Opinions on this spruce material

[Tycoss]

I have a lot of spruce for the size of my collection. Young healthy ones are pretty sturdy, but older and more stressed ones are very sensitive to the timing and extent of the work done on them. As a general rule, mine have not responded well to styling, collecting or repotting when in active growth. I believe these things are best done in early spring. Styling has worked for me in late summer or fall, but I wouldn't repot then.

 

[potatofarmer]

I have a lot of spruce for the size of my collection. Young healthy ones are pretty sturdy, but older and more stressed ones are very sensitive to the timing and extent of the work done on them. As a general rule, mine have not responded well to styling, collecting or repotting when in active growth. I believe these things are best done in early spring. Styling has worked for me in late summer or fall, but I wouldn't repot then.

damn, hopefully i didn't hasten their demise. these were very pot bound. it felt like a damned if you do damned if you dont situation.

hopefully they live but who knows.

 

[Tycoss]

damn, hopefully i didn't hasten their demise. these were very pot bound. it felt like a damned if you do damned if you dont situation.

hopefully they live but who knows.

I hope so too. My collection is mostly yamadori englemann and white spruce, so they might be a bit different. Spruce have their quirks, but they are still my favourite genus for bonsai.

 

[potatofarmer]

Are darker older buds dead? or do they have a chance to wake up and make new growth later still?

any tips for wiring over needled areas? I can't seem to do it without completely ruining the needles so i have stopped trying for now..

 

[Deleted member 47471]

I think it’s okay to make a side by side photo of something inspirational online with what you have, but with having a trunk so long and skinny and branches so long, leggy, and bare towards the end of the branches, I’m not sure it’s realistic to expect the tree to somehow become short, chunky, and ramified with much shorter internodes on the material you possess.

To accomplish such trunk thickening, tapering, and ramification, you may need different and/or younger material that has a chance of growing/becoming similar to what is featured in the online photo.

 

[potatofarmer]

I think it’s okay to make a side by side photo of something inspirational online with what you have, but with having a trunk so long and skinny and branches so long, leggy, and bare towards the end of the branches, I’m not sure it’s realistic to expect the tree to somehow become short, chunky, and ramified with much shorter internodes on the material you possess.

To accomplish such trunk thickening, tapering, and ramification, you may need different and/or younger material that has a chance of growing/becoming similar to what is featured in the online photo.

which one are you talking about? the tree with a single branch?

 

[potatofarmer]

I think it’s okay to make a side by side photo of something inspirational online with what you have, but with having a trunk so long and skinny and branches so long, leggy, and bare towards the end of the branches, I’m not sure it’s realistic to expect the tree to somehow become short, chunky, and ramified with much shorter internodes on the material you possess.

To accomplish such trunk thickening, tapering, and ramification, you may need different and/or younger material that has a chance of growing/becoming similar to what is featured in the online photo.

I made no claim it was not still going to be dog shit. lol. here is the design i'm thinking at the moment:

this will also make the tree much shorter.

is ramification not possible in those sections by pinching? obviously i need it to fill out. or i guess i should "give up"

 

[Deleted member 47471]

I made no claim it was not still going to be dog shit. lol. here is the design i'm thinking at the moment:

this will also make the tree much shorter.

is ramification not possible in those sections by pinching? obviously i need it to fill out. or i guess i should "give up"

@ “ds” spruce

Cutting back to two buds would likely get ramification of 2ndary to tertiary branching, after that, I think pinching the foliage at the ends of the tertiaries would work. The tree can still accomplish ramification but may need to take advantage of its height and length by literati or windswept ideas, I’m just not sure it would resemble the shorter one in the photo

 

[potatofarmer]

@ “ds” spruce

Cutting back to two buds would likely get ramification of 2ndary to tertiary branching, after that, I think pinching the foliage at the ends of the tertiaries would work. The tree can still accomplish ramification but may need to take advantage of its height and length by literati or windswept ideas, I’m just not sure it would resemble the shorter one in the photo

Ok thanks. Should i wait until next year to make any cuts like that. Or should i go for that ramification now?

U said windswept so i guess im on the right track with that design.

The photo gave me some ideas and confidence to get more aggressive with the design since its still alive with literally only one branch.

 

[Deleted member 47471]

Ok thanks. Should i wait until next year to make any cuts like that. Or should i go for that ramification now?

U said windswept so i guess im on the right track with that design.

The photo gave me some ideas and confidence to get more aggressive with the design since its still alive with literally only one branch.

Check for alternating back budding in the fall along secondary branching. Fertilize now until Fall and during Fall/before Winter. The idea is to prune back to two of them along a secondary branch so that the secondary bifurcates into two small tertiaries.

From there, foliage tips will exist at the ends and create pads (as the secondaries and tertiaries are fanned out like shaped little twigs with foliage along them).

Typically Fall or Spring are ideal times for pruning and major work.

 

[potatofarmer]

Check for alternating back budding in the fall along secondary branching. Fertilize now until Fall and during Fall/before Winter. The idea is to prune back to two of them along a secondary branch so that the secondary bifurcates into two small tertiaries.

From there, foliage tips will exist at the ends and create pads (as the secondaries and tertiaries are fanned out like shaped little twigs with foliage along them).

Typically Fall or Spring are ideal times for pruning and major work.

ok is it true wiring is going to kill the branch in summer?

 

[Deleted member 47471]

ok is it true wiring is going to kill the branch in summer?

With heavy traffic inside the tree, it could. Wait until the Fall (or winter) when movement of sugars and starches and water slows down. Big bends and wiring can be done.

 

[potatofarmer]

here's how this one turned out. I can't think of anything else to do at this point.

 

[Deleted member 47471]

here's how this one turned out. I can't think of anything else to do at this point.

Looks nice. Angle branches downward and maybe more inspiration will come

 

[potatofarmer]

Looks nice. Angle branches downward and maybe more inspiration will come

thanks bro. that shari i did on the trunk filled up with a crazy amount of sap.

i didn't use any cut paste just lots of lime sulphur. not sure how bad of an insult something like that is.

 

[potatofarmer]

I have jined the top. I think next summer this will be looking pretty good.

 

[potatofarmer]

there's new buds all over it. even on the jined branch. Seems crazy since it has zero foliage on that branch anymore.

these buds should burst next spring right since i highly doubt there is enough time left in this season for that to happen.

 

[Orion_metalhead]

They may or may not. There may not be enough sap flow to that branch to stimulate them without needles further out on the branch.

 

[potatofarmer]

i bought 3 more for 15 bucks. here's the first one.

i want to go to town making jins. and i might. if it dies it wasn't a big investment.

i was thinking these are actually perfect for bonsai in a way. since we tend to prune everything off from healthy plants anyways.

 

[potatofarmer]

i should have taken a before pic but here is another one. quick bunjin style tree. the one in the post above is not very good at the moment but i see some potential if it recovers. I want to cut practically every branch off of it except one but i'm not sure it will survive. so i'm leaving it for now.