Picea Pungens planting help please.

Hi,
I have some Picea Pungens (Blue Spruce) that I'm hoping to plant out. It was my understanding they should be planted when dormant, which would be about now in the U.K.
Also my friends and family got those little Christmas trees from places like Poundland and Wilkinsons which are basically saplins, they were going to throw them away but I saved them as well (unsure of the exact species). I was going to pot some and plant next year and plant the rest out. Again when is the best time.
Thanks.

 

A lot depends on the weather where you are, Eclipse. Evergreens can suffer badly during the winter from frost and cutting winds, so it might be worth delaying until Spring when the soil has warmed up a bit. Then you'll need to keep an eye on watering them during dry spells for the next year or two.....

 

Thanks for your reply.
Is it worth potting them for the first year then in a good quality soil and maybe plant when they are bigger and stronger?

 

If you don't mind watering them regularly then potting them into John Innes compost is an option, but as conifers are pretty slow-growing anyway, I'm not sure that there's anything to be gained. It would be less work to plant them out and be done with it, just make sure that the soil doesn't dry out completely during dry spells, especially if they have peat-based-compost rootballs