Blue Spruce

[Hartinez]

Go

Yes, that thick upward angled branch that comes off the back. I've partially jinned it for now.

Gotcha. Yeah I feel like that’s your best bet. Some type of jinning across the top of that branch while trying to maintain the budding and branching growing off the bottoms. But I also like your idea of ultimately removing it. And maybe rather than a Jin, you could create an Uro. I do like the angle your showing it at though as it hides that spot well. I think it’s a great tree and has great long term promise.

how do you feel about the current angle of the other branches? I feel like you could bring them all further down at a steeper angle with guy wires. Just a thought though.

 

[VAFisher]

Go

Gotcha. Yeah I feel like that’s your best bet. Some type of jinning across the top of that branch while trying to maintain the budding and branching growing off the bottoms. But I also like your idea of ultimately removing it. And maybe rather than a Jin, you could create an Uro. I do like the angle your showing it at though as it hides that spot well. I think it’s a great tree and has great long term promise.

how do you feel about the current angle of the other branches? I feel like you could bring them all further down at a steeper angle with guy wires. Just a thought though.

Appreciate the thoughts. I do think the branches would look better angled down a bit more and I might be able to crank them down a little but I would hate to snap one or both. I feel like it's probably going to take a wedge cut or something like that to make a noticeable difference though.

 

[Adair M]

@Adair M, I don't see your comment?

Odd, it didn’t post. I’ll try again...

If this tree were mine, I would thin the Jin in the back. Not shorten it, but make it less “heavy”. It’s in the apex. There should only be thin branches up there. A fat Jin implies that there was a fat, heavy branch up there, which destroys our perception of proportion.

When we look at trees, we expect that the bottom branches will be the heaviest. And the ones up top will be the youngest, and smallest. But, a heavy branch in the apex voids that, and looks out of place, and it makes us realize that we are not looking at a mature tree in miniature, but a tree that has been artificially drastically pruned.

So... keep the jin, but thin it down so that it is less thick than the other branches up there in the apex.

 

[VAFisher]

Odd, it didn’t post. I’ll try again...

If this tree were mine, I would thin the Jin in the back. Not shorten it, but make it less “heavy”. It’s in the apex. There should only be thin branches up there. A fat Jin implies that there was a fat, heavy branch up there, which destroys our perception of proportion.

When we look at trees, we expect that the bottom branches will be the heaviest. And the ones up top will be the youngest, and smallest. But, a heavy branch in the apex voids that, and looks out of place, and it makes us realize that we are not looking at a mature tree in miniature, but a tree that has been artificially drastically pruned.

So... keep the jin, but thin it down so that it is less thick than the other branches up there in the apex.

Thanks, yes that area will continue to be a work in progress.

 

[Hartinez]

completely unrequested, but my kids went to bed and I had no work to do tonight. I hope you don’t mind. itd be cool if you could somehow Jin the top half of that back branch and leave the foliage on the bottom half. That way you have that foliage depth for a nice photographic image. I wonder how doable splittin that branch would be? Either way I dig your trees and this is great material and I’m sure you’ll make it something dope!

 

[VAFisher]

completely unrequested, but my kids went to bed and I had no work to do tonight. I hope you don’t mind. itd be cool if you could somehow Jin the top half of that back branch and leave the foliage on the bottom half. That way you have that foliage depth for a nice photographic image. I wonder how doable splittin that branch would be? Either way I dig your trees and this is great material and I’m sure you’ll make it something dope!

Awesome. Thanks for the virt and the kind words. If I can achieve something close to your picture, I'll be happy.

 

[Colorado]

Great move to go upright. This is a good looking spruce! I like the container selection too.

 

[VAFisher]

Great move to go upright. This is a good looking spruce! I like the container selection too.

Thanks. Yes, it's way better vertical than it was leaning. Got lucky on the pot. I had a different tree in it for a couple years and decided that tree was better on a slab. So this one gets the pot.

 

[VAFisher]

Did a little work on this spruce over the last few days - some wiring and a little work on the jin. Still a long way to go, eapecially the apex, but it's beginning to take shape

 

[Colorado]

Looks great. I like the simplicity. I have found that Blue Spruce back bud so profusely, that the apex will be full in “no time.”

 

[A. Gorilla]

Did a little work on this spruce over the last few days - some wiring and a little work on the jin. Still a long way to go, eapecially the apex, but it's beginning to take shape

View attachment 399602

Love it. Razor sharp. Not cookie cutter at all.

 

[VAFisher]

2022 update. Nice strong growth this spring.

 

[Bonsai_youngster]

I love what you have done with the tree, I agree that the top shoot would make an amazing apex if it does well.

 

[Bonsaidoorguy]

2022 update. Nice strong growth this spring.

View attachment 439655

Filling out nicely.

 

[Shogun610]

How is this tree doing , sorry just following up on my personal favorites of yours

 

[VAFisher]

I've been lazy this year with updates. It's doing well. I unwired the tree a couple months ago and the branches sprung back up. It had strong growth this spring, which I cut back fairly hard, looking for some back budding. I'll wire it again and thin it out this fall.

 

[VAFisher]

Here is the tree today. Definitely needs some editing and wiring this fall.

 

[Shogun610]

Did you manage to wire this in the fall?

 

[Tidal Bonsai]

This tree reminds me a lot of Old Tjikko.

That tall, slender, OLD trunk with skinny branches really screams for a simple and natural design IMO. Now that it has grown out more, maybe consider sparseness/simplicity when wiring everything down again to make it look like the lower branches have been pulled down by snow load for a long time. As you can see from the picture, the lower the branches are on the trunk, the more downwards they slope down.