Collected monster Blue Spruce

CWTurner

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I connected with a demolition contractor who was tearing down a bank building recently. They allowed me to take a dozen or so shrubs (PJM Rhodo, Yew, some sort of creeping Juniper) and a couple of Blue Spruce that grow in a mound. I bonsai'd the Juniper and one Yew.

The big Spruce was actually two plants growing together in a mound about 10' x 5' and 4 foot high. I chopped my way into the more interesting looking one and ended up with this:
Spruce.jpg

The contractor did a real nice job pulling out the shrub and putting it aside for me. Here it is (my dad holding it upright for me) after I got it almost bare rooted:

Spruce after.jpg
Surprisingly, there were no heavy roots to cut, and the soil came away easily in 10-15 minutes. If I had to guess, I'd say that I got more than 50% of the roots.

Now to find a pot.

I'm not kidding. My original intention was to use this for my landscape, but the small root mass has me thinking that I'll plant it in a grow box and see if it lives. Better pics of the structure tomorrow.
CW
 

M. Frary

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You bare rooted it on purpose? Conifers don't usually take to this treatment very well.
 

CWTurner

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Mike,
Well, I had to lift it into my van for transport, so that was the only way I was going to collect it. The top of the tree barely fit and I struggled to get it in. Hope I didn't kill it, but it would have been in the dumpster with the rest of the shrubs if I didn't at least try.
 

justBonsai

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Hope it lives. Looks like it'll be a fun project if it does.
 

CWTurner

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With my limited photography skills I never could get a good shot of the underpinnings of this tree.
I've kept it watered in moderate sun and had a lot of dieback and needle drop. (Scale- pot is about 24" wide)
CBS1.jpg

Kept at it though and today I noticed this...
CBS2.jpg
...a nice little green bud. A few more here and there.
So I'm anxious to see what my poor collecting skills and mother nature have left me. Hopefully I'll have a decent looking large bonsai if it continues to grow (is a 5 foot live vein even possible on a Colorado Blue Spruce?).
CW
 

M. Frary

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Excellent. I would have given it a 5 in 1 chance of surviving.
Very cool indeed!
 

sorce

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Excellent. I would have given it a 5 in 1 chance of surviving.
Very cool indeed!

5/1? :confused:


Dope CW !

Dope!

So glad to see this wasn't someone just asking if it lived!

Sorce
 

Giga

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Looks great! Now that you have growth, lightly feralitze with organics, keep the foliage misted if you can, and leave it alone for a couple years. If it bounces back then you may have a live vien you can carve around and make into something that looks really old.

Next time though, it would have been better to put the foliage out a window and keep the rootball intaked. You can "get away" with barerooting a conifer that has been in a bonsai pot for a while, but collecting from the wild is another story.
 
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CWTurner

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Thanks Giga.
Yeah, I did a poor job of collecting this. I probably could have brought some of the soil with the roots.
I spray the foliage whenever I can and always when I water the tree.
I will cut out the dead branches after I am sure which those are, and keep my fingers crossed for a couple years and hope that it stays alive.
It was really top-heavy until the dieback, but I think after I cut that out the pot may stand by itself (I have a cheezy plastic lawn chair helping with that now). I'll have to figure something to keep the snow from tipping it.
CW
 

Giga

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DO not cut the branches! You risk damaging new roots, its on the edge of health. Get some stakes to help support the tree. Just leave it alone and let the tree do it's thing for a few years
 

GrimLore

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I've kept it watered in moderate sun and had a lot of dieback and needle drop.

That was just the result of root chopping which cannot be helped. Now that it is growing and becoming stable I would strongly suggest you get it in a spot where it gets at least 6 hours of Sun a day. Don't let it dry out and be amazed at how fast those buds develop :). Don't cut it at all right now, let it grow happily and wait another year. When you do prune never do it while it is growing or you will find it difficult to stop the sap flow at the wound. Also, be very mindful down the road as it is a great start for the species - they throw energy almost entirely to the top portion of the tree. It is possible but takes forever to get new lower growth. Nice plant but many things to consider down the road! Trim with caution :cool:

Grimmy
 

ghues

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Just because it is budding doesn't necessarily mean that it's pushing roots.....a tree this size has a huge amount of stored energy and can flush just to croak later.....hopefully this won't be the case for your tree, good luck.
Cheers Graham
 

CWTurner

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Thanks guys. I realize that this is not a given to survive. Fingers crossed I will give it some more sun Grammy and see what 2017 brings.
 

CWTurner

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Well this tree is DEAD. Guess those buds were its last gasps.
Learned a bit and will look for another.
CW
 
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