MHBonsai Little Christmas Tree Entry

MHBonsai

Chumono
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Found in the sad discount section, some kind of dwarf Blue Spruce for $35. Couldn’t say no! Nice movement down low and looks healthy.

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MHBonsai

Chumono
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Cleared out some of the dead branching, dig down to get to the nebari and removed a couple of inches off the bottom of the root ball. Back filled with some good soil and I’ll call that good for now. :cool:
 

Warpig

Chumono
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I love the planting angle. Looking forward to see how this one develops. Good luck
 

B.uneasy

Chumono
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I've got a slanted blue spruce outside my house. Lol, it's the perfect angle! 😂
 

Orion_metalhead

Masterpiece
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Are you concerned at all with the repot this time of year? I like the stylistic direction. Are planning on incorporating the lower deadwood into your ultimate design?
 

MHBonsai

Chumono
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Are you concerned at all with the repot this time of year? I like the stylistic direction. Are planning on incorporating the lower deadwood into your ultimate design?

I only disturbed maybe 30 percent of the root mass and didn’t really remove any roots. This pot is larger than the original red can in width. By the time I dug down to the root system and dug out some of the bottom of the root ball field soil it fit easily without trimming.

My thought process for this work is that I want to know how to water. I’ve killed too much stuff by poor soil conditions and over/under watering. I’d rather risk a light repot now and know what I’m working with and how to water it.

Our winters are mild here and I can easily protect this tree as well. Also everything is very healthy and I’m not removing much, if any foliage. Otherwise I wouldn’t have touched it.
 

MHBonsai

Chumono
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I have two big reverse taper whorls to deal with. I took out the center shoot on both. The more they grow the worse they will get and I want the trees energy going to branches I'll be keeping. I'll leave everything else for a year probably to keep it recovering.


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I hope that doesn't set it back too much.

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MHBonsai

Chumono
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Really crappy ms paint virtual. :p

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Maybe something along these lines eventually. Photo stolen from others obviously.

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MHBonsai

Chumono
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Help! I need some advice, this is my first spruce. I've got plenty of healthy growth pushing now. But not every tip is growing. I have a lot of low branches and even side branches near the apex with no active buds. Is there any hope for these or are they all doomed to a slow death?

Am I just working with the active growth or do these droopers ever re-bud later in the year? Thanks!


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MHBonsai

Chumono
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I’m starting to get answers to my questions. Its growing hard and setting buds on the new growth, and even some new buds coming on last year's wood. I'm hopeful that I can chase the foliage back over the years of it keeps this up.

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This is a branch that the terminal bud dried up. Several like this have pushed buds just next to the tip and some are pushing now.

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And this right here I’m really excited about. See the bud to the left of my thumb, that is new this year on the growth from last year. I should be able to cut back this fall to that bud and shorten this branch by 4 inches or more. Just got to keep it healthy through the summer.

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MHBonsai

Chumono
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Most of the guides for these spruce say to wire/style/cut back hard to an active bud in August. Or when it stops actively growing. With as early as our growing season starts in middle Tennessee, does this look like it is ready for a cut back and wire? To soon?

The tree has grown pretty well all summer. Tons of backbuds.

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MHBonsai

Chumono
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Update time. Did the pruning late summer and wired down everything. I left as much long foliage as possible on the keeper branches to help drive back budding.


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