Potted Colorado Blue Spruce into grow box from yard - Any advice?

[aarondl]

I had a Blue Spruce that the previous owner of my house planted directly next to the back deck, despite the huge width of a full grown Blue Spruce (~20ft diameter). So it had to go one way or the other.
I knew it was very shallowly planted, basically in some dirt on top of rocks. This was pretty clearly illustrated with the roots mostly at the surface. The tree was also pretty unhealthy and cramped on its backside, as it had been crammed against the hill and then the deck. I removed most of the very poor soil it had been growing in, but did little pruning of the branches or the roots except to remove what ended up being a lot of dead branches on the lower section of the tree. I planted it into my grow boxes that I've been working on, these are the largest I made (17'' x 17''). It worked really well.

My question is, what do I do next with this guy? It desperately needs pruning, but I'm thinking that I'll give it plenty of time to recover. I'm not even sure I want to prune this year. What are some ideas people have? How would you go about pruning this tree? I actually didn't remove any roots at all. It was just that shallow of a place for the tree. I would have rather not but there was little to work with. I did remove some lower unhealthy branches. I'm not going to cut any foliage back for awhile.

Repotting Gallery

Here are some photos of reductions I've made. Just getting started but probably will wait for awhile before continuing.

Work on the blue spruce

 

[sorce]

Too...Plus for all newbs New Members and Posters......

URL's get tagged on Spam watch to keep us safe, and require approval.

Photos directly uploaded need no approval.

So should you ever need help deciding which tree to buy, 3 minutes before a nursery closes, you MUST not use URL pics or you may not get through to the forum in 3 minutes! As Greg and Myself sometimes sleep! Lol!

Resorce.

_____

Not a bad specimen. Wind reduction and wound sealing will best ensure its survival.

Those white tips are gold!

Don't be afraid to Water!

Sorce

 

[Forest Bean]

If nothing else looks good, you could try a literati/bunjin style. Chop off the lower branches and create that gnarly aged look, as if the tree has been hanging onto a cliff all it's life. (Just thinking about it makes me want to buy one.)

The foliage is pretty big, but the color is so beautiful. If you do go with a bunjin style, it will have to be pretty tall to let the trunk age and so the growth isn't disproportionate.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

I would not chop any more off until next year at the earliest - if you really like this spruce. They hate having too much done at once, and you have done enough to the root system that you should give it one or two years to recover.

I would not go for literati style right away. You have a full tree, with lots of branches. I would try to come up with a style using more of what you already have. Once you cut all the branches off for a literati, you won't be able to regrow them back in less than 20 years. The Literati style is sometimes seen as an obvious choice but actually it is very difficult to achieve a convincing literati. Go for an easier to pull off style first.

You might even go for an image of a mature but not ancient spruce as an informal or formal upright. But let it recover. You can do some branch reduction and wiring in autumn 2018 and more aggressive pruning autumn 2019.

 

[WNC Bonsai]

Did it survive?

 

[Potawatomi13]

Really lousy idea washing off conifer roots except(maybe)water growing Cypress. Also curious whether tree still lives/grows?

 

[B.uneasy]

tree still alive?

 

[aarondl]

No sadly it died. We had a very hot summer, and even with copious watering and a sheltered spot it didn't survive.

 

[Colorado]

Too aggressive on the roots. It *might* have made it if you left the core of the rootball intact as in your earlier photo before the bare root.

 

[Tieball]

@aarondl A good idea....add your location and zone to your profile.
I didn’t see the tree. I dislike going out to all the other buckets and collections of photos out there....I get entrapped to easily and wander to far off the trail. I have enough to do already. I appreciate posting the photos right here where it’s relevant to the conversation. That’s just me.

 

[aarondl]

Yeah I agree. I've learned a lot in the past three years. That was one of the earliest lessons. I can't say the outcome would be better but I'd like to think so.

 

[aarondl]

@Tieball I have added the relevant information.