Hi I have been reading the looking at all the pictures of the spruce that is being discussed and my problem is slightly different. I have 2 blue spruce, planted much too closely together (I think the previous homeowner must have been related to Noah, he planted everything in 2s very close together) and in addition to that, he planted a tulip tree which is now 40ft high. So you can see that all 3 of them are probably too close together although they do not interfere with anything else. The spruce on the right is the one that I have the most dead branches at the bottom and I would like to take them off, if it wont stress the tree. It also appears that some higher up branches are brown and dead from the trunk out, although still green on the ends. Is that a problem? I would also like to know if I should water them a particular amount? I mainly leave them alone, but put in fertilizer spikes for evergreens every year or so. Any advice? Thanks for any and all replies!
Re: Trim bottom of Spruce? You can cut off all the branches that are completely dead with no stress to the tree at all (after all, they're dead!). Also the ones with only a tiny bit of foliage still on, they only contribute a tiny bit to the tree and cutting them off the stress will be insignificant. Scrap those spikes, they're a scam made by a snake oil merchant. They contain about $0.02 worth of fertiliser, applied in a way that the tree can't use easily. If you have any, take them back and get your money back. IF a soil test indicates any nutrient shortages (which 9 times out of 10 it won't!), then use a broadcast granular fertiliser as recommended by the soil test results.
