Picea Abies - Norway Spruce

[alpineart]

Out and about like a couple of louts , The Hacker and i went on a scenic tour this morning to take some pics of Mother Nature .While we did manage a few nice pics , these were not in the plan . I was sitting in the car park and the Hacker was chasing a bite to eat "the worms were biting" . I noticed a work crew drive in and i asked a few question, me be me , blunt as a brick , i had in no time full permission to remove all the stock i wanted without exception to 3 area's to be eradicated . I have in the past removed material with the same authority , today i have unlimited collection rights to this material over the next 3 months .

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The Hacker was blown away with the material we could have .This is quality Yamadori rarely seen in Australia , and its now at the best place possible , my back yard , i might give the little one to the hacker for his help

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can't be too generous , he will think i'm an old softy . I will return for a few more before they are completely destroyed . Out of season is not the best time to dig but i have collected these before from the same area in mid summer and had good success .

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These were trimmed and potted up into the smallest possible pots we could fit the root mass into using my bonsai blend and then hosed and soaked in seasol power feed . We placed them behind the house which is rather cool and shaded like the collection area . Give these a couple of years and they will be whipped in quality trainers .

Cheers Alpineart

[bodhidharma]

Holy guacamole Alp's. Great, no, fantastic score. But ..dont you have enough

[Watto]

Yamadori spruce - just a great score. I must send you my phone number just in case you need a hand????

[alpineart]

Hi Bodhi , mate when someone hands you a handfull of fantastic tree's like these its a wee bit hard to say "No Thanks" i have enough . Its a Bloody shame that 3 other plots have been destroyed . I had 80 trunks trimmed for pre winter digging last year but health kept me out of the way . We only found about 15 today , 10 we pulled up out of the bog hole the rest were too big , all of the other trimmed tree's were destroyed . Beggars cant be chosers in this case and it didn't take much begging today .

Cheers Alpine

[alpineart]

Hi Watto , sacred location this one . They have felled the original tree's and sprayed all the area's they were located in .All the way home all i could say was "if only" i could have got back here last year . Cheers Alpine

[fiveoffive]

OMG you went with out me

[daiviet_nguyen]

Hi alpineart,

I think it is for Ausbonsai to grant you the title "Ausbonsai Conifer Yamadorist"

The bigger ones in the photos would take a bit of man-power to dig out. I think this collection is very commendable effort.

Best regards.

[alpineart]

Hi Fiveoffive , mate this was a double bonus , being in the right place at the right time . Definitely not planned , but really well executed .

Hi Daiviet , mate i nearly cried when i seen the carnage . John told me they had cleared one plot not three , so i made the call . Without , The Hacker i would have not gone there and these would be history as well . I might have too give him a big one as well . I need to take another concrete pill and toughen up a bit before i give them all away .

Cheers Guys . Alpine

[The Hacker]

Hi Apline,

I'd just liked to say thanks for the tour of the hills & also for letting me have the best of the tree's we colected today I will keep you posted on there progress & when you come down to frankston I'll take you out to some of my best spots,

Regard's

The Hacker

[Brian]

For the uninformed, the hacker and alpine are hillbilly brothers.

[alpineart]

Hi Hacker , mate thanks for the rally driving lessons . I recon these were the quickest retrieved tree's to date . I didn't know those VW combies had that much get up and go , still shaken . Just for the record salvage rights belong to me you just had the privileged of witnessing a real hacker and chopper in action

Hi Brian , mate i'd like to think we are all "Bonsai" Brothers and Sisters . His only a hill billy when he come up to the Alps , Otherwise his a city slicker .

Cheers Fella's . Alpine

[alpineart]

Well i noticed that a couple of these went wheels up so i decided to re-pot them .

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Bugger me they have been elevated 2.0m off the ground and have a curl grub infestation . Well now its time to test the lawn beetle treatment in pots .Not recommended by the manufacturers but i basically have no choice as there are to many plants and not enough time to re-pot all the material her so in a word kill the beetle or kill the tree. I slipped most of them out and yes every pot had grubs . The two that died had absolutely no feeder roots left . I have split the groups up as the grubs were in amongst the sinuous root connecting areas and to be sure if one survives all should . Well a few more trainers to be had

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, still behind the eight ball with time running out , but making progress in the right direction .They should make for easier styling now , whether they end up back as a group remains to be seen each has its own character having multi leaders and good movement

Cheers Alpineart

[Dario]

Hi Alpine
I like the spruce you guys collected! Those bloody curl grubs though
Hey, is it possible that some were in the root ball from the time of collection, or did the beetles pay your spruce a visit when they were at your joint?
You must have heaps of them up your way yeah?
Cheers, Dario.

[alpineart]

Hi Dario , over the last 15 years or so i have top dressed the terraces with close to 20-30 tonnes of Euca mulch AND THEY LOVE THE STUFF as do termites . . I don't top dress them anymore however once in , its hard to control them with toxic treatments . Fixed the termites now i guess i have to get tough with these beetles and grubs without killing the worms and good little critters .

Cheers Alpine

[Dario]

Best of luck with that Alpine!
I get a few sorts of beetles where I am, and I am sure you would get a whole heap more where you are.
Cheers, Dario.