Hi.

When we moved in to this house a year ago we found the previous owners
had discarded this potted conifer over the back fence. It had one or
two signs of life on it so while we got on with other things we put it
in a shaded part of the garden and have kept it well watered over the
last 12 months. About two months ago it had hardly any needles on it,
so I put a good sprinkling of iron sulphate above the roots & kept
watering. Now it has a reasonable showing of blue-grey needles in tiny
individual clusters on several branches, none on others.

Can anyone tell me what it is?

And can anyone tell me if this is its natural state, i.e. just little
clusters of needles at the end of stalks, but no general overall
coverage.

http://s246.photobucket.com/albums/g...ingconifer.jpg

Please ignore the cluster of blue grass just to the right - it gives the
impression of good growth in the conifer in that area!

Thanks.

Eddy.

On 19/6/08 16:37, in article , "Eddy"
wrote:

Hi.

When we moved in to this house a year ago we found the previous owners
had discarded this potted conifer over the back fence. It had one or
two signs of life on it so while we got on with other things we put it
in a shaded part of the garden and have kept it well watered over the
last 12 months. About two months ago it had hardly any needles on it,
so I put a good sprinkling of iron sulphate above the roots & kept
watering. Now it has a reasonable showing of blue-grey needles in tiny
individual clusters on several branches, none on others.

Can anyone tell me what it is?

And can anyone tell me if this is its natural state, i.e. just little
clusters of needles at the end of stalks, but no general overall
coverage.

http://s246.photobucket.com/albums/g...&current=reviv
ingconifer.jpg

Please ignore the cluster of blue grass just to the right - it gives the
impression of good growth in the conifer in that area!

Try Image Googling on Picea, the Blue Spruce. It could be that they used it
as a Christmas tree, put it outside and forgot all about it.

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
(new website online but not completed - shop to come and some mild tweaking
to do!)

Sacha wrote:

Picea, the Blue Spruce

Hi, Sacha. Thanks for helping.

Well, I've had a good look at the Picea in Google images and it's be a
contender size-wise and colour-wise. Tomorrow, if you don't mind, I'll
try to post a close-up of the buds. They're different from the Picea's,
but maybe they look as they do because of the neglect. The bush seems
to be "designed" to put out hundreds of little circular tufts of
needles, rather than short arms.

By the way, Sacha, and Kay, sorry for posting twice but my first message
did not immediately upload, as normal. Instead some guy called Martin
seemed to be succeeding in posting filth. Maybe he had hijacked the
system somehow.

Eddy.

On 19/6/08 20:39, in article , "Eddy"
wrote:

Sacha wrote:

Picea, the Blue Spruce

Hi, Sacha. Thanks for helping.

I don't know if I did but I hope so. It looked similar photo to photo.

Well, I've had a good look at the Picea in Google images and it's be a
contender size-wise and colour-wise. Tomorrow, if you don't mind, I'll
try to post a close-up of the buds. They're different from the Picea's,
but maybe they look as they do because of the neglect. The bush seems
to be "designed" to put out hundreds of little circular tufts of
needles, rather than short arms.

I don't know them well enough to know if that's the norm or if it's a
survival technique. I think Kay or Dave Poole would certainly know that
kind of thing.

By the way, Sacha, and Kay, sorry for posting twice but my first message
did not immediately upload, as normal. Instead some guy called Martin
seemed to be succeeding in posting filth. Maybe he had hijacked the
system somehow.

Your msg. got through which is all that matters.

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
(new website online but not completed - shop to come and some mild tweaking
to do!)

Here's a close-up of the bursts of life on this shrub. Remember, each
tuft is only about half an inch in diameter.

http://s246.photobucket.com/albums/g...ngconifer2.jpg

Yes, Sacha, maybe the tuft is just a survival technique and in the best
circumstances the tuft would continue growing into a stalk, as in the
pics of the Picea. Is this known to happen in conifers?

Eddy.

