Collected Canadensis
Because of their availability to me, I too have become curious about the viability of
Eastern Hemlock for bonsai. I collect them from shady damp cliffs on a farm in central West Virginia. Many of them grow on a very shallow bed of leaf mold.
Most with reasonable trunks (2" +) have abandoned their lowest branches. Some of the smaller ones look to have budded back lower to the ground.
For the one pictured here, I guess I'll just keep chopping back the trunk till I get to that lowest branch (for a new leader). If I get really lucky, maybe a bud will break at the first bend for a number one branch.
I've had this one for two years. Immediately after digging, I put it in 1:1:1 granite/turface/pine bark mulch. I left some of the old soil on the roots. Don't know if that was a bad idea. Also, I don't have my notes handy, but I think that I collected this one sometime in autumn.
Because these guys grow on flat rocks, their root structures are wonderful. But they have a very stiff columnar habit and when i tilt them for trunk movement, the goreous natural nebaris get screwed up. Maybe I should do what the trees want and just try to make them formal uprights. They also might make interesting forest plantings - I'm thinking of a hillbilly version of Naka's Goshin.