B.uneasy
Chumono
cut a decent amount offPicture?
cut a decent amount offPicture?
Yes you did. Did you cut back to where there are buds?cut a decent amount off
I cut back to most of the buds but alot of the branches didn't have buds so I cut them back farther. Some branches I cut past the bud :/ Thats bad for the tree?Yes you did. Did you cut back to where there are buds?
Does anyone else have any blue spruces? This is so fat and filled with branches just like a christmas tree im just not sure how I would make it into a bonsai tree. Plus such big bulky needles and branches, how does everyone get them so small?
I've seen this video. Does he have an update? Any idea what he did with the roots?Here’s a good start to finish walk thru of working a Christmas tree into a bonsai:
You should cut back to a bud. If you just cut back into needles, the section between the end, where you cut, will die back to the nearest bud back towards the trunk. If you cut off an entire branch, that’s fine. It’s the buds that signal the tree to send nutrients out. Cut off all the buds, there’s no signal, the branch dies.
CBS make lots of buds, so there’s usually lots of places to cut back to. It’s just not done “randomly”.
When they cut back to shape Christmas trees, they just shear them. So, even if you didn’t cut at ideal places, the tree will recover, but for bonsai, we generally try to be more selective.
Pretty sure he sold that tree!I've seen this video. Does he have an update? Any idea what he did with the roots?
That was the most helpful informational video I have seen!! Thank you so much, I watched the whole thing and this helped me out a lot understanding the process of taking a traditional christmas tree and the creative practices that followHere’s a good start to finish walk thru of working a Christmas tree into a bonsai:
I love the character on this tree, It's already got such a nice trunk, that big curve is such a score!@B.uneasy
I find Colorado blue spruce to be interesting, they take a lot of abuse, if you don't abuse them too often. I have 3 CBS, and several other spruces. For your CBS I would recommend now that you leave it alone the rest of this year. Because you pruned it relatively hard, do not repot in less than 12 months from now. Give it time to grow. You want to see "blue shiners" the bright new blue buds growing on most of your branches before you do a repot.
Spruce do not "like" their roots being pruned or disturbed. So the year I repot I always do nothing major for 6 months before and zero pruning or other work for 12 months after. Just water and feed. Now there are plenty of people who will tell you that you can be much more aggressive with them, and that is fine, for them. I found they do best for me if I leave them alone for a good length of time between major pruning or repotting sessions. Especially repotting. When you do your repotting, work the roots hard, to get the to the right shape for a future bonsai pot. Don't be timid working the roots. FOr the spruce pictured below, in 2014 I removed 75% of its root system, potted it into at mostly pumice mix in the Anderson flat. Then I had to leave it alone for 4 years before I had enough "blue shiners", active buds to tell me it had recovered. If new buds are sparse, leave it alone to recover another year. Usually one year is enough, but in my case, where I removed more than the recommended amount, it took 4 years before the spruce recovered. So if yours does not have many buds on the branches, let it go another year. Just water and fertilizer and full sun.
One more thing, this actually can apply to any tree. If a tree is not interesting, pruning it back, like you did, and maybe getting rid of the most boring parts, is a good start. Then set it aside and let it grow anywhere from 2 to 5 or more years. The extended grow out time will allow it to grow new buds and branches, and perhaps give you more interesting choices. If after another 5 years it is still boring, abuse it again, prune it hard, get rid of straight branches, and then set it out to grow out again.
My example here is not anywhere's near bonsai yet, it is barely even "pre-bonsai" it is in early phases of "becoming bonsai". My hope is to get back budding on those long stretches of straight branches. More sun, more fertilizer should help. If I don't get buds where I want them in the next 5 years, I will either resort to grafting or plant it in the landscape.
Colorado Blue spruce, in June 2019, waiting for back buds to come after initial styling, styled originally in 2018
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immediately after being wired out in 2018.
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This comment makes me think a repotting class or lesson from a local club member would be in order. The goal is to retain and improve the finer root structure, Reducing thicker roots as we go!And just cut thinner roots not thick ones?
Now I'm really wondering. How do you guys reduce the size of the needles?
Amazing ExplanationColorado Blue Spruce, and pretty much all spruce, genus Picea. There are no techniques specifically to reduce needle size. The size of the needles reduces naturally with ramification of the branches. Ramification is the branching of the branching. So if your branch, goes for a length, then branches into 2 branches. This is one level of ramification. If the branch, extends then branches into 2, then those branches extend and branch into 2 each, yielding 4 branches. This is 2 levels of ramification. If the 4, branch again, this becomes 8 branches, or 3 levels of ramification. At 4 levels of ramification, there will be 16 branches, and 5 will be 32 branches. The water and nutrients coming up from the trunk are the same, so as levels of ramification increase, the distribution of water and nutrients gets divided to smaller and smaller allocations for each branch. The more levels of ramification you have the smaller your needles will become. This is assuming you keep the pot size, hence the size of the root ball roughly constant. If you allow the roots to spread out at the same rate the branching spreads out, then the needles will stay large.
So for Picea, spruce, the main way to develop shorter needles is to develop more and more branching. The finer your branching becomes, the shorter your needles will become.
Make sense? Needle size comes down when the root system is restricted and the tree is forced to make more and more, finer and finer branches.
there any specific rules on branching at this point?
I realize the tree will change alot over the next few years, and big changes will be made. But as of right now, how should I make it not look like a sad little christmas tree? I want it to start looking like a decent little piece of material, that may be far away from being a bonsai, but still not a garden shrub. You know?I don't think you have anything currently that will be a branch in the future. More, parts to build trunk. There may be a bud that will be a future branch, but it is more likely that the branches off of those branches will be your final branching.
If you understand the 32 parts of ramification, you understand the size of this needle may in fact be small enough to represent a needle on a trunk so small.
The problem is, that size trunk can't hold the volume which is 32 parts of ramification.
So you're basically building trunk by default for this reason. It needs to be larger.
Build a wise trunk to hold that ramification.
Sorce