Firstbranchbonsai purchase

[Steve21]

Purchased this Picea Pungens from Todd Schlafer’s Firstbranchbonsai page. 3.5 inches at the base, 18” tall, nice movement and bark (bad pics).

It was my first time purchasing from Todd, he was great to work with. Quick responses to my questions, and he did a great job protecting the tree during shipping. Would definitely purchase from him again.

 

[BrianBay9]

I worked with Todd years ago when I lived in Colorado, and I concur. Good guy. Good trees.

 

[Steve21]

To keep track of this one....spring work complete. Initial working, rough structure set, will grow freely this season with plans to repot spring 2020.


If only I could take a good picture....

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

You took an awful lot of foliage off the tree. I would not have been that aggressive,
If it makes it, it will be great.

 

[Steve21]

I removed a lot...but the (bad) pic hides depth, there’s more green left than represented in the picture.

Feel confident with the action, this tree has been growing untouched for three years since collection. Pot is packed with roots, time will tell.

 

[Potawatomi13]

To keep track of this one....spring work complete. Initial working, rough structure set, will grow freely this season with plans to repot spring 2020.
View attachment 234791View attachment 234792

If only I could take a good picture....

HOLY COW! Hope it survives.

 

[Rafael Najmanovich]

I think you took too much off at once. Be careful with watering and it may survive. As it stands now, you probably should not repot next year but in 2 or 3 years. An alternative approach could have been to repot this spring with all the foliage intact to drive the recovery of the root system. It may very well be that for the design you have in mind, all that was removed could not be used. What you could have done after the repot is pinch the new growth on these sacrificial areas treating them as if they were in refinement but knowing that in a year or two they will be removed. With that approach they would be contributing to the creation of resources that would make the root system recover and the growth stronger and faster in the areas you want to develop. This alternative approach is far less risky and would have saved you at least 3 years.

 

[Steve21]

My thought process was to do the hard styling while the tree has the most roots....which is now....it will never have more roots than it has currently/this growing season.

I thought about reporting first. And waiting on styling. That would’ve meant doing a hard styling in the future on a tree with much fewer roots, even after its established, given a proper pot will be at least 50% smaller than the training container it’s been in since colllection.

Anyway - Will update either way ?.

 

[Gaijin]

My thought process was to do the hard styling while the tree has the most roots....which is now....it will never have more roots than it has currently/this growing season.

I thought about reporting first. And waiting on styling. That would’ve meant doing a hard styling in the future on a tree with much fewer roots, even after its established, given a proper pot will be at least 50% smaller than the training container it’s been in since colllection.

Anyway - Will update either way ?.

it's been a little over a year.....any updates? pictures? has the tree survived?

 

[Steve21]

it's been a little over a year.....any updates? pictures? has the tree survived?

Going good so far. It pushed strong in spring 2019. Reported it this spring, will let it grow unchecked for at least a year, possibly until early fall 2021 before I touch it again.

 

[Steve21]

 

[NOZZLE HEAD]

I have seen full rooted spruce in Christmas tree plantations get “high stumped” where they cut just 6 feet of the top for a sale-able tree and the trees come back from 1 bud. I’m not worried about your tree.

I need to find the farmer for a scanky tree plantation I drive by about once a month. There is some potential out there.

 

[River's Edge]

View attachment 305960

Interesting the new planting angle, not sure it is sustainable

 

[Steve21]

Yeah I’m really pushing some artistic design limits with the angle . Watering it is a real pain.

 

[Gaijin]

Going good so far. It pushed strong in spring 2019. Reported it this spring, will let it grow unchecked for at least a year, possibly until early fall 2021 before I touch it again.

Good to know. I got one from Andy Smith last year that I plan on working on in 2021. The consensus seemed to be that you pushed the tree pretty hard, so I just wondered if it survived and all. Thanks for the update.

 

[Steve21]

I waited until I saw back budding on old wood as the sign it was safe to start working the tree. Took three growing seasons post collection before mine did that.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Glad to see it is still alive. It might be another couple years before you can safely attack it again. Make sure it is pushing a lot of buds before the next hard prune.