Christmas Tree spruce from HD

So I got a Spruce from from HD(one of those small Christmas tree things). I clipped some of the lower limbs

to gain access to the trunk and shape it like a pine, duh that's what noobs do we make mini pines. The moss

is to cover the big roots i don't know what to do with yet.


Well to my surprise when i pulled back the top roots and some soil I found a nice sized taper that looks to

me(with my noob eyes) could have been a nice little sumo tree if i didn't cut the branches from the top of the

taper.


the red line is where the original soil level was when I bought it. So I cut all the little branches coming from

the ground level so I could see the trunk.

then I removed some soil and excess roots from the top of the soil and found this base

I think it would have been nice had I not removed all the small branches and let it grow as a sumo tree.

So my question is:
What would you do now?
Keep the pine look and work the roots to get into a bonsai pot?
Grow the branches back and create a sumo?

The angle of the pics I have don't do the trunk justice but it has a big bottom and good taper that looked to me like a fat sumo style mame.

theone420 said:

I think it would have been nice had I not removed all the small branches and let it grow as a sumo tree.

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What's done is done.
All you can do now is go with what you have left.
First off. Did you put it into that pot?
If so you need to let it recover. And should have been done in the spring.
If it lives I would get me some fat wire and start putting bends in the trunk to get some movement.
I would be looking to literati the thing.

the potting was just a slip pot i didnt cut any roots from below and only removed a small amount of roots that were covering the trunk.

I do like the idea for a literati I may start that in spring if my $5 tree survives

I sort of knew not to do anything to the roots if I was gonna clip anything. I do know its prob not the best time to do anything but with daytime temps still getting over 80 degrees consistantly I figured I would use the $5 to learn. if I dont kill or hurt a few trees how will I know what they can take in my climate.

also do you think this would be a decent tree to use mounted in deadwood

theone420 said:

also do you think this would be a decent tree to use mounted in deadwood

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Like a tanuki?
No. The trees used in those things are thin bendable trunks that can be crammed into a groove and grown out to fill the space.

Yeah tanuki. Thanks
What is good for that? Something like a juniper with the runners that grow fast and bendable?

theone420 said:

Yeah tanuki. Thanks
What is good for that? Something like a juniper with the runners that grow fast and bendable?

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They make them out of junipers mostly. But I'm sure larch would work. Maybe pines.
They use young trees that are long and skinny. They cut a groove into a piece of driftwood a little larger than the diameter of the live trees trunk. Then they fasten the live tree into the groove and let it grow until it's wedged in the groove.