Sunwyrm's Little Christmas Tree Entry

[Sunwyrm]

Here's my Christmasy haul from various places

Norway pine group, as is customary

Little little Christmas cedar for the heck of it

HAD to get this juniper out of the pot and glued rocks. It was half dead and I didn't think to take before pics before ripping it out and throwing gravel all over my kitchen @Eckhoffw's thread has progression shots of the same little pot and rocks.

And a couple last minute Deodar Cedars for a serious entry

Might even throw my unworked alberta spruce in.

 

[canoeguide]

I too grabbed one of those "European cypress" whatevers... Chamaecyparis lawsoniana "Elwoodii": https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/canoeguides-little-christmas-tree-entry.41060/ Several other people have them also, and I'm interested to see what becomes of all of them. Good luck!

 

[Sunwyrm]

I too grabbed one of those "European cypress" whatevers... Chamaecyparis lawsoniana "Elwoodii": https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/canoeguides-little-christmas-tree-entry.41060/ Several other people have them also, and I'm interested to see what becomes of all of them. Good luck!

I regret not buying a good lot of them for a forest, but I think I have enough to keep me occupied!

 

[Sunwyrm]

Just so I can sneak it into the contest before the deadline, here's my unworked alberta:

 

[Sunwyrm]

Post Christmas update!

My Norfolk Island Pine forest in all it's glory

Aaaaaand it's gone

I cut it back after it died. I'm glad this prickly bastard is gone.
Cypress and junipers were both crunchy toast fairly soon after I bought them. Deodar Cedars are doing great after a gentle repot into grow bags earlier last year, and I'll be working them again this year.

Alberta has had some work done last year, going slow on it since I'm undecided on the top still. Do I pull it down or whip it back up? Decisions... Tho I'm definitely leaning towards dropping it down and making a new canopy.

And not a part of the contest, but my poinsettia surprised me on how small the leaves reduced. Looking festive

 

[Paradox]

Im sorry your tree died but this comment

I'm glad this prickly bastard is gone.

made me laugh.......sounds like it was a love-hate relationship....

 

[Carol 83]

Post Christmas update!

My Norfolk Island Pine forest in all it's glory

Aaaaaand it's gone

I cut it back after it died. I'm glad this prickly bastard is gone.
Cypress and junipers were both crunchy toast fairly soon after I bought them. Deodar Cedars are doing great after a gentle repot into grow bags earlier last year, and I'll be working them again this year.

Alberta has had some work done last year, going slow on it since I'm undecided on the top still. Do I pull it down or whip it back up? Decisions... Tho I'm definitely leaning towards dropping it down and making a new canopy.

And not a part of the contest, but my poinsettia surprised me on how small the leaves reduced. Looking festive

What happened to the Norfolk Pine Forest? I've had one in my office at work, I paid $1 for a few years back. I throw some water on it once a week and mostly ignore it.

 

[Sunwyrm]

Lack of water over Christmas? Stress from repotting? I'm not sure really. The poinsettia got the same amount of water, and I didn't remove hardly any roots.

I can't even tell you really why I hate it, I moved it all around all summer, had to pick it up all the time from it falling over. Every time a branch would die I'd be attacked trying to remove it, I've had less injuries repotting cacti. It was just such an irritating plant all the time

 

[Sunwyrm]

Another one bites the dust & update!

One of the Cypress died for various reasons, all of which my fault but hey the other one is hanging in there.


Alberta is lovely and shaping up to be one of my favorite trees

 

[Sunwyrm]

It's official, all of my trees from this contest are toast. All my spruce have historically suffered and die in Jan/Feb and my Alberta spruce was my last remaining tree in this thread. Obv wasn't great but I really enjoyed it - thanks for running these contests, I learn a lot!


from last winter:


I thought for sure I had more pictures of when I did finer detail wiring, and all the lovely growth it had last summer. Biggest lesson is to take more pictures!

 

[Crazy Diamond]

Lack of water over Christmas? Stress from repotting?

Way too much pruning, they dont like very agressive pruning as most conifers, you left the trunks almost bare so they were going to die no matter what

 

[Sunwyrm]

Way too much pruning, they dont like very agressive pruning as most conifers, you left the trunks almost bare so they were going to die no matter what

Oh the Norfolk? Bad example pic, I had cut all of the dead branches off before taking a picture. The pic above is all that I had pruned, though if that's what you're referring to then I'm sure that was the cause, but if I remember correctly a lot of it was dead branch removal.

F*** those trees tho. Picking needles out of my feet for what felt like forever. I'll take working with barberry thorns any day

 

[cishepard]

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!