Hey thank you so much! 😄 I don't think Bonsai should be super complicated! 🌲✂️ It can be whenever we get into the science of the trees and horticultural knowledge but for beginners, sticking to the basics will work in making nice trees!
So happy to see a video on picea! That's a great looking formal upright. Out west, we call these Alberta Spruce and theyre always a fun garden center project on the cheap around Christmas.
Ahh of course! Before making this video I was wondering what the difference is between the dwarf alberta and the white spruce! Turns out they're the same! 🌲
Great video. I especially liked the way that you explained the two branch wiring principle. I don't think that I have ever seen anyone else explain it in this way.
Hi Adam nice to see younger folk doing bonsai as I am now 80 with too many bonsai for my own good I am always interested in the videos that people put on RU-vid, when I started in the early 80s there was no internet and no windows operating system or any other for that matter. So we had to learn through books and word of mouth what the basics of the art are all about. Good explanation from you into the styling art of bonsai, the only comment I would make is to have left a portion of the top of the tree to maybe make a driftwood style later on, it just gives you options. All the best. Joe. Great work though.
I just did my first picea, I dd pretty much the same thing you did. I wasn't sure I was correct in cutting the branches shorter, but there is no way to make a large tree with a thick trunk look right if you keep so much branch length. So I'm glad I ran across your video. Very informative.
The bent fork: an essential tool in the bonsai enthusiast’s arsenal 😀 As pointed out in other comments Adam, picea is frustrating in that it is a very flexible tree which will try to revert back to it’s original shape as soon as you remove the wire. You might unwire it, come back the next day, and it looks like you never wired it… 😮🤷 The greatest success was bending one with a severe bend by throwing a restrictive guide wire over the top/apex and cranking it down. As the tree grew the downward pressure increased giving a dramatic reshaping and the look of a low growing contorted pine rather than the traditional upright Christmas tree. 👍
The wire trick is exactly what I just started with an ex Christmas tree in the garden. How long will it be till it is possible to release and it won't spring back? I was thinking six months, am I being impatient? ?
Thanks for that tip John! I may do this in the future! Though I'm interested to see how a canopy develops without doing this. 😊 I tend to make leaders on my other trees like that
I bought this exact tree yesterday to go and do something similar as my first shaping project. Come to find out the tree had extremely weak roots, I panicked and immediately put it back with more and new soil, and pampered it a little. Could've done a lot of things different, like using pond baskets but now it's anchored and now I anxiously wait until winter to watch it hopefully not die in the meantime...
Hi Adam, a very nice video again. I started styling a bonsai out of a dwarf version (“Will’s Zwerg”) of a picea abies last year. It had already a very nice natural kink in the lower section of the trunk, which brought me to buy this little guy. Since the upper part of the trunk is quite straight and fairly taperless, I cut the tree head like you did but created a new leading branch to allow the tree to grow a little again, to form some taper at least in that section and to give the apex a better finish. Your video provided some nice guidelines to me for the next steps, well explained as usual. Thanks a please keep going. Cheers Dirk
Thanks for sharing... I have a picea and I'm fighting with it the last 10 years... I wire the branches, put them down and the go up..... Its so dificult to fix it that its becoming a real fight!!!!!! Thanks for sharing.
Haha i feel you. We jokingly call piceas gummy branch trees. They will spring back and you need to keep them wired for a long time. Guy wires work best to avoid wire bite.
I would love to see the progress on this tree as I have bought one for Christmas. Will try this out early Spring which is around September here in Australia. :)
Personally, I would've kept one of the branches point upwards, pre-creating its new leader/apex- and create the triangular shape from there. But that's the beauty of different artists doing different things!
@@notionbonsai I collected some pieces when we were putting in a road in the Colorado high country and I purchased a Black Pine from a local Bonsai specialist. The squirrels attacked them, burying peanuts under the roots so I lost some at that point. I have some small Black Cherry trees I'm growing up now but thanks to your video I have more confidence for working the evergreens. Take care and thanks for responding!
