Holy Spruce! My $2 raffle win

[Bush bunny]

Pruning Albertina conica.jpg

It's still a good win. But when I saw pics of what one master did to his Albertina, I decided to leave it as it was. Nothing ventured nothing gained, eh? You might create a new style. They are slow growers. I'll hunt out the pages of what this guy did. And you could apply it to yours?

[Jason]

So this is what I just read when I Googled them:

"Spruce have a poor reputation as bonsai. Difficult to style, difficult to encourage the branches to set into new positions through wiring and difficult to create good ramification with little if any prospect of backbudding."



Someone please give me a good story about them!!!

They might be hard, but they look GREAT as bonsai! See it as a challenge

[Bek]

Cool, well mine seems to have a pretty good branch structure and spread so I reckon I should be able to make it look pretty decent, with some help from the more experienced bonsai-ists.

[Bek]

Thanks for the links too people [SMILING FACE WITH SMILING EYES][SMILING FACE WITH SMILING EYES]

[MoGanic]

Thanks for the links too people [SMILING FACE WITH SMILING EYES][SMILING FACE WITH SMILING EYES]

Just a heads up, Walter Pall has heaps of progressions of spruce on his blog. Check them out for some inspiration!

Nice win!

Cheers,
Mo

[kcpoole]

nice score

Try this one from Walter Pall although a European spruce. I do not know the difference real life.
http://walter-pall-bonsai.blogspot.com. ... stone.html

ken

[SpongeMann]

Great score! Spruce are good for bonsai depending where its from and where you live some need to go dormant. But other than that they can take all the abuses of bonsai. Cheers buddy

[Bek]

Great score! Spruce are good for bonsai depending where its from and where you live some need to go dormant. But other than that they can take all the abuses of bonsai. Cheers buddy

I'm in Adelaide Spongeman, so I'm guessing not an ideal location for spruce! Can you tell me more about the dormancy period? Any advice on keeping this guy alive would be much appreciated!

[Bush bunny]

What spongeman meant to explain (I think) was all spruces and pines, are evergreen obviously, but they all go dormant during the colder months, before they start sending out candles or spring growth. Mine have started throwing up new growth or candles, and so have the Cedrus. I live in a temperate zone, 3,500 ft absl. Helps. I am relieved with two I thought they were dead! But the Albertinia in the front garden, over 17 years old, is usually the slowest to show it's candle growth, although they are visibly dormant in there. Maybe because it is still in the ground, and less sheltered from the elements than the potted ones.

[Bek]

How cold does it need to be for dormancy to set in? If it doesn't go dormant for a sufficient period of time, what can happen?

[SpongeMann]

Hey guys. I don't know too much I'm learning as I go. If you have deciduous trees in the area that shed leaves in the colder months of the year even if it's for two or three months you should be good. Shelter it from the extreme heat and they liked the colder months of the year. Here in Central Florida we have temperate climate. They do well.

[SpongeMann]

You should be be good. I guess Adelaide's winter climate ranges from 3° to 13°or so from what I read. Lol that is like the weather here. We'll get cold snaps that that kill off the Orange trees but good for spruce. Have fun with Bonsai. I am a beginner but I'm catching on quick. Cheers

[Bek]

Thanks for your help Spongeman! Yeah our Winter days typically stay in the low teens, but it can drop to 1-2deg overnight. Plenty of deciduous trees here so that's a good sign I guess. I've got a huge shadecloth pergola out the back which I move my bonsai under over the Summer, so provided I keep up my watering (which I obviously intend on), I'll hopefully be fine with the spruce. :lol:

[SpongeMann]

That is awesome Bek your good to go brother! I need to build a Pergola . My trees are under the shade of a big Silver Maple. I think its a Silver. My step dad came over one day and cut a three branches off He thought he was doing a good deed

[Bek]

That is awesome Bek your good to go brother! I need to build a Pergola . My trees are under the shade of a big Silver Maple. I think its a Silver. My step dad came over one day and cut a three branches off He thought he was doing a good deed

The pergola was the best thing we've done since we moved in. 13x6metres, built and painted over about a dozen weekends by my very un-handyman husband and I. The relief I felt on The Day We Finished The Pergola is equalled only by the relief I felt after the birth of my daughter after 38 hours of labour.

Silver maple, nice! We've got a Moreton Bay fig growing in our front yard. Goodness knows what the original owners were thinking when they planted it! We'll probably end up moving out of the house, into the newly built tree house once it starts destroying our foundations!!