Update for everyone that helped me. I repotted the Spruce yesterday.
Big lesson learned from this tree was to be sure of what soil the thing is in before buying it. This poor guy was in a block of rock hard clay and I was not prepared for that. Even if I'd planted this into the ground at my parents, I'm sure it would have died, as my parents soil is extremely sandy, and I don't think any water would have penetrated that clay. Water would just drain off from around the clay and drain down through the sandy soil. It's a good thing I freed up some roots.
I had to chip in pretty far before I found much in the way of roots. The feeder roots seem to be mostly clustered close to the trunk about two inches down. There was a seem in the soil at that level that the roots seem to have had an easier time working their way into. There were also several large roots running out that had been chopped off when it was dug up and potted. After I got to the roots, I stopped chipping and began slowly working the clay free with running water. I freed up a good chunk of roots. The roots I freed up were so well arranged that they raked out without any effort (I had not intended to rake any roots out at this point, but they were already so close to being that way). You'd think someone had careful raked all the roots out and then buried them in clay mud. They were that nicely laid out already.
Next big lesson, be sure of what's in each bag of soil I buy. I picked up some pumice to replace the clay (could not find haydite or calcined clay locally). The smaller bags of it had clear windows and the pumice in them was clearly an ideal size for me and looked all nicely washed out. There was a bigger bag from the same line that appeared a better value but it did not have the same clear window in the packaging. After freeing up some roots and preparing to repot, I opened the bag to find it filled with lots of much finer particles than the smaller bags had.
I did not have my screens with me to sift out the fines. I had never expected to repot any of the trees I picked up, so I only snuck out my pruning tools from my parents. I've always done all our Bonsai activities there with my Dad. I figured even with the fines, it was probably better than what it had been in. So I set the now much smaller block of clay back in the pot and poured in the pumice. I trimmed off a few tiny damaged branches from near the base of the trunk (which helps show off the trunk) and left it at that.
This tree is not getting shaped at all this year. The roots have been pretty badly traumatized at this point. I mixed some weak repotting fertilizer/root growth hormone and watered it real good. I gave it water again this evening. It's sitting in the shade most of the day and gets a little direct sun in the evening. I'll give it a few days for the soil to dry out (or so I expect, will watch it close), and then continue to give it diluted fertilizer with its water for a bit. I expect it'll need to be watered one more time just before giving it to my Dad.
So I'm disappointed I can't shape it before he gets it, but I don't want to traumatize it that bad. I have some concerns for its health already. At least the Boxwoods I got him seem to be in awesome soil and were fun to shape for him. I expect they'll do quite well.
Thanks everyone! I'll give updates from time to time on how it does.
Don't sweat it too much.
