Small Blue Spruce tree turning brown!

[fisheye]

Originally Posted by withau

Well....
Now, I just discovered that the baby blue spruce or the dwarf blue spruce or the bonsai blue spruce may be what I want, instead of one that will grow 100 feet tall. Looking to find one to buy, but they seem quite expensive, especially after adding the shipping. I can't find a seedling that will be inexpensive and easy to mail to me. However, I see comments that make me think, even though they call it a 5 gallon, 3 gallon or 1 gallon size, they say they are so small, and some post pix.... it seems to me these sizes may just be seedlings. ? Why not just send it in the mail? forget the gallon bucket of dirt? I must be missing something or not looking in the right place. I do see seeds for sale though, for the smaller blue spruce versions. How long to go from a seed to a tree? They don't grow very fast, do they?

Become a member of the Arbor Day Foundation and you can have ten trees for free (it actually cost you a $10 membership fee): https://shop.arborday.org/content.aspx?page=memberships. Unfortunately those are flowering trees.

There are some state forestry services that will supply residents with free or very cheap evergreen trees. Check with your local municipal building or your local DNC offices. I remember programs like that in my area; I do not know if they still have the offers available?

[withau]

I think a bug got mine. I wish I'd known to spray them for bugs, cuz it killed that tree in a week. I read (unfortunately, AFTER it died) that you can spray them with water and dish washing soap mix and it won't hurt them. Mine weren't even a foot tall though. Hate it that yours was near 5' tall. That'd be a real loss for me. I think I'd have to cry. ;( and maybe have a memorial service or funeral for it. I guess I need to get mine out of the ground ... but I'll wait til next Spring to see if there are any signs of life. I think I read though, that if it's pest kill, I should terminate it and remove all signs of it in case the pest disease gets transferred to another plant. Sigh... On well... I sure do love that color blue, my favorite color, but in my research, I have seen other trees that are blue. Some pines, I think, too.
And then there's the elderberry I've been researching, for colds and flu. The Black Tower Elderberry has black leaves, but then pink blossoms, (I hate the color pink) then after the blossoms come the bluish black berries. I just ordered some elderberries, (finally found the best price - including shipping) here at piping rock.
https://www.pipingrock.com/elderberr...?rwcode=FMU344 - and after receiving them I read that I have to buy some vodka (or rum) to make elderberry extract. Gotta research what kind of vodka to buy and get it started in the next day or two. It takes 6 weeks before it's extracted. So interesting.... Sambucol = is black elderberry extract and I've been using it for 15 years, when it was only found at health food stores. Now, this year, I see ads for it everywhere. It's the best natural cure for a cold there is! That code will give you 10 bucks off if you've never shopped there before, or maybe even if you have. I don't know, I just got 10 bucks off my elderberries because I looked and looked for a decent price and sure enough this was it. Especially with $10 off!

[withau]

Originally Posted by fisheye

Become a member of the Arbor Day Foundation and you can have ten trees for free (it actually cost you a $10 membership fee): https://shop.arborday.org/content.aspx?page=memberships. Unfortunately those are flowering trees.

There are some state forestry services that will supply residents with free or very cheap evergreen trees. Check with your local municipal building or your local DNC offices. I remember programs like that in my area; I do not know if they still have the offers available?

Hey Thanks! I remember doing that decades ago when I found out about it. I don't remember what kind of seedlings I got but I do remember waiting too long to plant those 10 babies with success. Wow! They still do that? Great idea! Thanks! I'll try.

[NC211]

https://issuu.com/loudounnow/docs/ldnow121219

This was an article in my area recently. A couple of our green giant arborvitaes and an adjoining leyland Cyprus got hit by something this fall. Cyprus died, two of my arborvitaes are half dead. Think this is what hit us..

[fisheye]

Originally Posted by withau

Hey Thanks! I remember doing that decades ago when I found out about it. I don't remember what kind of seedlings I got but I do remember waiting too long to plant those 10 babies with success. Wow! They still do that? Great idea! Thanks! I'll try.

Just make sure to plant the new ones quickly! Also many have said to always dig a $10 hole for a 5$ plant (or something like that). What they mean is that you want to take your time and prepare a hole big enough so the roots can spread out. If you dig a little hole and do not spread out the roots; your new tree will always be fighting for its life. Here is one link about planting trees: https://forestry.usu.edu/trees-citie...-trees-dig-big. The recommendations actually changed from the last trees I planted (which was about 40 years ago). Now they do not recommend the hole deeper than the root ball is high; but they do want us to dig wide. 40 years ago I dug deep and put mulch in the hole; now they do not recommend that.