This was 1 of 2 recent purchases from Melbourne . The owners had grown tired of their Christmas Trees Picea Abies or Norway spruce , and i was fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time .
Urban Yamadori or potted plants a terrific for bonsai material .I estimate these to be around 15-20 years old, at 2m high , they have plenty of life in them . I have decided to layer the top off both trees however only one will be used for this demo . Deciding on a suitable whorl to place the layer below , a ring bark was cut , then a few notches taken out of the upper section the increase the area for the roots to sprout from .A wire tourniquet was also attached to assist the callous to send the roots out from the trunk and prevent it from healing over .
I used some Hormone powder mixed to a paste for ease of application then applied to the upper section of the layer . I have used Hormone Jel in the past however i prefer the powder it doesn’t wash away in the initial watering . With the layer all set and ready i split a large pot and cut a section out for the trunk , then drill a series of holes around the lower section for drainage and air flow to aid the root growth . 
.A mixture of 70% Soft red Scoria , 20% Spagnum Moss and 10% pine bark and Mycorrhizae .
This should be a good mix for root stimulation .It works exceptionally well on pines so there should be no reason it wont achieve good results on these Spruce . The pot is positioned then a aluminium dowel is drilled and inserted through the trunk under the pot to hold the weight of the pot and mix 
, approximately 5 kgs . An insert of mesh was trimmed and laid inside the pot around the trunk to prevent the medium from falling/washing out . The mix is added and the layer is set for a season or two . 
A quick water with a seasol solution and i move onto the lower section . A quick reduction of the lower foliage , 
removal of the cones
and add a wire tourniquet to the ends of the reduced/trimmed branches to prevent them from bleeding sap
and taking energy from the plant . This will now be left to its own device and watered to prevent drying out . At a later stage, possibly mid Winter an initial style will take place on the lower trunk .For now its onto Tree number 2 .Cheers Alpineart
« Cantilever Slab /Raft style Juniper Inarching/approach grafting on a JBP pt 2 »
A lot of whatever you assert is astonishingly appropriate and that makes me wonder why I had not looked at this with this light before. Your article truly did turn the light on for me as far as this issue goes. Nevertheless there is just one point I am not really too comfy with and whilst I make an effort to reconcile that with the actual main theme of your position, allow me see exactly what all the rest of the subscribers have to point out.Well done.
Superb post however , I was wanting to know if you could write a litte more on this subject? I’d be very thankful if you could elaborate a little bit more. Many thanks!
Along with almost everything which seems to be developing throughout this particular subject material, your points of view happen to be relatively stimulating. However, I appologize, but I do not subscribe to your whole plan, all be it exhilarating none the less. It seems to everybody that your opinions are generally not totally rationalized and in fact you are generally yourself not really wholly confident of your point. In any event I did enjoy examining it.
Thank you for blogging. That’s the most interesting entry I have found about this.
Thank you for posting this. That’s the most cool post I have found about this.