9 month old spruce - How am I doing?

[Mrs. O in the wild]

Hello, I am looking for confirmation that I remain on the right track after repotting my Norway Spruce.
I have been giving him a few hours of fresh air (on the front porch by an open window) here and there. It has been unseasonably hot so I felt it may burn in the heat.

How are we looking? I’ve begun a new water regiment of waiting until the soil is dry to the touch and then watering until there is drainage. Though, this feels wrong and I feel as though I may go back to misting when it looks like there is a need.
I appreciate any and all feedback/suggestions.

 

[Crazy Diamond]

To be honest is not looking very good, it should be bigger at this point, the soil looks very bad and keeping it indoors is not ideal

 

[BK6]

from what i understand misting the plant isnt watering it. the roots are what take up the water and nutrients. misting just helps with keeping leaves clean. but im new so maybe im wrong on a baby sapling like that?

 

[BobbyLane]

With Christmas just around the corner, they'll be loads of Spruce available in coming weeks, big fat chunky ones for relatively cheap

 

[DanaWhicker]

Keep coming back if you stay interested. Don't worry too much. It's easy to beat yourself up, but everyone on this forum has killed trees.

 

[Mrs. O in the wild]

To be honest is not looking very good, it should be bigger at this point, the soil looks very bad and keeping it indoors is not ideal

Thank you for your honest response!
Any ideas on how I can fix the soil?

 

[sorce]

A live tree is a live tree.

Those old trees people love to collect from the mountains so much, they probably grew about that much in their first 9 months.

Nothing wrong with strapping this thing up with a good understanding of what it's going to have to live with it's whole long life.

This is the value not many appreciate, I argue it's the most important.

I'd Repot it next summer.

Sorce

 

[eugenev2]

from what i understand misting the plant isnt watering it. the roots are what take up the water and nutrients. misting just helps with keeping leaves clean. but im new so maybe im wrong on a baby sapling like that?

So plants can absorb moisture from the leaves, but it's not even remotely as efficient as roots, misting is normally used for two reasons ie relieving some strain from roots after something like repotting or creating more humidity for plants, but misting is also not a very effective solution to increase humidity effectively unless you have automatic misting systems.

Thank you for your honest response!
Any ideas on how I can fix the soil?

No idea of the exact points @Arnold was referring to, but i would be concerned about the white fluff on the top of the soil, it kind of looks like mold forming from staying to wet for to long. The soil looks like normal potting soil, but this is just a guess without knowing the exact composition, which is not inherently bad, especially for seedling, but this also depends who you speak with. If this is indeed mold, i would suggest a process of elimination: check how long it takes for water to drain through the soil, the rule of thumb is it shouldn't be more than 5 seconds, another rule of thumb is that if it starts pooling water immediately it might be too water retentive. If this is not a issue it could be that the tree is not getting enough sun light, as suggested above, trees really need to be outside, but in saying this, a tree that has been devoid or had limited sun light should not be taken and left outside the entire day as they have not developed to be able to handle this, so it should be gradually moved outside for a few hours a day and moved to shady/dappled spot before the midday sun hits.