Blue Spruce Bonsai Questions

[JasonL]

Hey folks,

I recently had to clear some lower branches off my large front yard Blue Spruce trees (city made me) and discovered 4 small trees growing underneath and in between the large ones.

I'm wondering about turning one (or all) of these into Bonsai. Do Blue Spruce make good Bonsai, should I be potting them, or letting them grow in the ground and trim them there for now?

The three smaller trees are 8-10" in height and still fairly straight. The larger tree is about 21" in height and 20" wide one way and 13" wide the other.

My iPhone (picture search) is calling them "yew" trees...but that doesn't seem right growing under two 50' tall blue spruce.

Questions:

1. Do Blue Spruce make good Bonsai?
2. Should I leave them in the ground or pot them? (one is very close to the full grown tree)
3. Are there soil recommendations for these types of trees?
4. Anything else...I'm new at this.

 

[PA_Penjing]

those don't look like spruce trees, they look like yew or potentially some kind of fir (abies)
considering they were growing in the shade they could even be tsuga canadensis...

 

[JasonL]

those don't look like spruce trees, they look like yew or potentially some kind of fir (abies)
considering they were growing in the shade they could even be tsuga canadensis...

Well that's a surprise...my iPhone says they are Yew trees...that's a bit surprising considering where they were.

So I guess my same questions apply...but now with Yew trees, lol.

 

[NeedlesAndLeaves]

I agree this does not look like spruce. Yew is what I would say, fir would be second.

Spruces have hard needles 360* yew and fur have lateral soft needles. See pics.

Probably some bird had a nice meal of fir or yew and thought the soil under your spruce looked like a comfy place to do number two .

Yew can make good bonsai. I have no experience with them as bonsai though.

 

[NeedlesAndLeaves]

Ground growing will fasten the thickening and maturing process, which would be the best option.
Digging them up is also no problem but keep the roots unharmed as much as you can.
Potting it up and allowing the roots sufficient space to grow would be second best.
After collecting a tree needs time to restore itself before you do any work.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

that's a bit surprising considering where they were.

Birds eat seeds and poop them out. Usually when they're sitting in a tree. I don't think it's very surprising

 

[JasonL]

Birds eat seeds and poop them out. Usually when they're sitting in a tree. I don't think it's very surprising

I actually never considered that actually...good point, lol

 

[PA_Penjing]

Yew make terrific bonsai, as do colorado blue spruce (just to answer the original question). But spruce grow very slowly so I would just let those guys grow for quite a while right where they are. Wiring some shape into them now is an option.

 

[pandacular]

If you post a clear, close picture of the stem with buds visible, we could get at least a pretty definitely genus ID

 

[PA_Penjing]

oops post number 8 is supposed to say "YEW grow very slowly"