Spruce

jo schmoo

i have a spruce (pic below) that is about 1 1/2 ft tall with a 1 1/4 inch trunk growing in my yard. i was going to transplant it next spring but i thought i would see if it could be used for bonsai. i am newbie but i think it may have some potential to be a formal upright. the problem is, there is an area (in second pic) where about 6 branches come out and 2 or 3 of them are kind of big. i don't know if i should bother with it, but then maybe i could just remove 2 of the larger ones and leave one of the big ones to be the new trunk instead of a really large branch. so i want to know if i should give it a try and what time of the year should i collect it if it is worth it? thanks

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jo schmoo

and the problem area

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History stopped being interesting when people stopped killing each other with swords.
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TreeBay

You didn't photograph the portion immediately below the group of branches (which is called a "whorl," BTW). So it's hard to assess if there is a reverse taper problem at that point.

That would be one consideration that might influence whether you'd want to spend time on this particular specimen.

Regards,

Matt

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jo schmoo

from this angle it looks like a lot of work would have to be done because a bit of reverse taper.

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100_0280.jpg (55.9 KB, 146 views)

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History stopped being interesting when people stopped killing each other with swords.
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jo schmoo

but from this angle which i think, because of roots and branching, it looks like it could be do-able by cutting away most of the branches directly behind it.

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100_0279.jpg (47.5 KB, 147 views)

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History stopped being interesting when people stopped killing each other with swords.
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steez

FOCUS!!!!!
just kidding

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Steve

jo schmoo

it's hard to focus on an autofocus camera where the focus feature is crap. also, anyone know what kind of spruce it is? it's grown maybe 3/4 of a ft in 6 yrs in the ground and as you can see, the needles are bright green. i always thought it was a dwarf cultivar because it grows so slow.

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History stopped being interesting when people stopped killing each other with swords.
-Me during US History class

jo schmoo

well, i went ahead and did it. i cut off (even though it isn't really the right time to) the back branch i said i would and covered it with vaseline being sans cut paste. all in all i maybe removed about 1/4 of the total foliage. so i looked at the root spread and chose the front (before the cut of course). i'll thin it up a bit next year because i've heard spruces can be really touchy about how much you prune off. so here it is

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100_0281.jpg (62.5 KB, 98 views)

__________________
History stopped being interesting when people stopped killing each other with swords.
-Me during US History class

jo schmoo

here is the outline of the trunk from the back and the cut before i put the vaseline on it.

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100_0283.jpg (52.5 KB, 104 views)

__________________
History stopped being interesting when people stopped killing each other with swords.
-Me during US History class