What happens if you top a blue spruce

If not, list all the options. We may be able to suggest something better. So you are talking about making a hedge. I have very tall white pines 40 ft from the house, and had topped those over the last 25 years because they simply became too tall. They will start multiple new leaders after 2 or 3 years and will become bushy at high altitudes.

They will not loose lower limbs when you cut the tops. I removed the lower 30 ft because I needed more light for other plants. My present question is : what is the maximum trunk diameter to need to cut down the whole pine? Well actually I don't want to make a hedge, I was curious about what the trees would do once cut, because my plan is to make a privacy fence. Thing is, they would have to undergo some pruning like side branch trimming and possibly topping.

I've been doing some research, and found out that if you top em, the tree could take 1 or 2 new leaders in it's place, or none which can cause a crooked trunk. Also, if you trim too far into older growth it might not bud out again. These are really the only choices for now until I can find a local vendor selling something different, and at a good price. We also have deer issues to be concerned about, they have destroyed our ceders in the past.

If you guys want to recommend something maybe I'll be able to track it down for a good price. Needs to be deer resistant for zone 3a. Ken what the hell are you talking about? Who said anything about planting right now?

I'm in planning stage and you have no idea what size of trees I have access too or what I'm trying to accomplish. Piss off dick. This is your 3rd reply, you added no value, and made assumptions which were entirely wrong just to insult me. Ken posted his comment in the wrong thread so it wasn't aimed at you and seemed off topic. Yes he can be very brusque but don't cuss at him.

He is an aquired taste. Fast, those photos show us that this can actually be done. When I lived in Upper Michigan, I saw spruce hedges for the first time in my life. Most unusual, yet not out of the question. We get into confusion because there are simply different ways to handle plants, and different goals that go along with these differing methods. I would not personally do this, but those photos prove, to me at least, that is is a reasonable thing to do.

For me and a lot of other folks, the sheared hedge thing is just not what we're tending to reach for in our yards and gardens, but where it is desired, these somewhat surprising choices can work. Very generally speaking plants with very fine-textured foliage tend to work best for sheared hedges, things like Jap. A sheared pine hedge is not much difference to my blue scotch pine on a standard which I prune to the same 3 ft diameter most years. But pruning is much different to topping a white pine, where topping is done perhaps once or every 20 years and then left to grow those multi leaders.

I guess if you start off small anything is possible. When you shear conifers timing is important. One of the tightest hedges I've ever seen was a Western Hemlock hedge. The owner died and it went to Hell, despite the new owner's best attempts.

It has since been removed. Yes, hemlocks of all stripes would be another good candidate for a coniferous, sheared hedge. They've got the fine textured foliage going on. They look great They start to look bad fast if you let them go. I suspect something with the ability to regenerate is more forgiving of a period of imperfect pruning then most conifers. Hi, just hoping anyone has heard anything from Bernd since this post.

He usually spends a lot of time at the hosta forum at this time during the season. Hope he's OK. Indem Sie weiterhin auf der Website surfen bzw. Mehr erfahren. Sign In. If so, how would i go about this?

An alternative to interfering with the top growth is to look into cutting off some of the nutrient supply from the roots with careful root pruning. If it has sent out roots into a lawn area and you fertilize the lawn, cut down on the fertilizer. In the most fortunate of circumstances, the person who planted the tree will have chosen a cultivar that tops out exactly where you need it to stop, in which case stand back and enjoy. I'm sure this post will make landscape professionals shiver, but I have personally seen two Blue Spruces maintained at a height of about 8' without losing their conical shape for 25 years.

When I was a kid, my father had two Blue Spruces in the yard, he treated them like a hedge, sheared them like privets and maintained their shape. I would certainly never buy a conifer with that intent, but I can say with certainty that for 25 years it worked He just decided to replace them with some other shrubs just to change up the landscape.

This practice did not work at all with white pines.. Although, in a way it was a success, it convinced him to remove the white pine, it definitely didn't belong next to a house on a 50'x' lot. If it wasn't removed back 20 years ago, I'm sure it would be 80' tall now and dropping large limbs on the house every time there is a decent storm.

Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. Can I trim a blue spruce tree to keep it from getting larger? Ask Question. Asked 4 years, 9 months ago.

It is widest at its bottom. Trim branches that protrude beyond the tree's natural, tapered shape by cutting them at the optimal length to achieve tapering. Eliminate branches growing in an undesirable direction by cutting them close to the trunk. Trimming bottom branches of blue spruce creates a neater appearance, and makes it easier to reach underneath the tree to rake or apply mulch.

Create even spacing among branches by eliminating branches in thick sections of the tree to match the spacing in thinner sections.

Pruning blue spruce excessively causes undue stress that can kill the tree. If your spruce is especially unkempt, plan to shape it in stages by pruning unwanted branches over a period of a few years. Do not shape a blue spruce by completely cutting off its top because that may lead to decay and disease.

She enjoys sharing best practices on a host of gardening topics, including container gardening, organic gardening, water gardening, composting and gluten-free recipes from the garden. By Kathryn Jones Updated October 08,