling the stuff on top of your conifer plantings.

==>>> hey dave.. dont get this part ...

but a better answer would be to not plant under the eaves ... or where it falls off the roof ...

just like i dont plant next to the driveway.. where i have to snowblow ...

i am surprised dave doesnt prune out broken branches..... wink. wink ...

ken

You called it a baby, so it must be small. Move it.

Mike

my mom calls her 56 year old son.. her baby .... whats your point.. lol ...

so mike would leave the broken parts also???

ken

Wendy , these guys aren't helping at all

your trellis/a-frame might work,,,,,bury ends in ground,,,screw top together,,,cover sides with heavy plastic of some sort,,,,some thing rigid,,like cheapest plexiglass you can find

ron

I haven't planted any evergreens as foundation plants where I have to dump snow for this reason, so if it's possible to move it, Wendy, I'd do that. I seem to recall that you live in a condo development now, so that may not be possible. I think the idea of the hardware cloth on the A frame would work well. Light snow would filter down through, but heavy snow would stay up on the A frame until you could clear it off to the sides. Just be sure that it is braced and fastened securely enough for it to hold the snow's weight. Here's hoping that New England gets a bit less snow this winter than last!!

Wendyb,

Dwarf bruce, in my experience, is not able to withstand heavy snow piled up on it. Broken branches due to snow load is common among dwarf spruce. The mended branches look ok but they never actually heal. The scars are till there and they will break again when having too much snow again. Brushing the snow off, with a stick or a broom, is not a good idea either. In fact, you can cause more damage to the branches by brushing the snow off because you put more pressure on the branches and they might snap under your brushing force.

I do not know the best way but here is my way of removing the heavy load of snow: I use a leaf blower. For a mild snow storm, I wait until the storm finishes then I come out and "gently" blow the snow off. For a big snow storm, I do the blowing several times during the storm. Also I clear the snow around the base of the plant to make room for brushed snow. Just so you know, if you see a guy running around in the middle of a snow storm in his garden, with a noisy leave blower, then you know it is me.

As ken suggested, cut off the broken branches. The plant looks ugly for 2-3 years, then the new growth from other branches will cover the holes/gaps and it looks nice again like there's nothing happen to it. I would not try to amend the half broken branches. The new growth look unhealthy and eventually they would break again.

J.N

Thanks for the great input all. Another lively discussion. Sorry for not giving more context. Here's a picture of the bed and the "baby".

Here's 2 examples of the "careful" roof clearing that went on last year. These aren't my units, but similar.

Many residents had serious issues with mature shrub breaks, brokens screens, covered vents and leaks.

Here's a side view of what my bed looked like. Picea is to the left of that rose somewhere:

So, keeping it clear of snow is not really an option when we are inundated like that!. Moving it maybe could help a bit but anywhere in the vicinity would still be in the target zone of disaster. Even the snow shovelers were trampling through beds stepping (stomping) on whatever was underfoot rather than walking around using sidewalks. The breaks could have been from a ladder or a foot. And of course, when crews come, I am likely not home to direct them and have no control over their schedule. Part of this new condo lifestyle is supposed to be downsizing the maintenance and gardening part of my life. Sitting inside by the fireplace and having snow shovelers and roof clearers is my new normal!!! So, solutions have to fit that mode. So I'm going to go with Ron and do the a-frame. It doesn't sound like it will be harmful. That's what I was concerned with.

p.s. the mending already took place, so cutting off last year's broken branches now doesn't seem to make sense, but maybe even more reason for an a-frame this year. I just have to make sure it is strong enough so it doesn't collapse. At my former house I mended a mature Fat Albert picea and it worked great.

thanks ,wendy , ( my wife's name is wendy)

your roof is an a-frame ,,this will work just fine,,,ask at big home store what is cheapest mat'l

ron

My brother was faced with almost the same situation in northern Idaho. Snow up to 5 feet deep on his metal roof. The snow would slide off and cover the windows and sliding glass door of his house so high he couldn't see out. He also had regular visits by moose that ate or stomped on almost everything he planted.

He asked me to design a landscape for him right where the snow landed off the roof. I put in a rock garden. No sense in planting something that will get broken year after year or having to build a 'contraption' to shield the plants from damage.

You have to adapt to reality or the battle is steeply uphill.

Mike

The disadvantage of an A-frame is that you will have to look at it all winter. I wonder if you could move your little spruce to where it looks like the garden wraps around the corner. If it is a gable end, they probably won't be setting up ladders and dumping snow there, but if you have a hip roof, that won't help.

I have a bed where snow gets dumped and the plants that I put in there are all either perennials or shrubs that are fine if they need severe pruning due to broken branches. So I have some hard prune clematis, spirea, and Hydrangea arborescens along with smaller plants. One of the bluer foliaged Dianthus such as Greystone or Firewitch might replace the spruce color-wise.

I agree a-frame will have aesthetic challenges. I'm going to do my best to keep it reasonable. One neighbor uses several of those (ugly IMO) dark green dome covers on her roses. Her house is not as exposed as mine, so no one (but me and 3 others) see them.

As far as moving it to a spot at the corner out of the way, I mis-spoke on one of those pictures. On the picture above where I said a rose bush stem was sticking out, I was wrong. That was actually a small tree on the right corner of my bed that is just out of view. I took the pic from the windows just over the spruce. My lot is on a corner. The plowers used that corner to really load snow up. They brought in huge front loaders to move snow around and dump it there to make room for the next imminent 2' snowfall forecast. Btw, these pictures and discussion of so much snow are sure getting depressing. I hope this winter is not as bad.

I was thinking maybe put the a-frame sideways so it is less prominent from the front view. Or maybe I can embellish it somehow to make it artsy and decorative w/o being tacky. I'll have to do a little googling to see what I can come up with.

yeah.. just a little snow... lol ...

i dont know what to tell you.. with that volume ... let me think about it ...

nice bed though....

ken

...And I was just about to give you a bad time about the rose. ;-)

Mike

@mike :-) @ken Thanks. can't wait til it all grows up. so tiny. But the picea sure has star potential.

I snapped a pic today of side view showing distance from eaves.

Last winter here was so ridiculous... I'm not even sure A frame would have survived the weight of 5ft of heavy snow. I foolishly left out my expensive Weber grill and the weight of the snow bent 3" thick solid steel frame. Unreal..

But even if u do build a frame, you really only need it setup after Xmas until March 1st or so...during that time it will likely be covered by snow...if not, and there is no snow in the forecast you could take it down

wendy,we only average 40" snow no need for protection here

here's mine

ron good luck