How long have you had the tree?

Was it like this when you bought/planted it?

In your last picture, it appears to have a broken part on top but it's hard to see it.

It appears that the horizontal stem on the right is the main leader, again hard to tell just looking at a picture.

If it's a recent purchase, I'd contact your seller and see what he/she says about it.

They can be wonky when young, but they have a strong preference for fastigiiate form. I’ve grown three of them, and they were all fairly uniform in their narrow, upward growth, with no staking required. My experience is that after 3-4 years of establishment, they will quickly establish a strong leader and gain an upward trend. I recommend patience.

Anyone else think it might be sensible to move it away from the fence while it's still small enough?

Just what I was thinking, flora.

i think it’s fine where it is.

I'll split the difference: a foot or two further away from the fence would be better, but its habit is so narrow that it should be okay where it is.

It's hard to see from the picture but it looks to be about a foot from the fence. Is it really not going to eventually grow to touch the fence? And is the fence never going to need maintenance?

If the back side get too much shade, it may grow less than desirable on that side.

Pix can be deceiving. I’ll reserve comment until Jeff tells us how far from the fence it is.

tj

The center of the tree is 30" from the fence

Mine looked like yours and developed a nice leader btw

Yes, keep this thread updated. It's always educational and interesting to see how things progress over time.

:-)

you bought a weeping tree.. its right there in the name... if you wanted a taller one.. it would have been best to buy a taller one..

it will be near impossible to pull the leader upright at this time..

tree time is counted in decades.. in 5 to 10 years.. it might put up a new upright leader.. and you can train that to grow taller...

i would also suggest you move it 3 to 5 feet further from the fence ..

ken

Jeff,

There's some beautiful pictures of this tree in the conifer forum.

Here's one below. Page down to about the third post.

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/5732852/experience-with-weeping-white-spruce-in-zone-7#n=14