Can anyone identify this tree?

3 years ago

Hi, can anyone please identify this tree? We just bought a house and it’s pretty misshaped and covered in ivy (I think it was neglected for years). I wonder is we can replant it in different area of the yard. Will it survive? How do you prune it to shape it? The bottom branches appear to be dead (killed by the strangling ivy vines), will they regrow back? We are in NY if it matters. Thank you all!

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Comments (5)

Sara Malone Zone 9b
3 years ago
It's a very large Picea pungens (Colorado spruce) that is never going to be any happier than it is now. The lower limbs die from lack of light, not strangulation. Too large to be moved without heavy equipment (and not worth the bother.) It's way to large for the house, and appears to be too close to it. If it were me, I'd whack it off at ground level and start again with something more appropriate for the site and the climate.
Bongo thanked Sara Malone Zone 9b
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
It is a blue spruce, Picea pungens var. glauca.

The tree is much too large to move and is very unhealthy as well. Blue spruces (aka Colorado spruces) are prone to a number of very disfiguring diseases if grown outside of a very narrow range of appropriate climate conditions and almost inevitably develop a needlecast that will leave lower branches virtually bare except for a tuft of new growth on the ends. And even that in its second year will begin to develop the affliction and will brown and gradually drop off. Ivy probably didn't help either :-)

Virtually nowhere on the east coast offers the growing conditions this tree prefers. I would think seriously about removing it altogether and selecting a more location and site suitable variety.
Bongo thanked gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
3 years ago
get 3 estimates from insured tree services.. and be done with it ... some such give discounts in the winter.. when they arent as busy ... key word.. insured ..

then snap some pix of the front of the house ... with it gone ... and start a new post .... and skip the ask the yard doctor forum ... include a big city name location... NY is huge and very diverse ...

there is no saving this very old tree in a area where its not native ... note as you drive around ... how many of these old beasts look just as bad ... unless you are willing to spend multiples of tens of thousands of dollars .. and it will probably die anyway ...

ken
Bongo thanked ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
Bongo
Original Author
3 years ago
What a shame, it has such beautiful blue needles. I guess we’ll take it out. Thank you everyone!
User
3 years ago
What's more of a shame is they continue to sell these plants that have a native range elevation from 7,500 to 9,800 ft. expecting it to do well in areas that have much higher humidity and heat in the summer.

There should be better trees to plant in your area. Check with some of your local high end nurseries. They might offer something like Concolor white fir or Chamaecyparis nootkatensis (Alaskan cedar) which are beautiful front yard trees if you have the room.
Bongo thanked User