Dwarf Alberta Spruce - Christmas tree 5 years later

[Dabbler]

Finally got around to making this video as I worked on my spruce over the weekend. It's not perfect and I'm still trying to get filming better, and wiring lol. All in all, I think it came out pretty good.

 

[Dabbler]

I'll let things age naturally for the year - then start preserving the wood. I'll watch the wire too and remove as it starts to bite in.

 

[Ruddigger]

Looks great.

 

[SgtPilko]

Really nice, and so many Ex-Xmas tree experiments don't make it well done. The secret ingredient might be patience

 

[pandacular]

Fantastic video, and excellent work with the tree. Seeing it in video really emphasizes the movement and organization of it. Love the very tall tenjin, as I see most all old spruce with them--if they do no have a jin on top, the foliage will be pointy and not rounded, so I find a spruce without tenjin and a rounded top to be unbelievable.

Where are you based? I hear about a lot of people having issues with this cultivar for bonsai, but I suspect it is because they push them too hard for a dwarf species. In particular, do you do anything special while working the roots on them?

 

[Dabbler]

Looks great.

Thanks!

Really nice, and so many Ex-Xmas tree experiments don't make it well done. The secret ingredient might be patience

Bonsai is not for the lazy or impatient - I think I just said something profound

Fantastic video, and excellent work with the tree. Seeing it in video really emphasizes the movement and organization of it. Love the very tall tenjin, as I see most all old spruce with them--if they do no have a jin on top, the foliage will be pointy and not rounded, so I find a spruce without tenjin and a rounded top to be unbelievable.

Where are you based? I hear about a lot of people having issues with this cultivar for bonsai, but I suspect it is because they push them too hard for a dwarf species. In particular, do you do anything special while working the roots on them?

I'm in VA 7A and I havn't had any issues at all really - since I've had it I've only repotted it once, when I first got it, that spring. It was potted in almost a block of solid clay, so I just removed it and put it in this pot and it's been there ever since. I didn't remove any roots either. I also remove a bunch of branches at the same time that I knew I didn't want. Then I just fertilized all year till late fall with organics. The third year I de-wired it and just left it alone, no trimming or anything. In January/February is the only time I work on it. I thin the branches and cut back to where I need, wire, it then just let it grow freely the rest of the year - no pinching, nothing.

 

[Stormwater]

Really nice, and so many Ex-Xmas tree experiments don't make it well done. The secret ingredient might be patience

and size. Notice that this isn't one of the tiny picea.

 

[The Warm Canuck]

Is this a Yamadori?

 

[dr.tenebris]

Is this a Yamadori?

Technically I think it's nursery stock

 

[jradics]

I'll let things age naturally for the year - then start preserving the wood. I'll watch the wire too and remove as it starts to bite in.


View attachment 528445View attachment 528446

you've done well sir. taking an ugly throwaway christmas ornament and transforming it into something that looks like a miniature version of a mountain tree. bravo

 

[Dabbler]

Is this a Yamadori?

No it's from home depot

you've done well sir. taking an ugly throwaway christmas ornament and transforming it into something that looks like a miniature version of a mountain tree. bravo

Thank you! Started as a just a fun project and turned into a tree I really like.

 

[Dabbler]

Technically I think it's nursery stock

Yep!

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Great start!

I think the biggest challenge you have in the short term is that you have a fair amount of inverse taper - with the top of the tree looking thicker than the middle section. This may just be due to the angle with which you took the photo. Make sure the tree stays really strong the next couple of years so the live bark gets thick.

Also... don't forget a well-defined apex. You have a long spike of deadwood out the top of your design, so to make the tree believable you would want to show a corresponding apex of live growth that is being pushed by the tree.

I might also consider shortening the first branch on the left, so you emphasize the primary branch on the right a little more and give a little more energy to the design. Just my suggestions! I think you showed the potential of what you can do at Home Depot!!

 

[NateDyk47]

Looks great so far! Thanks for sharing

 

[Dabbler]

Great start!

I think the biggest challenge you have in the short term is that you have a fair amount of inverse taper - with the top of the tree looking thicker than the middle section. This may just be due to the angle with which you took the photo. Make sure the tree stays really strong the next couple of years so the live bark gets thick.

Also... don't forget a well-defined apex. You have a long spike of deadwood out the top of your design, so to make the tree believable you would want to show a corresponding apex of live growth that is being pushed by the tree.

I might also consider shortening the first branch on the left, so you emphasize the primary branch on the right a little more and give a little more energy to the design. Just my suggestions! I think you showed the potential of what you can do at Home Depot!!

View attachment 528742

The apex is a bit on the natural side of things as I tend let things a bit more natural/wild , much like Walter Pall's style. I tend to not really have "defined" pads and area, sure i'll wire and and define pads but they wont be crazy redefined. The inversive taper is actual just the way the picture is taken. There is no inverse taper when in person. The current dead wood is what heightens that look due to where it ends half way up the tree. I'm actually goin to continue the dead wood next year to fade the way the taper is perceived from the front. The dead wood will continue up the branches and create a natural fade and a better taper from the front. That branch is actually on my list to remove, but the more foliage, the stronger a tree gets, so it staying on this year since I did a full wire. Tree is still 4 or so years out before it's where I want it.

 

[Dabbler]

Looks great so far! Thanks for sharing

Thank you, I'm tiring to do more filming and editing but it takes so much longer to film and do bonsai lol

 

[Dabbler]

Looks like I lied - I went back and I stared training this tree in 2017 so 7 years

 

[PowerTap]

The years just slip away.

Looks like I lied - I went back and I stared training this tree in 2017 so 7 years

 

[Bonsai Nut]

The apex is a bit on the natural side of things as I tend let things a bit more natural/wild , much like Walter Pall's style.

What I was trying to say is - you need to look at how you are styling the tree and ask yourself "does it look natural"? A long spire of deadwood like you are styling means the tree would live in an area where that kind of straight upright growth is normal, so you would want your foliage to mimic the line you are creating with your deadwood. You don't want to style your deadwood one way, and have your foliage mass look like it belongs to a completely different tree. Likewise the balance of the foliage on a leaning tree. When a tree leans, one side of the tree is going to get more light than the other, and the shaded side of the tree should be styled with less foliage than the sunny side of the tree.

 

[Dabbler]

The years just slip away.

I know it's ridiculous and i try not to think about it

What I was trying to say is - you need to look at how you are styling the tree and ask yourself "does it look natural"? A long spire of deadwood like you are styling means the tree would live in an area where that kind of straight upright growth is normal, so you would want your foliage to mimic the line you are creating with your deadwood. You don't want to style your deadwood one way, and have your foliage mass look like it belongs to a completely different tree. Likewise the balance of the foliage on a leaning tree. When a tree leans, one side of the tree is going to get more light than the other, and the shaded side of the tree should be styled with less foliage than the sunny side of the tree.

I see what your saying - bonsai is the forced manipulation of a little tree's growth pattern so I actually like it the way it is BUT now that you have said that I'm going to start looking at tree's in nature with this style and maybe start integrating that style in the furture.