Ezo Spruce Recovery Notes!

[River's Edge]

Several years ago i obtained an Ezo Spruce and carefully repotted over a couple of seasons to strengthen and prepare for styling. In 2017 i attempted to style and wire the Ezo for the first time. I reduced the top, wired up a small sprout to create a new apex, removed branches, thinned the foliage and wired out the branches. It rewarded me by almost dying! Dropped needles, sulked and generally played dead. The good news is that the tree survived. Fast forward eighteen months later and
I have decided that;
1. Ezo prefer to be wired at a differrent time. ( Fall as opposed to Winter)
2. Leaving more foliage is a good idea with Ezo.
3. I should use a lighter touch and less aggressive wiring techniques for Ezo.
4. Pay particular attention to new buds when wiring. ( use the bifocals)
5. It probably is a good idea to mist the needles frequently when working the tree!

The tree has regained a lot of vigor and i paid attention to all of the above this time!
For reference the tree is in an anderson propogation flat, inorganic mix, approximately 14 by 14 and 5 inches deep.
Measurements currently. Trunk 3 1/2 inches just above basil flare. Distance to the reduced apex is 20 inches. The sprout is becoming a new apex and a little over 10 inches currently!
This time around i did not remove any foliage and used a combination of splints, guy wires and lighter wire to position branches. Objective is to open up for sun and create further back budding next season to reduce and compact for the next styling session! The anderson flat is useful for guy wires as it is easy to drill a small hole in the lip wherever needed. The splints are useful to create a sharper bend in a specific spot slowly by adjusting the tension over time. As well they allow for straightening curves if desired in certain styles. I used lighter, smaller diameter copper wire to lessen the damage to needles and still have the strength for branch positioning! lots of number 16,18,20 this time around.
This tree has a long way to go but the recovery makes that possible!

 

[Adair M]

Frank, I think all spruce tend to be more delicate than most other trees. I have just purchased a Colorado Blue that I am going to be very conservative with. And, I will be picking up a Red Spruce from David Knittle at the Nationals. Again, I’ll be very conservative with it.

Looks like you used chopsticks in lieu of rebar?

Are you going to come to the Nationals? It would be great to see you there!

 

[River's Edge]

Frank, I think all spruce tend to be more delicate than most other trees. I have just purchased a Colorado Blue that I am going to be very conservative with. And, I will be picking up a Red Spruce from David Knittle at the Nationals. Again, I’ll be very conservative with it.

Looks like you used chopsticks in lieu of rebar?

Are you going to come to the Nationals? It would be great to see you there!

LOL the funny thing is i actually thought i was conservative the first time with the Ezo compared to normal patterns. However the Ezo is very delicate, Those are smaller chopsticks than normal about 1/2 size. Most of the newer branching is 1/8 to 1/4 inch with needle length 3/8 inch to 1/2 inch at most! Typical of spruce the needles are very sharp. And the newer growth really likes to curl up.
My Colorado spruce is much easier to work with.

I had planned on the nationals, however it falls just before our 50th. Wedding anniversary and other travels are in the works for that period of time.
I am going to enjoy the Rendezvous next month in Milwaukee, Oregon. They have a great lineup of vendors and activities planned for everyone. It will be great to return to the Portland area, Lots of great memories of workshops with Michael, Bobby and Matt. The Artisans Cup was a great experience in that area as well. Will probably fit in a visit to Bonsai NorthWest, Telperion Farms and pick up lots of wire from Jim.
I was promised a Shiner or two, but i am guessing there will be no shortage of volounteers to help with that circumstance in my absence.

 

[discusmike]

Cool tree!is this glenhii? I don’t care for the planting angle much,might look nicer once the leader grows out,kinda has the bow n arrow look to the trunk in my eyes,glad to see she survived!

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Cool tree!is this glenhii? I don’t care for the planting angle much,might look nicer once the leader grows out,kinda has the bow n arrow look to the trunk in my eyes,glad to see she survived!

P. ghlenii is Sachalin Spruce. It’s very small, with deep green needles and chocolate colored bark. Super rare.
P. jezoensis is Ezo Spruce, this tree.
My ezo handled hard pruning and wiring just fine in the fall. Your comments are consistent with Peter Warren’s when we did the initial pruning of mine in 2011, which I have since sold to a cooler climate. Add to it these suggestions:
1. Some wire wearing gloves, stating the oils from our hands is hard on needles (hence the misting)
2. When you bend a branch, do it once and be done. Don’t adjust and readjust.
3. Definitely stick with the “one insult per year” plan. My one insult per year was pretty harsh each year, but effective.
4. They don’t do great here in the South. Too hot and humid in the summer.

