Small evergreen with irregular shap

[maryfunke]

I have a small evergreen tree (4 foot) that is very irregular in shape. What can I do to help it fill in and become more uniform?
I am not sure what kind it is, possibly a spruce. Thanks!

 

[budroe69moni]

mary,
do you have a picture of the tree that you can post??????
that would help.
budroe

 

[maryfunke]

No, but I will get one taken tomorrow. Get back with you then.

 

[budroe69moni]

cool beans mary. get a pic and post that baby!!!!!!!
peace out,
budroe

 

[maryfunke]

Small tree

Here is a picture of my tree. It does not show that it is as lope sided as it looks from the other direction, but as you can see, the weather wasn't cooperating today. Hope you can get an idea of what I am referring to by this picture.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

That spruce is so small that you should not worry about it. i would say it has very good form, we do not want them to look like Christmas trees now, because we will effecting the future form of the tree.

I've seen christmas tree stock that was sold for lanscape plants because they grew too big, and they look funny for years.

If you realy want it to dence up more then clipping the longest tips will cause the inner buds to grow more.

One thing you may need to do is check to see if there are roots visible where the stem meets the soil. If there is no root flair visible then you should dig down carefully til you find where th roots start.

 

[maryfunke]

Small tree

OK! I will check the roots and see. Thanks for your advice. If I trim the longer stems to help it dense up more, when is the proper time to do it?

 

[treeclimber165]

From my duties on X-mas tree lots as a teen, I'd say it looks like a Frasier Fir. Could be wrong, though.:angel:

 

[budroe69moni]

hey treeclimber,
that's exactly what i thought when i saw the picture, a fraiser fir.
we sold over 2000 of them this x-mas! i'm still finding needles in my boots!!!!!!

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Best time is sumer, the sap does not flow as much and will be less unsightly.

Dont take too much off any branch, if all the buds are removed the branch will die back as the needles are shed. These trees dont bud from old wood.

I'm still guessing spruce
Here is a P.pungens var glauca dwarf cv

I got hooked on dwarf conifers a few years ago.

 

[Jay Banks]

Fir or spruce hard to tell from this angle. What I did not see was a mulch ring under the tree. With the drought that is predicted for us this year I'd say drop the pruners and check for the root collar and mulch (3 inches deep) to within 3-6 inches of the root collar.

 

[maryfunke]

We just bought this property in July,01. So I am wanting to do some creatativity in the yard this spring. My first priority is this tree.
We are far from a drought here, right now anyway. We have had water sitting in the ditches all winter. I couldn't even guess how much rain we have had since we moved here in July.