I would like to know this also.

I have one that about 6' and seems staight enough without staking, but have another which is small and I can't even tell which branch is the leader, etc.

Usually these are sold already staked for vertical growth. If it is any size and in the prostrate form that's the way it will always present itself.

How big is it?

Do you have a photo?

Go to your local nursery. Buy some stretch tape. They also sell plastic covered stakes in various sizes and lengths.

Drive stake close to the leader you want to train up and secure it with the stretch tap.

Your on your way.

Dave

Interesting question.
I think the answer depends partly on exactly which "weeping norway spruce" one is talking about.
It seems that the 'Inversa' cultivar grows much like a P.o. 'Pendula Bruns' (at least until reaching a few meters height), while the 'Reflexa' variety is totally hopeless without staking right from the get-go.

more info, please.. for better answers ....

potted or ball and burlap ...

how tall after planting.. in other words.. subtract the ball or pot height.. because they magically shrink when you plant them .. lol ...

what type of soil do you have ...

does it have an established leader .... something pointing skyward?

in the case of weeping trees.. the staking is more for training upward.. rather than simply holding the tree vertical ... this tree and many of the type.. will only get as tall as you train it .... in my case.. the limit of height is the limit of my 6 foot ladder plus my height.. minus the top two rungs for safety ....

if you dont care if it gets any higher ... and have good soil ... and plant it properly .... it may never need to be staked...

have you studied the various post for proper planting and watering of conifers .... watering be the most important ...

any chance at a picture ....

good luck

ken

okay, it's in a pot. it's about 3 and a half feet w/o the pot including the leader, which it does have, only one. the soil is clay under the topsoil. the hangtag says it is 'picea abies' 'pendula'. it also says it will get 18 ft. tall, which is different from what i'm hearing and reading online. is the stretch tape that green velcro tape or is that something else? also, how fast does this grow? thanks!

Ok, here is mine:

{{gwi:677822}}

5 gal potted (FF), 'picea abies' 'pendula', 2-3' ... more like 2' I'd say. soil is clay, but is better in top 2-5" due to topsoil accumulated from flash flooding (not a problem anymore); ph 7 ish ... winds possible, but somewhat protected by 4' fence and currently 2' high silt fencing. Considering either training leader for vertical, or letting this one grow into my large cobbled swale, which is for emergencies (if underground drainage fails somehow), but probably won't ever be used). The swale is about 2' down ... so I envisioned it might be cool to train it to weep out over the rocks (with or without training?)

This one was planted a few weeks back and is already showing the start of new green growth (not in picture). I'm getting the (initial) feeling these norways like it in CO. Planted another 6.5' (same variety) further down this same rock swale ... and its already trained vertically in has a nice straight leader. Look at this picture, there does seem to be a branch that is bigger than the others, maybe not the longest, but probably the biggest around.

Also:

{{gwi:688529}}

mine has one definite leader which right now is growing straight up. sorry i don't know how to do pictures.

whitepetunia, sign up for a FREE account at photobucket.com and then update some pictures you your album there. THen you can pastle the html code for the picture(s) you want into your messages. Some boards use html, some use img ... photobucket makes it easy to do either with just a few clicks.