 

[River's Edge]

Cool tree!is this glenhii? I don’t care for the planting angle much,might look nicer once the leader grows out,kinda has the bow n arrow look to the trunk in my eyes,glad to see she survived![/QUOTE
The tree is Jezo.
As for the planting angle and trunk shape. I will do the best i can with what the tree offers. Now that the tree is healthy there are many options for improvement. The species is difficult to find, actually this is the best one that was available to me from the four or five i have ever seen for sale!

 

[River's Edge]

P. ghlenii is Sachalin Spruce. It’s very small, with deep green needles and chocolate colored bark. Super rare.
P. jezoensis is Ezo Spruce, this tree.
My ezo handled hard pruning and wiring just fine in the fall. Your comments are consistent with Peter Warren’s when we did the initial pruning of mine in 2011, which I have since sold to a cooler climate. Add to it these suggestions:
1. Some wire wearing gloves, stating the oils from our hands is hard on needles (hence the misting)
2. When you bend a branch, do it once and be done. Don’t adjust and readjust.
3. Definitely stick with the “one insult per year” plan. My one insult per year was pretty harsh each year, but effective.
4. They don’t do great here in the South. Too hot and humid in the summer.

Good additions, thanks Brian. Our native spruce englemann is closely related and very similar in foliage size. The needles are blue/gray/green. Bark is grayer tones as well. Except for the difficulty level for care, development and refinement i think they make excellent Bonsai material. Very few choose to work with them from what i have seen in collections locally!

 

[Djtommy]

Sachalin and jezoensis are both called Ezo in japan, a bit more correct would be aka Ezo (red ezo) which is sachalin spruce and kuro ezo(Black ezo) which is the yezoensis.
But nobody reall says aka ezo or Kuro ezo, just Ezo

Sachalin spruce is a bit more delicate then most other spruce I think, because of the fine short needles. But for bonsai small needles is exactly what you want. Engelman does seem to be very similar and definitely a good bonsai candidate , I’ve never seen one in real though, just pictures.

Hot summers is definitely tough on them and they need a lot of water, can’t seem to overwater these.

 

[wireme]

LOL the funny thing is i actually thought i was conservative the first time with the Ezo compared to normal patterns. However the Ezo is very delicate, Those are smaller chopsticks than normal about 1/2 size. Most of the newer branching is 1/8 to 1/4 inch with needle length 3/8 inch to 1/2 inch at most! Typical of spruce the needles are very sharp. And the newer growth really likes to curl up.
My Colorado spruce is much easier to work with.

I had planned on the nationals, however it falls just before our 50th. Wedding anniversary and other travels are in the works for that period of time.
I am going to enjoy the Rendezvous next month in Milwaukee, Oregon. They have a great lineup of vendors and activities planned for everyone. It will be great to return to the Portland area, Lots of great memories of workshops with Michael, Bobby and Matt. The Artisans Cup was a great experience in that area as well. Will probably fit in a visit to Bonsai NorthWest, Telperion Farms and pick up lots of wire from Jim.
I was promised a Shiner or two, but i am guessing there will be no shortage of volounteers to help with that circumstance in my absence.

Thanks for sharing the notes, looks like a very nice tree waiting to be brought out there! A suggestion for the future, if you need something rebarish but chopstick size then chainsaw files work great.

 

[Ohmy222]

Sachalin and jezoensis are both called Ezo in japan, a bit more correct would be aka Ezo (red ezo) which is sachalin spruce and kuro ezo(Black ezo) which is the yezoensis.
But nobody reall says aka ezo or Kuro ezo, just Ezo

Sachalin spruce is a bit more delicate then most other spruce I think, because of the fine short needles. But for bonsai small needles is exactly what you want. Engelman does seem to be very similar and definitely a good bonsai candidate , I’ve never seen one in real though, just pictures.

Hot summers is definitely tough on them and they need a lot of water, can’t seem to overwater these.

This is what I thought too. Believe it is covered in the book on forest planting’s and ezo spruce by Saburo Kato

 

[River's Edge]

Thanks for sharing the notes, looks like a very nice tree waiting to be brought out there! A suggestion for the future, if you need something rebarish but chopstick size then chainsaw files work great.

great i have lots of those extra.