On 20/6/08 12:23, in article , "Eddy"
wrote:

Here's a close-up of the bursts of life on this shrub. Remember, each
tuft is only about half an inch in diameter.

http://s246.photobucket.com/albums/g...&current=reviv
ingconifer2.jpg

Yes, Sacha, maybe the tuft is just a survival technique and in the best
circumstances the tuft would continue growing into a stalk, as in the
pics of the Picea. Is this known to happen in conifers?

Eddy.

I don't know Eddy but I'm sure someone will. However, it has to start
somewhere!

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
(new website online but not completed - shop to come and some mild tweaking
to do!)

On Fri, 20 Jun 2008 13:02:56 +0100, Sacha
wrote:

On 20/6/08 12:23, in article , "Eddy"
wrote:

Here's a close-up of the bursts of life on this shrub. Remember, each
tuft is only about half an inch in diameter.

http://s246.photobucket.com/albums/g...&current=reviv
ingconifer2.jpg

Yes, Sacha, maybe the tuft is just a survival technique and in the best
circumstances the tuft would continue growing into a stalk, as in the
pics of the Picea. Is this known to happen in conifers?

Eddy.

I don't know Eddy but I'm sure someone will. However, it has to start
somewhere!

They look normal and healthy enough. Are they new shoots since the
move? If so it may be OK but it will never make new growth on the
dead twigs so may never look very good.

Pam in Bristol

Eddy writes
Here's a close-up of the bursts of life on this shrub. Remember, each
tuft is only about half an inch in diameter.

http://s246.photobucket.com/albums/g...n=view&current
=revivingconifer2.jpg

Yes, Sacha, maybe the tuft is just a survival technique and in the best
circumstances the tuft would continue growing into a stalk, as in the
pics of the Picea. Is this known to happen in conifers?

The tuft is the normal new growth. It will continue to elongate into a
needle-clad branch, and the needles may change colour as they age
(typically get duller and darker green).

All the branches should be clad with needles, but most of them have
fallen off because of lack of water - presumably from when it was
abandoned. Sadly, they won't regenerate, but if you get enough new
growth at the ends of the branches it won't be too noticeable that the
'inside' of the tree is empty.

The normal growth pattern is that you start in winter with a typical
christmas-tree-like tree covered in needles. In spring it starts into
growth, and produces light coloured buds at the end of each branch
(sometimes a terminal bud and a couple of lateral ones). These open as
yours have to show fresh needles. The terminal one extends the branch
length, any lateral ones produce side branches. Over the summer, all the
branches extend, and the needles mature to become the same colour as the
ones already there.
--
Kay

K wrote:
The tuft is the normal new growth. It will continue to elongate into a
needle-clad branch, and the needles may change colour as they age
(typically get duller and darker green).

All the branches should be clad with needles, but most of them have
fallen off because of lack of water - presumably from when it was
abandoned. Sadly, they won't regenerate, but if you get enough new
growth at the ends of the branches it won't be too noticeable that the
'inside' of the tree is empty.

The normal growth pattern is that you start in winter with a typical
christmas-tree-like tree covered in needles. In spring it starts into
growth, and produces light coloured buds at the end of each branch
(sometimes a terminal bud and a couple of lateral ones). These open as
yours have to show fresh needles. The terminal one extends the branch
length, any lateral ones produce side branches. Over the summer, all the
branches extend, and the needles mature to become the same colour as the
ones already there.

Right, thanks, Kay. So, I'll prune away all the dead stuff, and then
give it TLC for a year and see if those branches lengthen and stay
healthy, or if the whole thing is only going to show signs of life this
time each year and stay basically looking "emaciated".

Eddy.

Pam Moore wrote:
They look normal and healthy enough. Are they new shoots since the
move? If so it may be OK but it will never make new growth on the
dead twigs so may never look very good.

Hi, Pam. Well, those new tufts in the picture have appeared in the last
month or so. Prior to that there were similar tufts that appeared about
9 months ago, i.e. 2 months after I found the shrub discarded. I got
excited when those tufts appeared on what was basically a dead-looking
shrub. But then nothing more happened, despite TLC, until the last
month or so. I'm wondering if we're only going to have this relatively
poor spurt of buds once a year. If growth continues like this then I
suppose in five years' time it might look respectable. But it could be
a scraggy-looking thing till then!

Eddy.