Getting Buds Closer To Trunk On Spruce Branch

[mrcasey]

To get this white spruce budding closer to the trunk (near my finger tips), I pinch these buds in half? So it's not like a pine where I cut the branch where needles are growing and get a bunch of needle buds to pop?

 

[rutulus]

You’re right on both counts. Here’s a good write up on it.

When and Why to Pinch New Growth on Spruce-

Of course we all love fiddling with our bonsai, and pinching is one of those fiddly things. And spruce, playing into our tactile desires, is a tree we can pinch. Back budding is created by pinching…

crataegus.com

 

[pandacular]

It would help to see the rest of the tree, as well as it’s species. You may have better success with strong growth and harder prunes than with pinching. If you need to thicken a branch, you do not often pinch.

 

[mrcasey]

It would help to see the rest of the tree, as well as it’s species. You may have better success with strong growth and harder prunes than with pinching. If you need to thicken a branch, you do not often pinch.

"white spruce" = Picea glauca. Are you suggesting that I let the buds on the end elongate, grow through the season, and then prune back close to the trunk where there are needles but no buds?

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

I work with norway spruce only, but it works like that, yes.
I let the fresh green growth flush out, and once the needles start feeling harder, I pinch a plume off of the newly formed shoot, leaving half of it.
It should bud from that point and produce some buds further back..
If I want buds even further back, I clip off the terminal buds (only!) in fall, and heavily wire and bend the branches. That usually activates some budding closer to the trunk.
Just the shoot cut alone is not always succesful in getting them to bud on old wood.

 

[NaoTK]

I have a lot of success with high nitrogen and spruces. This was full strength miracle grow applied every week for a year. You can see there are more buds than needles. Then you just prune back or select at your leisure