Dealing with the tips of Serbian spruces.

Garden Experts

On recently coming out of hospital, I found my Serbian spruce growing in the wrong direction at the tip. Because it has also become too high too fast in the last growth phase, I would also like to ask you whether I can prune the tip and how I can generate a relatively attractive tip as it continues to grow. I know that my father, may he rest in peace, used to deal with this matter, but I no longer know how. I only know that it looked good and that its growth was somewhat slowed.

The GARDENA gardening expert

The simplest method of getting the tip to grow straight again is to tie the new shoot and the last two seasons' shoots to a pole.

The fact that the tip has bent may be due to the weight of snow or the fact that the plant tissue is too soft. If the latter is the case, I recommend regular fertilisation, particularly with potash, from the end of June to the beginning of July, to encourage the tissue to harden better during the thickness growth phase of the spruce.
As far as the cutting is concerned, I can explain to you how to carry this process out, but if this young plant is already too large, it will probably be the case that you will have to prune it again annually – an Omorika spruce grows approximately 30-50 centimetres per year.

For this reason, I would make an alternative suggestion which would give you peace and quiet for many years:

Replace your current Omorika spruce with a Picea omorika ´Nana´. This is a dwarf variety of Omorika spruce which looks just the same, but remains compact and grows more slowly. It grows only 15 to 20 centimetres, meaning no more pruning, tying to poles, climbing ladders and disposing of cuttings!