Picea glauca styling

Krone

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Hey. I have an Picea glauca spruce that was bought as christmas tree. It's about 1m tall and it was outside all of the time.
What would i lilke to know, when is the best time to start styling? Of course i would repot it, would just like to prune, style and wire it.
Thanks!
 

canoeguide

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Hey. I have an Picea glauca spruce that was bought as christmas tree. It's about 1m tall and it was outside all of the time.
What would i lilke to know, when is the best time to start styling? Of course i would repot it, would just like to prune, style and wire it.
Thanks!

Is it a Picea glauca 'conica', also known as Dwarf Alberta spruce?
 

Krone

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Will take the picture as soon as i am able.
 

Krone

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120cm / 47inch tall from the bottom of the pot to the tip of the tree.
 

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bonsaichile

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You can wire now; avoid wiring while actively growing. Don't take too many branches out. Make sure there is a terminal bud in every branch. Branches without a terminal bud die.
 

Krone

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Does a lateral bud start counting as the terminal bud if i cut away current terminal bud?
And how many branches can be to many? I need to cut away quite many of them.
Also, if there must be a terminal bud on every branch, how can one shorten them then?
 

bonsaichile

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you shorten by cutting back to a bud. A healthy spruce should produce some buds down the branch. If it doesnt, then prune/wire to maximize sun exposure and wait until August.
If you need to cut too many branches, do it in stages. Dont prune if you will be repotting. Keep in mind that spruces dont like a lot of root work, so root ball redutcion has also to be done in stages
 

sorce

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Pretty much anything that will bend now, will bend after spring growth.
So no rush to bend anything.

I would prune ONLY what MUST be cut now.
Thick upward growing stuff that can't/won't be used. The least amount possible.

Then wait till after growth to either cut more, wire, or both, since you'll have a good health gauge then.

Don't worry about repotting yet.

Sorce
 

Krone

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I don't really understand what MUST be cut now. I have a picture in mind which branches will go away, but i can wait will all the cutting until the best time to do that, except if MUST mean that some cutting is best to do in the winter.
Also, does 'after growth' means after the spring or next year?
 

sorce

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Must, for me, is anything that is making it hard to see what there is to work with. That is usually one, thicker, upward growing trunk.

After that will be anything that, if it grows in Spring, will ruin your design, or ruin your plan for the design. Shouldn't be much.

After that, any small skinny trunk shoots with one bud that'll never be anything and won't be a loss.

If nothing is jumping out at you....you can just whack a foot or so off the top!

"After Growth" is about a week into summer, everything should be out and you should be able to count tip buds. 1 is weak, 3 is strong.
That is your health gauge.

If every shoot has 3 or 4 tip buds, you can probly even Repot it then, but waiting is still a good idea.

If each shoot only has one tip bud, you can't do anything till you get a better health gauge reading.

Can you sketch an idea of what the thick parts are doing in there?
Like a rough Segura cactus drawing?
Lol 🌵

Sorce
 

Krone

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Many thanks for all the info.
Will try and draw some sketch of the thicker parts. Hopefully the weather will be bwtter during the weekend.
 

Krone

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I would assume that this kind of branch counts as a strong one?

Also, can i sut/shorten it above any of the two buds or it's safer to wait for buds to grow a bit?

20200124_193026.jpg
 

Adair M

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I would assume that this kind of branch counts as a strong one?

Also, can i sut/shorten it above any of the two buds or it's safer to wait for buds to grow a bit?

View attachment 280372
There are lots of buds on that twig. You could gout back to any of them.
 

Krone

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Any reason i shouldn't remove/clean the needles from the trunk and older brances?
 

canoeguide

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Not true. Not all Picea Glauca are known as Alberta Spruce, though all Alberta Spruce are indeed cultivars of White Spruce.

Not sure where I said that. I didn't. I merely asked if OP knew the cultivar and if it was DAS.
 
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