Fir
Pseudotsuga menziesii
Keeps its shape only while the central leader is left alone, and it needs more moisture than a pine would.
Spacing & sowing
- Plant spacing
- 16 ft 5 in
- In-row spacing
- 16 ft 5 in
- Between rows
- 20 ft 6 in
- Square-foot density
- Not suited to SFG
Growing
- Type
- Tree · Perennial
- Botanical family
- Mixed / other
- Sunlight
- Full sun to partial shade, with open, airy positions best of all.
- Watering
- Keep the soil consistently moist — it is less drought-tolerant than a pine.
- Feeding
- Feed in spring only on poor soil; established trees rarely want it.
- Frost tolerant
- Yes
- Pruning
- Prune as little as possible, and never touch the central leader.
- Overwintering
- Extremely cold-hardy — nothing needs doing for winter.
Through the year
- Apr–May Bud Break
- May–Oct Spring Growth
- Oct–Dec Growing
- Jan–Apr Growing
Pests & problems
- Adelgids & woolly aphids Adelgid (a woolly aphid-like pest) — white waxy tufts on needles and young shoots
- Bark beetles Bark beetle working under the bark of stressed or dying trees
- Honey fungus Honey fungus on trees that are stressed or badly drained
- Phytophthora root and foot rot Phytophthora root rot where soils stay waterlogged
Garden allies
Beneficial predators that hunt this plant's pests — grow their favourite flowers nearby to recruit them. companion plant
- Garden birds PasseriformesHunts Bark beetles
Both things are true: birds strip your currants and a brood of blue tits takes several thousand caterpillars out of one fruit tree in a fortnight. Net what you must and welcome them everywhere else — a nest box near the apples is worth more than a spray.
- Green lacewing Chrysoperla carneaHunts Adelgids & woolly aphids
Its bristly larvae — "aphid lions" — impale aphids, mealybugs, thrips, and mite colonies, eating hundreds a week. Adults feed on nectar and pollen from small open flowers and overwinter in hollow stems left standing.
- Ladybird (lady beetle) CoccinellidaeHunts Adelgids & woolly aphids
The gardener’s favorite ally: adults and their alligator-shaped larvae each eat thousands of aphids, plus scale, mealybugs, and other soft-bodied sap-suckers. Grow flat, open flowers for the adults and never spray a colony that ladybird larvae are already working.
The Cottage Garden Companion — the gardener's herbarium at cottagegardencompanion.com