I don't know if I can answer your question but how did all those adventitious roots get there in the first place?

Were they part of a root ball that came with the tree?

I would think that you would not want to prune too many of them at one time *if* they are a considerable percentage of the root mass.

I've read that Picea abies is not as fussy about planting depth as most other conifers are. If planted too deep, the will send out aventitious roots from the trunk that's under the soil.

The adventitious roots were already there when I bought it in the pot. Curiously, the planting instructions on the label say 'Set top of root ball 2 inches above ground level'. I understand that to mean that that is the 2 inches that you see in the pic. The adventitious roots must have been non-functional since some time.

I planted it at the same depth as in the pot, loosened the rootball, etc. That was a month ago, I will certainly wait until it is better established before doing any trimming/pruning, maybe next spring?

I look forward to trimming the adventitious roots, though, and limbing it up (if you can use the word at such a small scale) one branch at a time, creating a small umbrella tree over the years, love it :-)

you planted in mid june??

water it properly for the res of summer ..

and in fall.. plant it properly ..

the ONLY reason to plant high is bad clay that doesnt drain .. and if you dont have that then dont do it ..

i dont understand how you opine those roots stopped working long ago??? . only the tip has to be in the ground ...seeking water like they do ...

see link below for good primer.. note section one for future reference ...

ken

https://sites.google.com/site/tnarboretum/Home/planting-a-tree-or-shrub

and can we see a pic of the whole plant.. i dont understand your comment that you want to prune it to look like a tree ,.?????

I think you could trim the adventitious roots on the trunk. There's so few of them compared to the rest of the root ball. I've done more than that.

I wouldn't wait either. Fall is the time that roots lengthen out up to 60% of there current length.

Might as well trim them now and let the tree adjust before Fall.

I don't know why the grower planted it so high, the potting medium is not clay, neither is it planted in clay now, it is now planted in normal top soil. The curious planting instructions were on the plastic label which looks like the ones that are printed by the millions. I presume that that corresponds to a growing/planting practice that is common for the cultivar.

At least so far, it looks happy except that the yellowish tint that it had, faded away to change to the green that you see in the photo. Perhaps it needs more sun to re-acquire the yellowish tint. I am happy either way, with or without yellowish tint. I read that with age, the yellowish tint would fade anyway.

The shape of the Little Gem spruce is a flattened globe, about 8 inches diameter at its 'equator' at present. So, if I prune the lowest branches, I should, over the years, create an umbrella shape from the top to the 'equator' (please no comments about 'beatles cut' and the like, it is not the first plant that I prune)

Any trimming/pruning has to be done very carefully, as it a dwarf, i.e. a slow growing cultivar. I am thinking of growing it in a terracotta pot like a bonsai :-)

The root at 7 o’clock looks to be coming up out of the ground and several on the right look like they were never buried and should have been. The whole thing was planted too high and appears to have been shoehorned into too small of a spot.

tj

If the tree has just been planted, I would be careful how much sun it gets. Especially if the grower had them in shade. And this time of year! It's hot out there.

Just trim the roots on the trunk and bury any that should be below that. A sunshade may be in order for a week or so.

As far as the top of the tree goes, it's your tree but take any top growth off sparingly and maybe wait until the tree gets established before doing so. It needs all the green it can get to build food for the roots.

I agree with tj, there's exposed roots coming out of the ground, why?

You better not let them dry or get sun, that would be detrimental to the plant.

I went out to check, only the root at 4 o'clock comes out of the ground, none of the others do.

There are tiny little growths at the tips here and there, so cute :-) The tiny little growths were not there when I bought it. I take it that it is doing well now and that I should not disturb it in any way now.

Time will tell. :-)

Keep the soil moist but not wet.

And give us an update later on in the season.

A tree with a 3 inch 'tall' trunk in 4 years and a 5 inch 'tall' trunk in 10 years, I hope :-)

Edit: I had a thread some years ago about dwarf conifers that look good from a reading distance and other dwarf conifers that look good from a 10 foot distance. This one is in the former group.

Here is what your Little Gem might look like grafted on a standard ( the term for a high , high graft ) after 20 years.

yours was produced with rooted cuttings & more than likely planted too deep in pot & rooted again

I wouldn't cut anything now

I intuitively came to the same conclusion, I will leave my Little Gem alone until next spring.

A shrub on a stick (grafted on a standard) cannot be limbed up (or only insignificantly so).

However, I looked at the branch structure of my Little Gem from the underside, and I believe I will be able to limb it up, thereby (very slowly) exposing more trunk.

Ideally, I would be able to eliminate the lower half of the foliage. Anyone has tried that?