James W.
Chumono
Just thought I would throw this out there for discussion/information. Most of this is distilled from various sources on the web.
Species:
Picea glauca
White spruce, Black Hills spruce and Alberta spruce are regional variants of P. glauca
P. glauca is more closely related to Engleman spruce than to Norway, Jezo or Korean spruces
Origin:
Collected near Lake Laggan, Alberta in 1904 by John G. Jack
"Jeans Dilly" is a more dwarfed sport (dwarfer? miniature)
Propagation:
basically always by cuttings
Differentiation from species:
Slow growing - less than 3" per year
Needles are much shorter, finer and softer, similar to young spruce seedlings. It never develops stiff adult needles (except when it reverts)
As a bonsai subject:
Pros:
Naturally small needles
Relatively short internodes
Readily available
Easily propagated
Flexible - easy to bend
Cold hardy
Tolerant of summer heat
Vigorous - 'want' to live
Relatively forgiving of soil and water
Back budding is possible on healthy trees (reports vary)
Easy to quick-style (instant bonsai)
Cons:
Slow to increase caliper
slow to heal
slow to set branches (slower than other spruce?)
slow to recover from work
sensitive to timing (I have killed branches by wiring)
no stock grown developed for pre-bonsai
no yamadori
nursery stock is rarely good for bonsai
susceptible to spider mites
Summary:
DAS are potentially wonderful but difficult bonsai requiring much patience. May be easier to grow than other spruce but much slower to develop.
Observations/thoughts:
Any information specific to white spruce, Black Hills spruce or Alberta spruce should be helpful, especially in regards to timing
Also Engleman or Ezo spruce might cultural have similarities
I see quite a few bonsai beginnings documented, very few progressions and almost no older trees.
Heavy initial pruning and bending is possible but tree needs years to recover. Additional work the next year will severely weaken the tree and slow recovery considerably or just kill it.
Apparently root reduction and repotting into good mix can occur the spring following a heavy fall styling session. But then the "one insult per year" rule is in affect, meaning next styling session should wait for a year from the next autumn.
Back budding will not occur on a weak tree
So - chasing back foliage on long branches will be a long, slow process
I estimate 30+ years to develop a nice old looking bonsai?
This tree has been commercially available for less than 100 years, widely available and cheap for only about 20 (or so) years. Therefore not surprising that very few good examples of mature bonsai exist.
Lend themselves nicely to young looking bonsai, especially as part of a forest
Trunk chops to produce more taper are probably do-able, but will take a long time to look OK (10+ years?) Do people do this with other spuces? or is taper developed with sacrifice branches like pines?
Larger nursery trees and yard trees have many small diameter branches with tufts of foliage at the ends. Might judicious early pruning alleviate that condition by focusing energy on fewer branches and letting light and air into the interior to grow shorter, fatter branches.
I wonder if spiral trimmed trees might have had this done inadvertently
how easily would they air layer? and would it accomplish anything?
If they tolerate root work especially when young, they might be a candidate for root-over-rock.
Species:
Picea glauca
White spruce, Black Hills spruce and Alberta spruce are regional variants of P. glauca
P. glauca is more closely related to Engleman spruce than to Norway, Jezo or Korean spruces
Origin:
Collected near Lake Laggan, Alberta in 1904 by John G. Jack
"Jeans Dilly" is a more dwarfed sport (dwarfer? miniature)
Propagation:
basically always by cuttings
Differentiation from species:
Slow growing - less than 3" per year
Needles are much shorter, finer and softer, similar to young spruce seedlings. It never develops stiff adult needles (except when it reverts)
As a bonsai subject:
Pros:
Naturally small needles
Relatively short internodes
Readily available
Easily propagated
Flexible - easy to bend
Cold hardy
Tolerant of summer heat
Vigorous - 'want' to live
Relatively forgiving of soil and water
Back budding is possible on healthy trees (reports vary)
Easy to quick-style (instant bonsai)
Cons:
Slow to increase caliper
slow to heal
slow to set branches (slower than other spruce?)
slow to recover from work
sensitive to timing (I have killed branches by wiring)
no stock grown developed for pre-bonsai
no yamadori
nursery stock is rarely good for bonsai
susceptible to spider mites
Summary:
DAS are potentially wonderful but difficult bonsai requiring much patience. May be easier to grow than other spruce but much slower to develop.
Observations/thoughts:
Any information specific to white spruce, Black Hills spruce or Alberta spruce should be helpful, especially in regards to timing
Also Engleman or Ezo spruce might cultural have similarities
I see quite a few bonsai beginnings documented, very few progressions and almost no older trees.
Heavy initial pruning and bending is possible but tree needs years to recover. Additional work the next year will severely weaken the tree and slow recovery considerably or just kill it.
Apparently root reduction and repotting into good mix can occur the spring following a heavy fall styling session. But then the "one insult per year" rule is in affect, meaning next styling session should wait for a year from the next autumn.
Back budding will not occur on a weak tree
So - chasing back foliage on long branches will be a long, slow process
I estimate 30+ years to develop a nice old looking bonsai?
This tree has been commercially available for less than 100 years, widely available and cheap for only about 20 (or so) years. Therefore not surprising that very few good examples of mature bonsai exist.
Lend themselves nicely to young looking bonsai, especially as part of a forest
Trunk chops to produce more taper are probably do-able, but will take a long time to look OK (10+ years?) Do people do this with other spuces? or is taper developed with sacrifice branches like pines?
Larger nursery trees and yard trees have many small diameter branches with tufts of foliage at the ends. Might judicious early pruning alleviate that condition by focusing energy on fewer branches and letting light and air into the interior to grow shorter, fatter branches.
I wonder if spiral trimmed trees might have had this done inadvertently
how easily would they air layer? and would it accomplish anything?
If they tolerate root work especially when young, they might be a candidate for root-over-rock.