I fell a grove of poplar trees in my front yard in the spring of 1999. I
had the stumps ground. I then deep tilled and bought in a guy with a tree
spade. I had him move about 22 Spruce trees (all approximately 10 ft high)
to replace the poplars. I trimmed off the lower branches up to about 1 foot
off the ground to allow clearance for tilling around. I drive in fertilizer
stakes every year...They are doing fine to this day, but have I two
questions.
1) Last year we had somewhat of a drought. ....they show absolutely no
signs of turning brown (I kept them well watered during the drought) but,
they produced MANY pinecones.... My brother tells me a tree will do this if
it is 'Stressed" and is a natural way to preserve its species....is this
true?

2) I literally want these trees to "Jump" (grow fast) because I want my
privacy. I presently till around the trees. Should I till around the trees
or put down sod ?...Which will make them grow faster?...Or maybe this has
nothing to do with the speed the trees grow.... any thoughts?...Thanks in
advance for any replies..... Jim/ Saskatchewan Canada

On Sat, 1 Feb 2003 10:24:01 -0600, "J&L Morris"
wrote:

Aren't spruce roots very close to the surface? You could be cutting
off the feeder roots with your tilling and slowing down their growth.
OTOH they may be growing perfectly normal for a spruce tree and you're
just impatient. ;-O

zhan

Generally speaking, yes conifers will flower and produce seed more
abundantly as a result of stress... that reaction though can be several
years after the predicating incident, be it drought, disease, damage, etc.

Frankly you might be coddling them too much... maintaining adequate moisture
levels and keeping an eye open for pests and diseases should be more than
adequate. The other poster is correct-- spruce lay down an abundance of fine
roots close to the surface and thus tilling would only serve to weaken the
trees.

Tangential: These shallow feeder roots make excellent makeshift ropier in
survival situations... you can pull up several dozen feet of pliable root
very easily. )

Dave

"J&L Morris" wrote in message
...
I fell a grove of poplar trees in my front yard in the spring of 1999.
I
had the stumps ground. I then deep tilled and bought in a guy with a tree
spade. I had him move about 22 Spruce trees (all approximately 10 ft high)
to replace the poplars. I trimmed off the lower branches up to about 1
foot
off the ground to allow clearance for tilling around. I drive in
fertilizer
stakes every year...They are doing fine to this day, but have I two
questions.
1) Last year we had somewhat of a drought. ....they show absolutely no
signs of turning brown (I kept them well watered during the drought) but,
they produced MANY pinecones.... My brother tells me a tree will do this
if
it is 'Stressed" and is a natural way to preserve its species....is this
true?

2) I literally want these trees to "Jump" (grow fast) because I want my
privacy. I presently till around the trees. Should I till around the trees
or put down sod ?...Which will make them grow faster?...Or maybe this has
nothing to do with the speed the trees grow.... any thoughts?...Thanks in
advance for any replies..... Jim/ Saskatchewan Canada

If your spruce trees are producing PINE cones, it must mean that the world is
coming to an end. Spruce will fruit heavily when they are under stress to
ensure that thier genetic information will be passed on to another generation.
As for the tilling, what are you doing that for??? Tilling arround the
rootzone of you trees will harm their roots. Also, if you are tilling without
actually adding some sort of organic matter to the soil, you are destroying the
soil structure arround the plants.

Toad

I wondered if someone was going to catch that.

If your spruce trees are producing PINE cones, it must mean that the world is
coming to an end.

In addition to not tilling under these trees as the other posters have suggested
(it does no good and is likely doing some harm), you will need to have patience.
Spruce do not grow rapidly, less than a foot a year (and depending on species,
much less than a foot a year). There is little you can do to change that. Keep
the trees well watered as necessary in drought, go lightly or skip the
fertilizing (established trees seldom need fertilizing - too frequent
applications can promote insect and disease problems) and let them grow at their
own speed. If you need additional privacy screening in the interim, plant some
fast growing shrubs among them that can be removed later as the spruce fill and
and mature.

pam - gardengal

The stress that caused them to cone was the transplantation. This is past and
normal behavior will resume in a couple of seasons

DO NOT TILL! Tilling is just about the worst possible thing you could do. You
need to do just the opposite, no tilling and maintain a thick, organic mulch.
Keeping the trees well mulched is your best insurance against growth inhibiting
environmental stress such as drought and cold. I would suggest a circle of
mulch, 2"-6" thick, that extends from the trunk to slightly beyond the widest
branch spread. Taper the mulch from thinnest near the trunk to thickest at the
periphery of the circle. Remove any weeds, grass, spruce seedlings etc. that
grow in the mulch.

