Long Island - Bought live Alberta Spruce...

[HA HA Budys Here]

Hello, I'm In zone 5 I think - Long Island NY. I just picked up 2 live 5' tall dwarf Alberta Spruce shrubs on closeout. (Already decorated for Christmas, lights, bows, etc.) They're in only 5 gallon pots, which I think for the height, 5' and the width at the base (30") is a little small. I'll have these on my 2nd floor deck until the 1st week of Jan, then intend to heel them in at the first possible opportunity.

I was wondering I'f I'm better off buying a couple of large tubs and some soil, and just set them in those NOW, and leave them till spring. The tubs would be punctured for drainage and hold at least 4 40 lb. bags of soil each. My fear is the pots they were sold in just aren't large enough to hold and provide adequate moisture, even with diligent watering.

TIA

[animaux]

If you can dig holes now and if the soil is not soaking wet, it is best to plant the trees now, or heel them in, but keep them watered in their containers if you don't do any of that.

If you are on Long Island, you are in between 6b and 7a.

[David J Bockman]

Picea glauca are extremely cold hardy, Zone 2 I think. You should be fine.

Dave

[D Kat]

I'm by Stony Brook (SUNY) and have had 2 dwarf alberta spruce trees on my patio - potted in maybe 5 - 10 gallon plastic planters for a couple of years and they overwinter just fine. The planters measure about 12H"X18W" (probably less). The trees are now about 3' tall. They started out as little1 gallon plants that I rescued. I keep telling myself I'm going to plant them but I have run out of garden place and they look so nice on the patio. I did however buy them at a time that I might have transplanted them to bigger pots then what they came in before over wintering but given that I'm really hard on plants -. It takes me awhile after I do my impulse buying before I can tend to them it is possible that I didn't.... This long drawn out response is just to say that I know they can overwinter fine in planters but that I can't say what size the planter should be for safety sake.

[HA HA Budys Here]

Thank you, DKat. I have friends over on Christian St. I'm glad the general consensus seems to be - they'll winter fine. Now that I'm "over" *my* impulse purchase... (Not really, as these were 59.99 at BJ's wholesale 2 weeks ago, I went there to purchase 2 the day before my post and found them marked down to 1/2 off!) I realize I've had 4 1-gallon Albertas in containers for a couple of years with no problems, and remember that these are the container plant of choice flanking many a Manhattan hotel. (So much for "full sun" LOL) But these 1-galloner's were transplanted into much larger containers when I bought them. My fear here was that the pot that the plants come in were too small for the root system. These Albertas are exactly

5'5'' tall, and rather "pointy" I've never purchased them this large, as they're typically in the 60-70.00 range.

Thanks for your input.