Picea Glauca Conica - Growth habits etc...

joakimlinden

If someone can direct me towards a good source of information regarding this tree I would be very thankful. I've got some books, but no book I've read really covers spruce very well. Are they roughly the same as pines, or completely different?

My particular tree has some very challanging problems, and since it's my first "needle-based" (for lack of a better english word right now) tree, it's quite a scary situation...

Problems:

1. Relatively thin branches - which is the best way to fatten the lower ones and keep the higher ones in check?

2. Reverse taper / bulge at the middle of the trunk - it's now located almost at the top since I chopped the tree. I can not yet, with my very inexperienced eyes, see a good candidate for a leader - they all seem too thin to be able to create a smooth enough transition.


Since this tree seems very healty with light green little needlepacks opening on almost every branch I wonder if that is something I should work with - e.g. remove buds at some branches or remove just the buds at the inner parts of the branches closest to the trunk, or vice versa... I simply don't know how these trees react and how I can stimulate them to react.

I know I'm asking for a lot when hoping someone will answer all these questions thoroughly, but perhaps someone can help me with some part of the process...

Thanks in advance!

__________________
Best regards, Joakim

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ChosenOfRa

When i looked for the same info i found this page:
http://www.bonsai4me.com/SpeciesGuide/Picea.html
Not much but maybe a start.

David Yedwab

Saburo Kato's excellent "Forest, Rock Planting & Ezo Spruce Bonsai", published by the National Bonsai Foundation, is an excellent treatise on the Ezo Spruce (Picea glengii?). While not your variety, I believe it is useful, educatgional and well written. Also, just noticed it's price has been reduced at Stone Lantern (I'm not affiliated with Stone Lantern) but also available at other sources like the NBF, and probably BCI and ABS book sections, etc.

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David Yedwab

joakimlinden

I'm sorry I've not thanked you for your responses yet, I was just hoping that someone would add something... Since I don't have money for a book right now and the bonsai4me link was a little on the thin side I'm looking around. I've found a few sources but I'm not sure yet whether they apply to only "finished" bonsai or to nursery stock...

Thanks for the effort!

__________________
Best regards, Joakim

Will_Heath

Braches on these have a habit of spring back into the original posistion days after the wire is removed. They sometimes take 3 or 4 wirings to set.

Will

Brent

Ok, I'll be the bad guy. I think Picea glauca 'Conica' and all the other dwarf Alberta sports are garbage as bonsai. They are sucker plants. They look so cute, they practically scream "Buy me! Buy me!" But the truth is, they almost never bud back, the have branches that act like springs in Swiss watches and may take decades to hold a position, and are nearly impossible to force into decent pads. I wouldn't mind being proved wrong, but can anyone, anywhere, show me an image of a decent bonsai from one of these cultivars? I think the only use they have is for miniature landscape plantings. And even for these, you would want something smaller and slower like P. glauca 'Pixie'.

Brent
EvergreenGardenworks.com
bonsai@pacific.net

joakimlinden

Ouch : )

Well, I guess... Live and learn, the hard way most often.
Too bad that the only things the nurseries have around here are these spruce cultivars and Chameacyparis. I don't know how to get hold of a Japanese black pine in Sweden, much less the proper material for soils... I'll keep looking though.

__________________
Best regards, Joakim

bonsaimaniac

Other pines can make nice bonsai. Japanese black pines are my favorite but just about any pine other than Pinus strobus can work.

pootsie

I've found they bud back quite readily, but agree they are some springy things. I think the trick to avoid the spring-action is to shape the branches from the very beginning. Branches that have already grown spring back, but if you shape from a new bud it should stay.

I'm working on that right now, and will let you know how it goes.

pootsie

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p.s. My cat is a bonsaiTALK Master.
Columbus Bonsai Society