karen82 "This is Not a Contest" CO Blue Spruce

karen82

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I'm pretty new to bonsai, I tried some trees years ago, but didn't really know what I was doing at all, and they died over winter one year. I just became interested again last summer.

This is my CO blue spruce, still buried in the vegetable garden for the winter. I picked it up cheap at a nursery last summer for $10. It looks pretty sad right now.
3-22-18 (2).JPG

This is what it looked like when I bought it, and a close up of the trunk and where I planned to cut it at the time:
8-17-17.JPG 8-17-17 front 2.JPG

I waited until fall to cut it. I picked the tree because it was cheap and had nice bark, but I didn't know anything about spruce when I got it. I realize now that they don't like to have much work done and shouldn't have more than 50% of foliage removed at one time, and need a growing season to recover from anything major. Just lopping off that top section was more than 50% of its foliage, so I didn't dare do anything more with it.
10-17-17.JPG


I'm kind of unsure what to do with this tree. I left that thick knob of the old trunk on and I know it needs to be carved down, but I'm thinking that should wait until next fall or winter.
In a few weeks, I will dig it out and remove loose soil and try to get it into a pond basket without barerooting. After that, from what I've read, it should get a good 6 months to recover and then I can do some work on it in fall if it's healthy.
 

TN_Jim

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Could probably loose those branches coming out right at the soil level.. Would definitely help visualize it better.

Also, that top nub..I would think should cut that down at an angle to the side branch to create natural transition/curve..if not now, you will have to later right?

Same with the knob at your big chop..unless you’re going for deadwood or hoping for backbudding there or something.

I dunno..my very green thoughts.
 

JosephCooper

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You have good bones, but yes. Definitely let the spruce recover until fall. Make sure to show off the trunk more when you get to working on it again.
 

karen82

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Thanks.. and yes I know the lower branches will need to go, but I felt the tree had been through enough so I'll leave them until it recovers some.
I also plan to carve off that knob that I left, but at the time, I just cut it off where it was skinnier for a smaller wound (and because those needles were cutting my hand). I will probably wait til fall to cut it down though.

Do you think it would be ok to slip pot it just to get it out of the nursery container, or should I just avoid all root disturbances until next spring?
 

karen82

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Also, I can get a better view of the trunk once I dig the pot out of the compost heap it's in right now. The ground is still snow-covered here, though, so I thought it best to leave it protected a little longer. It should be warmer next week and I can dig it out and get a better look at it.
 

River's Edge

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I'm pretty new to bonsai, I tried some trees years ago, but didn't really know what I was doing at all, and they died over winter one year. I just became interested again last summer.

This is my CO blue spruce, still buried in the vegetable garden for the winter. I picked it up cheap at a nursery last summer for $10. It looks pretty sad right now.
View attachment 184039

This is what it looked like when I bought it, and a close up of the trunk and where I planned to cut it at the time:
View attachment 184040 View attachment 184041

I waited until fall to cut it. I picked the tree because it was cheap and had nice bark, but I didn't know anything about spruce when I got it. I realize now that they don't like to have much work done and shouldn't have more than 50% of foliage removed at one time, and need a growing season to recover from anything major. Just lopping off that top section was more than 50% of its foliage, so I didn't dare do anything more with it.
View attachment 184042


I'm kind of unsure what to do with this tree. I left that thick knob of the old trunk on and I know it needs to be carved down, but I'm thinking that should wait until next fall or winter.
In a few weeks, I will dig it out and remove loose soil and try to get it into a pond basket without barerooting. After that, from what I've read, it should get a good 6 months to recover and then I can do some work on it in fall if it's healthy.
I would leave it alone until spring 2019. It will likely require quite a bit of rootwork so it is best to let it recover and strengthen beforehand.
 

karen82

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I'd kind of forgotten about this old thread but I still have this blue spruce and it's still unstyled and ugly as can be. It's ready for some work this spring I think and even though spring is at least a month away here, I have been wondering what to do to it to make it presentable. I know the obvious answer is to just give up on it as useless material since I now have a variety of better species of prebonsai I'm starting to develop. But I really want to make something out of it if I can, even if just to stop family members from commenting on its ugliness.

Anyway I repotted it in spring 2019.

2019-4-16 (1).JPG 2019-4-16 (2).JPG 2019-4-16 (3).JPG
 

karen82

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Let it grow all summer 2019 and just a little light pruning and plucking old needles in fall 2019. I noticed the roots were escaping (I have it sitting on the ground amid some groundcover juniper to help disguise its ugliness while still letting it get mostly full sun).
Fall 2019
2019-09-07 (1).JPG

After this I put it back and haven't moved it since. So it had a lot of escape roots now - I wanted it to get strong and I hope this was the right thing. My photos from 2020 aren't very good as it's not in a very good spot for photos and I didn't want to move it.
But this is summer 2020 as best as I could manage.
asummer 054.JPGasummer 056.JPG

Please ignore the failed attempt to wire a little movement in the trunk, the trunk is much too thick for that now. As soon as I tightened it, the wire just cut right through the cedar box.

This spring I was hoping to repot without disturbing the roots too much (the cedar box won't hold together another year). If I keep the root disturbance to a minimum, I'm hoping I can finally style it somewhat too. I want to carve down that ugly knob on the trunk and remove some of the bar branches but I'm just kind of at a loss after that. A lot of the branches just seem too thick and haven't backbudded well so I have to leave them pretty long.

Any ideas on what to do with this thing?
 

canoeguide

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In my mind, there are 2 viable things to do when you don't have a clear vision for a tree: do nothing and let it grow more, or start correcting things that you know you don't like. So, I'd start with fixing the things you've identified as flaws: bar branches, carving down the knob, etc.

Maybe in that process, or after, you'll see a tree that you haven't yet.
 

karen82

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I haven't updated in awhile so I thought I should, although the tree doesn't really look better.
I've read they only tolerate one major procedure per year and should never have more than half their foliage cut at a time, so it's been slow to work on, too.

Spring 2021, I cut it back a lot and attempted to carve down the knob a bit.
2021-04-01(0).jpg2021-04-01(3).jpg

Spring 2022, the cedar box was falling apart so I moved it into a mica pot, but didn't disturb the roots too much. I think I trimmed it back a little.
2022-05-16(1).JPG

And this spring, I again cut it back, removing about 50% of its foliage, as much as I dared, to try to get it to backbud.
DSC_0099.JPG
It looks healthy with lots of new blue growth, but not much backbudding. Most of the branches are too thick to work, but the tree doesn't want to grow new ones so I've been leaving them. I'm still not quite sure what to do with this thing.
 

August44

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I haven't updated in awhile so I thought I should, although the tree doesn't really look better.
I've read they only tolerate one major procedure per year and should never have more than half their foliage cut at a time, so it's been slow to work on, too.

Spring 2021, I cut it back a lot and attempted to carve down the knob a bit.
View attachment 497056View attachment 497057

Spring 2022, the cedar box was falling apart so I moved it into a mica pot, but didn't disturb the roots too much. I think I trimmed it back a little.
View attachment 497058

And this spring, I again cut it back, removing about 50% of its foliage, as much as I dared, to try to get it to backbud.
View attachment 497059
It looks healthy with lots of new blue growth, but not much backbudding. Most of the branches are too thick to work, but the tree doesn't want to grow new ones so I've been leaving them. I'm still not quite sure what to do with this thing.
No comment on your tree but you have way, way, way more patience than I. If it were mine I would chop everything way back to a bud and fertilize heavy in early fall . If it didn't bud back, trash it.
 
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