# Spruce tree pruning



## StihlNAlberta

Here is a couple pictures of my 10 year old family of Spruce trees surrounding my home. They were started off as 3-4 foot trees and now have grown to well over 10 feet .... however they are not proportioned as you can see. I am trying to achieve privacy and would like the trees to thicken out in the centers. I have over 50 that need TLC!!

1. They do get a lot of light but on the bottom there is a 4 foot fence on one side blocking some of the light.
2. They get watered but not over watered. How much is enough and how much is too much? 
3. They have been trimmed every year but only on the tops.
4. We live in Canada so in a cold climate.

I guess my main question is how to get them to grow more in the middle and thicken out? 
I am wondering if I should be cutting the tops off, and if so how much should I be taking off? 
When is the best time to trim?
What is the best tool to do the job?
Fertilizer necessary for trees this age?
Any insight on this would be greatly appreciated.

THX!! :msp_thumbup:


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## chainsawman2011

StihlNAlberta said:


> Here is a couple pictures of my 10 year old family of Spruce trees surrounding my home. They were started off as 3-4 foot trees and now have grown to well over 10 feet .... however they are not proportioned as you can see. I am trying to achieve privacy and would like the trees to thicken out in the centers. I have over 50 that need TLC!!
> 
> 1. They do get a lot of light but on the bottom there is a 4 foot fence on one side blocking some of the light.
> 2. They get watered but not over watered. How much is enough and how much is too much?
> 3. They have been trimmed every year but only on the tops.
> 4. We live in Canada so in a cold climate.
> 
> I guess my main question is how to get them to grow more in the middle and thicken out?
> I am wondering if I should be cutting the tops off, and if so how much should I be taking off?
> When is the best time to trim?
> What is the best tool to do the job?
> Fertilizer necessary for trees this age?
> Any insight on this would be greatly appreciated.
> 
> THX!! :msp_thumbup:



Hello

In order to get your spruce to fill out in the middle. You need to purchase a good gas powered hedge trimmer. and shear up and down all sides from top to bottom of ever tree.
the best time to do this is in early fall. this will force the tree to thickin up next spring when 
the new growth comes out. Watering depends on soil type if in sand you will need it alot when in the hot summer. where as if you are in clay you want to water less so the dont drown out. Fertilization can be done with general bagged fertilizer consult your local farm co-op on what to use.


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## StihlNAlberta

Do you think that now it's April it would be best to just trim the tops and wait until this fall to trim top to bottom or should I do the whole tree now?

How much so you think I should nip off the top?

Cheers!!


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## old_soul

hate to tell you but those spruce are planted way too close together. The lower limbs are not getting any sun light. Thats why they are not growing as well. Add in shade from the fence, and from nearby trees, makes it even worse. Eventually the lower limbs will just die off......

Theres no easy way to prune those, just shearing the tops back will not help your intention. You need to thin the tops out to let sunlight down into the middle. Spruce trees need to be shaped like a cone, to let sunlight onto the tops of the branches. You kind of have the opposite here, all growth is at the top.

Possibly removing every other tree would help, would be ugly though. Can you get equipment back there?

If this was one of my jobs, I would remove the whole row and replace with new trees. Something like white pines, arborvitaes do much better than spruce trees in this application. I know, it seems like alot of work but it would actually be cheaper than trying to prune all those out. And a better end result too.

Good luck


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## StihlNAlberta

You are not the first one who has told me they are too close together. Unfortunately they were meant to provide privacy as there is a main street there, and yes the fence does create blockage from the sun unfortunately .... but again we wanted privacy and that was the only option at the time. I have tried all winter to not pile snow up against the bottoms as I also think this was contributing to the issue and it seems to have helped a bit.

Old_Soul - no room for equipment.

In reading the last few posts I think the best thing to do is knock about a foot or so off the top, re-form the trees into a bit more of a "cone" shape so there is more sun allowed into the core of the tree in hopes that might promote growth. The large balls of growth on the tops should be trimmed way back to resemble what a typical tree should look like.

The only thing I am unsure of is ..... should I trim now (April) or wait until fall time (November) .... or does it matter that much. I know on a previous post fall was said to be best but I would like to get going on this now.

Another option .... what about completely removing the round growth on the top and trim around 3 feet straight off the top. This option one would not have to do much re-shaping but cutting so much of the tree I would be worried I may harm them permanently.

Thanks all for your input. Very much appreciated.


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## PJM

I won't comment on what you are trying to do and will only note that spring and summer are generally poor times of the year to prune spruces (and other conifers for that matter.) The wounds that you make will be prone to fungal diseases which are more likely to infect during these times of year. Wait until the fall if you can.


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## StihlNAlberta

Fantastic. I will, thank you.


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