j.w.i's Lil' X-mas Tree Contest Entry......

just.wing.it

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You all will have to let me know if this one bends the rules too much, but it was slim pickings out there today.

This tree has a Red Pot, Xmas Bow, the word Holiday on the tag, and a sort of triangular shape.....?.....and its NOT Deciduous!
It was either this or a DAS.....and well, I've been down that road before....so, no.....just no.

If deemed to be unfit for the Contest, so be it. You decide....
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I'm happy I found this one either way. Cuttings will be taken next summer.
I need to read up on these plants.
 

Forsoothe!

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Brings back my childhood memories of toasting the season with nutmeg favored hot chocolate as the family gathered around the traditional Christmas Box Elder.
 

just.wing.it

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Brings back my childhood memories of toasting the season with nutmeg favored hot chocolate as the family gathered around the traditional Christmas Box Elder.
Haha!
I know a family who never had a legit Christmas tree, it was always some weird shrub with no discernable apex, sometimes uprooted from a local parking lot.
 

Forsoothe!

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......and I was gifted 2 anyway!
Alright.....at least I can try to have some fun with them.
Pic wont load for some reason....
I have to make sure mine are .jpg formated to about 8,000 pixels, or less.
 

just.wing.it

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Out of the 2 DAS trees, one is not looking too healthy. This one however is looking quite well....and will be the subject of today's experimentation.
Minus a few abandoned branches here and there, this one is a vibrant green and the other is dull and not happy.
Cleaned the surface down to one thick ugly root and a flaring base is noticed.
Gonna get to cleaning and maybe some structural wiring next.
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Forsoothe!

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As a warning to those buying Alberta Spruce this time of year, if you buy it from the inside of the store, -you got problems. Think of where Alberta is. That's right, way the hell up there in North America from the Arctic Hudson Bay as far south as...North Dakota. It's where the Alberta Clippers come from in winter that blast us nice people in the USA with air as cold as a witch's tit. If your tree has been kept inside a building until now, you'll kill if you put it outside because it has not been acclimated to outdoors during this selling season, much less a real winter. If you keep it indoors, it's doomed. Damned if do, and damned if you don't.
 

just.wing.it

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As a warning to those buying Alberta Spruce this time of year, if you buy it from the inside of the store, -you got problems. Think of where Alberta is. That's right, way the hell up there in North America from the Arctic Hudson Bay as far south as...North Dakota. It's where the Alberta Clippers come from in winter that blast us nice people in the USA with air as cold as a witch's tit. If your tree has been kept inside a building until now, you'll kill if you put it outside because it has not been acclimated to outdoors during this selling season, much less a real winter. If you keep it indoors, it's doomed. Damned if do, and damned if you don't.
I'm aware of this situation with these, and it was actually purchased by my father-in-law. I'm not going to touch the weak looking one until next year, but I decided to go ahead and go hard with this one. Just for fun if nothing else.
I don't know if it was indoors or Outdoors, although he's been keeping them Outdoors, so I'm going to try to keep it in the garage after this work, I think.....
Could turn into something nice someday if it survives this first go-round.
 

canoeguide

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I like what you did and it gives me some ideas for how to approach similar material. I might have tried to break or carve the jin to look more like a craggy old broken off trunk instead of a point.
 

cishepard

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We are coming closer to the end of the Little Christmas Tree contest. Final photos should be posted in your individual threads, and will be voted on by the general membership starting on April 30.

Time to start thinking about your repotting, final design, wiring, pruning and generally getting the trees in shape for the contest!
 
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