Thanks for the good tips. Is it too late to prune to a good bud on last year’s growth? Or should,I wait and do my pruning on new growth?

BTW, I have seen a lot of sheared “Christmas trees”, so I assumed it could be done, though I realize it would give that sheared look. And I assume the danger would be of shearing into old wood.

You can only reduce the amount of new growth each year. So your trees will get larger and eventually too large, over time, just not as fast.

I cut new growth off up to half on species spruce with no problem. But not the whole tree, just adjustments. Mid to late summer.

I don't know if there's a limit or percentage but would assume removing over 25% of green would put you over the recommended amount for tree pruning.

It isn't too late. I prune mine right about now, in fact I did a few today.

It's not too late is the answer I had hoped to hear. I'll be out tomorrow pruning. Thanks!!!

I wish I could still edit the message that started this thread, but it's too late. Because I was able to look up the names of the two that I didn't have names for two days ago. The big over-grown spruce in the first photo is 'Bergman's Gem'. The smaller spruce with the missing name on its label is Picea omorika 'Peve Tijn'. I'm kind of a name fanatic, so it is quite painful for me to not know the name of one of my plants.

I have just moved from Windows 7 to Windows 10 and just today I was able to reinstall AzzCardFile, the program I depend on to keep track of all my plants. I capture where and when I bought a plant and where I've put it in my garden. It's one of those programs I can't live without. I can’t resist adding that I started using this program’s predecessor, Card File, in Windows 3.1. I still have a few plants hanging around that are that old too, but only a very few, like Bergman’s Gem’.

there is a big difference between what are called DWARF .. and MINIs ....

https://conifersociety.org/conifers/learn/conifer-sizes-growth-rates/

it all about the annual growth rate .... and how fast.. or slow they get too big ... ive seen too many plants with great potential.. sold at bigbox ... labeled as dwarf ... pshaw ...

and never forget.. they are trees .. and never really stop growing at some magical height or width ... most size estimates are at 10 years ... and we usually assume they will be twice the size at 20 ...

so ..... the first solution is to buy mini's ... rather than dwarfs ...

knowing the annual growth.. also helps you decide how to shear or prune them .... the spring bud shortening thing ....

ken

So true, Ken! I learned that lesson, though I don’t always stick to it because there just aren’t enough minis. Or I see a dwarf I just can’t resist. The Abies concolor ‘La Veta’ is an example of a dwarf I just couldn’t resist. I will be doing some pruning on it today to try to keep it as small as possible.

Or I see a dwarf I just can’t resist.

===>>> sooooo .. you are the cause of your own problems.. go figure.. lol ...

do you mail order plants ... mini's should be that hard to find ..

besides.. didnt you say you are running out of room ... i think its time to stop the impulse buying ... yeah right ... been there.. never accomplished that .. lol ..

ken

ps:and of course.. if you truly ruin something pruning.. well ... get rid of it ... and get those mini's ....cant really lose in this equation ...

I was out in the garden pruning my dwarf conifers in hopes to keep them as mini as possible. For the most part I was successful in finding good buds to cut to. But sometimes I was disappointed to find long stretches of growth without buds. Or put a different way, last year‘s shoot would have several buds but only at the tip, with no buds below the tip which meant I had to leave the shoot longer than I would have desired. Also, there is presumably a lesson there to learn which is that I am much better off pruning on new growth after the spring growth surge rather than waiting until the following spring. That way there will be plenty of time to set new buds on the shortened shoot.

Not sure if you cut the end buds off, if more will be produced on the remaining bare part of the branch. I've never tried it. I've had spruce produce new buds on a 2" dia. trunk where rabbits have snipped off the branches. The next spring they pushed new growth.

Will buds break below the cut or not?? I wouldn’t worry on the new growth soon to come for this year, But on last spring’s shoot I simply don’t know. That is certainly the big question and the reason I hesitated to cut. Your comment about the 2” branch breaking out with new buds is encouraging but I think I ought to experiment on a shoot where it won’t matter so much if new buds don’t break below where I’ve cut. I’ll mark it with some of that green plastic tie tape and watch it to see what happens. If buds don’t break I won’t have lost more than one shoot.

In all your shots but the first there seems to be plenty of room around each specimen. And you are not going to be able to even just snip here and there without distorting the natural shape of each. With lightly shearing back of all of the new growth in late spring or early summer being the preferred way to reduce the rate of increase of the entire plant, in a uniform manner. With - yes - this resulting in a changed appearance as well.