I bought a tree from Home Depot last week (I know, I know) that was reduced from $60 to $20. It is a Norway Spruce that was intended to be planted as a live christmas tree, but it was passed over and reduced for quick sale.
Now, the plant looks pretty good. It’s big, about 6-7 years old, and has a nice shape. Only one problem. The top leader branch is looking dead. Either that, or it’s suffering male pattern baldness. I’m afraid the tree may be alive at the bottom and dead at the top.
Is there anything I can do to help it out, or is it up to mother nature now? I’ve planted it, done all the normal things (it came bailed in a burlap ball), and it really seems to be doing alright. But the top just looks like it could be gone.
Anyone with any tree experience out there that could tell me what to do? I don’t want to dig up the tree and pitch it if it has a chance to live. It’s a good looking tree aside from the missing head.
Evergreens drop the needles weeks after lack of water kills them. Transplanted tree’s can loose every needle from stress. The top leader may be alive, so you need to treat the tree like it is. Next spring when the tree starts to get the new growth the leader wil grow from the tip or it won’t.
Damage control for dead leaders are as follows for and evergreen.
Remove the dead leader.
Multiple shoots will start to take over as a new leader.
Choose the best shoot as a replacement leader after a years growth.
Cut off the tip of the shoots that look like their going to compete with the choosen leader. You want the leader to grow ahead of the other tips or the tree will have multiple trunks. Birds and storms can damage the leader and you do the same thing to restablish the leader.
I hope that you removed the burlap and loosened the root ball? H.D. is right on, pruning the top leader should be done yearly to avoid double growth. Give it plenty of water for the first month or three, it should be OK. Spruce trees do best in a slightly acid soil so you might check the pH and treat accordingly.
Yes unless there is no doubt about the leader being dead.
I do what your doing withe the burlap. After the tree is in place and the hole mostly filled in revove the burlap on the top of the ball. You don’t disturb the root ball. Exposed burlap will wick away a lot of moisture. Make sure that any burlap around the roots is covered completely by soil.
If you meant “remove” re: revove, I did that. The burlap was pulled away from the trunk and down a bit from the rootball, but the rootball was left intact.
Thanks for the help. Right now, the tree has only one very clear leader. So if I prune it, I will have an Icabod Crane for a tree. I don’t even see another branch that would be challenging for the leader. Other than the bald/dead leader, it’s almost a perfect tree.
If the tree does survive the summer/fall/winter/spring… and the top of the tree does not come back to life, is the tree hopelessly headless? Or will I have to attempt to prune the leader and hope to get some growth?
You should look at how bad christmas trees can look before they get big enough for sale.
It will just take afew years to get it going right again. You did good with the burlap.
