Ezo Spruce: pot-bound and wanting a tad of love.

[TimS]

Good to know at any rate, and now you have a ready made excuse to buy another tree -> you need an Ezo

[MJL]

Ok ... apart from the sheer embarrassment of thinking I had purchased an Ezo spruce - which is actually a Norway Spruce - I had a play with this today.

I decided upon a sparse upright style.

I took the top off and wired a new top. I took heaps of branches off - especially bar branches and I wired accordingly.

I am pleased with this initial styling.

The bottom branches are only loosely wired to keep them out of the way ... they will come off in due course - I just want to thicken the base a little more.

As usual, feedback welcome.

Cheers,

Mark

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[Akhi]

That looks really good... and great work with greening the tree...


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[MJL]

That looks really good... and great work with greening the tree...


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Thanks Akhi, yes It seems to be coming back to health! Repot, feed and late autumn/winter sun seems to be working!


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[TimS]

It’s progressing nicely Mark, especially now the upper section is now just hinting at the future look this tree will be heading towards.

Looks like it’s thriving with your TLC

[MJL]

It’s progressing nicely Mark, especially now the upper section is now just hinting at the future look this tree will be heading towards.

Looks like it’s thriving with your TLC

Cheers for the feedback Tim.

I think my wiring is improving but far from perfect and not so long ago I would have cut the lower branches off already. Now... this style doesn’t need a huge, fat trunk base but I want a little more - hence keeping for now. Also, I nearly kept some of the mid branches as Jin’s but I wanted it a bit cleaner ... we’ll see as time progresses.


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[TimS]

I think you are progressing very well indeed with your thinking into the future. I'm still a bit too trigger happy with the pruning, eager to get stuck in, and end up taking too much off too soon. It harks back to working in the garden and cutting back the citrus extremely hard!

I remember watching Ryan Neil think it was talk about his apprenticeship, and how Mr Kimura would point out which branches he would be removing in 2/5/10/20 years time. You are thinking about the time frame, of when the branches have done their best work for you, and you no longer require them for your design.

I think this will be a very elegant tree in time, with that subtlety the top is hinting at just at the moment giving the slightest hint at your vision for it.

[TimS]

On a side note, I’ve been reading up on growing spruce from cuttings, so if I can strike a cutting off my Ezo I can give you one if you like? It’s just so slow growing you’ll need a hell of a lot of patience that’s all

[MJL]

... so if I can strike a cutting off my Ezo I can give you one if you like? It’s just so slow growing you’ll need a hell of a lot of patience that’s all

Ha! Look at my signature panel mate - I might take you up on that kind offer. Thanks Tim - appreciated.



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[Boics]

Personally I'd still consider shortening and ramifying the lower branches.
You don't want them to become too big and bulky.
You also don't want to lose the vigour in the buds closer to the trunk.
If I'm not mistaken this tree won't back bud readily so it's important to nurture growth closer to the trunk....

[MJL]

Cheers Boics. Advice appreciated and I will heed accordingly.


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[MJL]

I decided to go hard on this tree this morning .... my tagline says something about patience but really ....I'm not. Here's a before and after - I listened to Boics and cut back a tad sometime last year ... but this Autumn I thought .... stuff it(with an F), I'll either get this sparse with foliage closer to the trunk look that I want or I won't. I shouldn't have cut the lower branches - they should have been sacrifice branches to fatten the base a little. Oh, well.

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We'll see.

[KIRKY]

Can the mods rename the title on this as its misleading Picea abies, or Norway spruce. Thanks
Cheers
Kirky

[MJL]

Cheers Kirky, my embarrassing mistake in the original title of this thread lives on after Treeman picked it up early. The mods were probably thinking I would have killed this tree by now ... or the whole thread is not worth the effort. I hope you're well.

[KIRKY]

I’m a bit annual when it come to wrong names on trees especially once we know the correct name.
I’m well tks Mark, hope you n the family are too.
Cheers
Kirky