Alpineart's Blog

The Norway Spruce was part of a ute load of reject trees purchased from a little old lady who has a healthy obsession with collecting rejected/damaged nursery trees from far and wide . I clapped my eyes on it and low and behold it was in the ute in a flash , along with the rest of the trees . Butchered and neglected this would transform into something resembling an aged Spruce battered by nature. I removed it from its pot to find it was growing in recycled garden mulch from the local council , treated pine , plastic even a shredded aluminum can was entangled in the root ball . With a quick trim of the branches to remove the unsightly foliage and a severe root prune it was placed into the bonsai pot . Further training would take place in 4 weeks . I used the hook and hold method to pull the branches down into their new position , carefully the tree has taken on a completely new image . On the thicker branches i use electrical cable coating to protect the bark from damage . With the new Spring growth bursting i allowed the tree to rest and recover for another 4 weeks during this time i carved a shari down the full length of the trunk,small but affective..After the new growth had extended i then removed another 30% of the canopy,stimulating a further burst of new buds and shoots . Continually trimming the new growth by pinching out the tips the canopy was beginning to thicken , so a further reduction of the branches was to take place . Once again another burst of new shoots has appeared and began to burst . This transformation from neglected tree to bonsai has taken less than 6 months . It is currently wired in the traditional method and is recovering very well . It has pride and place in my vast collection of Bonsai and trainers.