You don't mention the type of spruce so the maximum growth rate is hard to
predict. The most commonly planted spruces here in the northeast, Colorado and
Norway spruce, will grow quite rapidly when happy. Norway will grow 30"-36" per
year. Colorado 24"-30" per year.

Light fertilization is all that is needed. Fert. sticks are ok but a slow
realease, pelleted fertilizer such as Osmocote is easier to use and makes it
easier to know exactly how much nutrition you are providing.

--beeky

J&L Morris wrote:

I fell a grove of poplar trees in my front yard in the spring of 1999. I
had the stumps ground. I then deep tilled and bought in a guy with a tree
spade. I had him move about 22 Spruce trees (all approximately 10 ft high)
to replace the poplars. I trimmed off the lower branches up to about 1 foot
off the ground to allow clearance for tilling around. I drive in fertilizer
stakes every year...They are doing fine to this day, but have I two
questions.
1) Last year we had somewhat of a drought. ....they show absolutely no
signs of turning brown (I kept them well watered during the drought) but,
they produced MANY pinecones.... My brother tells me a tree will do this if
it is 'Stressed" and is a natural way to preserve its species....is this
true?

2) I literally want these trees to "Jump" (grow fast) because I want my
privacy. I presently till around the trees. Should I till around the trees
or put down sod ?...Which will make them grow faster?...Or maybe this has
nothing to do with the speed the trees grow.... any thoughts?...Thanks in
advance for any replies..... Jim/ Saskatchewan Canada

On Sat, 1 Feb 2003 10:24:01 -0600, "J&L Morris"
wrote:

I fell a grove of poplar trees in my front yard in the spring of 1999. I
had the stumps ground. I then deep tilled and bought in a guy with a tree
spade. I had him move about 22 Spruce trees (all approximately 10 ft high)
to replace the poplars. I trimmed off the lower branches up to about 1 foot
off the ground to allow clearance for tilling around. I drive in fertilizer
stakes every year...They are doing fine to this day, but have I two
questions.

Enough with the fertilizer stakes. Unless you have an identified
deficiency in your soil, you don't need to fertilize that much. In
the extreme, too much fertilizer can kill trees.

1) Last year we had somewhat of a drought. ....they show absolutely no
signs of turning brown (I kept them well watered during the drought) but,
they produced MANY pinecones.... My brother tells me a tree will do this if
it is 'Stressed" and is a natural way to preserve its species....is this
true?

2) I literally want these trees to "Jump" (grow fast) because I want my
privacy. I presently till around the trees. Should I till around the trees
or put down sod ?...Which will make them grow faster?...Or maybe this has
nothing to do with the speed the trees grow.... any thoughts?...Thanks in
advance for any replies..... Jim/ Saskatchewan Canada

Trees generally put most of their fine, feder roots in the top 12"-18"
of soil, where they can get air as well as water. Tilling in this
critical root zone is a bad idea generally since it destroys these
roots. Perhaps if one did so regularly, the soil would be loose
enough that the tree would put down deeper roots and still they could
breathe, but I wouldn't try it.

Sod around trees is also a bad idea. The grass gets first crack at
all moisture and nutrients that come from the surface, so the tree is
always losing the competiton. In trees with a higher canopy, it can
also lead to problems with string trimmers hitting the bark regularly,
but that would not be true in your case, presumably.

The best thing to do is apply a 3"-thick layer of organic mulch to the
critical root zone (1 foot of diameter for every inch of trunk
diameter at 4 feet high) without piling it against the base of the
tree (think volcano, not mountain). The mulch moderates temperatures,
decays into available nutients, and improves soil composition. This
allows deeper air penetration, letting the feeder roots thrive closer
to 18" than 12" and thus making them less susceptible to drought.
Cheap, easy, low-tech, and a great tree tonic.

Keith Babberney
ISA Certified Arborist



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