Colorado Spruce Picea Pungens

[alpineart]

This was a gift from ebay , yes i purchase a lot of unwanted tree's from the place most don't like . It was a bargain along with another couple of big tree's now residing in Melbourne til The Hacker gets into them and creates some havoc . This was planted in potting mix and was very wet so i ripped it out this morning in practice for the big Juniper

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and tossed it into a bonsai training pot

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. It will get a much needed hair cut and wire job sometime soon . Me being a man of leisure ay "Bougy" , should get into it now .

Cheers Alpineart

[boom64]

Hi Alpine,
Good to see you at it again. Love the colour of the Spruce. Once again a quick question. Did you have to cut the roots to fit it in the pot ? I have a large Spruce at home ,have fiddled with it a bit but have been a bit scared to do anything serious. But after seeing you and Antt and your go ahead attitude i think now is the time to have ago. Not going anywere sitting in a large black pot !!! Any tips... Cheers John.

[Roger]

John
I got a blue spruce from a friend who had it in a black plastic pot for about 30 years - no repotting! I did a moderate trim of the roots to put it into a deep, round Japanese pot and it is doing fine after two growing seasons. Regular fertilising and pruning has brought it back to good growth and beauty.

[alpineart]

Hi Boom64 , Roger has answered for me . This was full of roots around 15m long , but they had sent out numerous new sets of feeder roots higher up as the potting mix was too wet . I did remove 60 % of the roots and basically wound the rest into the pot laying the mix over each layer to give them space to continue to grow .As with most pot plants the root grow out and then down and around the outside of the plastic pots so you can slice them down the sides and turn them out . Just tease round the soil close to the trunk to see if there is any good fine feeder roots close to the trunk .

I would give this a couple of seasons then root prune it again . It does have a well balanced root mass and a very good graft with only a slight reverse taper . It did have the tag ties still on the lower trunk which has produced a couple of swelling areas , but i will place a heavy wire on it and hopefully spread the swelling out over a longer section of the trunk . .

Cheers Alpine

[boom64]

Hi Roger and Alpine,
Thanks for the information. I repotted the Spruce today .The roots were pretty good , a lot of feeder roots below the surface. However the base just didnt seem right. Two big thick roots on either side .Hope you dont mind Alpine if i post a few photos. Thanks John.

[alpineart]

Hi Boom64 , mate i dont mind anyone posting pic of the same species , but your is a Picea Glauca possibly a "Globe". I did a topic on one and had to change the title because Grant set me straight as to the true name . A Moderator helped change it to the correct title Picea Glauca "Globe" . I'm fairly certain yours is the same species .

Cheers Alpine