Great tree Adam, i dont have this species however would like to grow one, i know how nice they smell and working on them would be a pleasure. I will look for one after Christmas in a local nursery as they usually have them in stock. Looking forward to watching you develop this tree in future video's. 🌲
Hi Adam. New subscriber here. I somehow found you this morning n have now watched a couple of your vids. It’s so refreshing to find a knowledgeable AND articulate presenter! Thanx in advance for a weekend of binge watching in wet, wild n woolly Devon. God bless you 🙏✝️ ✌️🇷🇺☮️🇺🇦✌️
Remember when wiring if you want to bend the branch down the wire should be under the branch if bending branch up it should be on the top. Also top needs a new leader so bend branch up so you can get taper in the truck..
Hey Leo! Thanks for the tips on wiring! Regarding the top leader branch, I am aware of this for creating taper in the trunk, however as the Spruce trees in forests I see here in Ireland don't have much taper. I have chosen not to do this with this praticular tree and instead create a canopy. Just something different!
Thanks for the great video Adam. When you wired the bottom two branches, you had the wire coming onto the branch from the top on our right and the bottom on our left. Does the direction that you are bending the branch have any influence on where the wire comes onto the branch? Eg. should it come from above when bending a branch down and below when bending a branch up?
No problem Andrew! The directon in which you wire the branches is not relevant when it comes to moving the branches up and down as far as I know. Tho its good to experiment and try things out! What I do know is that the direction in which you twist the wire will determine which way the branch can be bent left to right or clockwise or anti-clockwise. Hope this helps! 😄
Yeah, this tree doesn't have much taper. I'm happy enough with this as many spruce trees I see here in ireland look like this in forests. However to develop taper, I reccommend trunk chopping to a lower branch and allowing that to become the new "leader" of the tree 🤗
You could have cut it shorter wnd user one of the branches as the new leader to create taper and or created a jin of the old apex. For more taper. As this particular tree has no taper.
I try to wire through them, though if you wire over the odd one it's okay as long as you don't crush any new buds/ branches growing. The wire ontop of some may make them fall off so its up to you if you wish to take them out or not. I like to leave them so that if they do survive they continue to feed the tree 😄
@@notionbonsai awesome, I never thought to wire between them… it almost seems insane! I tried the same species of tree before out here in Canada and I think I made a few rookie moves and lost the tree, that wire tip is key man!!
A note on picea glauca; they are notorious for bouncing back after wiring. From what I hear, they are best left for very long time and allowing significant bite before removal.
That's pretty cool Adam! Do you ever bring plants from outdoors to indoors over winter? How do you make sure you don't bring insects and such in on them? I'm turning a spare room into a winter plant room. We are in western Pennsylvania (USA) winter coming and it gets cold here.
Conifers and deciduous trees generally need winter dormancy to thrive long-term. To protect the roots from frost it is best to use a cold frame or unheated greenhouse rather than bring them inside because indoor temperatures will bring them out of dormancy. I have heard you can also bury the pot below the frost line as well. It is best to choose tropical or subtropical species like ficus or portulacaria if you would like to keep them indoors.
Thanks Andrew! I got this putty when I was at Herons Bonsai Nursery. The smaller tubs of it are widely available online tho! A little of it goes a long way also 😊
Thanks for the video, its start of spring here but my Picea is already growing new foliage. Can i still prune or should i wait until next spring and do that earlier?
Hey Shane! Picea bonsai should be pruned in the late winter or early spring before the new growth appears. This is because pruning stimulates new growth, and pruning during this time allows the tree to allocate its resources towards the new growth that will emerge in the spring. When pruning a Picea bonsai, it's important to only remove about one-third of the tree's growth at a time. You can use sharp pruning shears to make clean cuts, and make sure to cut just above a bud to encourage new growth in the desired direction. It's also important to regularly remove any dead, diseased, or damaged branches throughout the year to keep the tree healthy and aesthetically pleasing. 🤗
Totally understandable Mike. I also prefer trees to have taper, especially on maples! 😄 When looking at spruce forests here in Ireland, I couldn't see any with much taper either!
Most of my local garden centres here in the East Midlands seem to have loads of them at the minute Adam, I know them as Alberta Spruce too. What they also have available are twin trunked ones that command a higher price but they do have really thick bases that split into two with both having really good tapers.
I've recently done one of these but left one of the lower branches and jin and shari the thick trunk so the little trunk has sort of taken over and then that will be the main trunk.itsnhard to explain what I mean 😅
Hi I have a white spruce about 3 feet tall in a 2 foot pot that's over 40 years old and was repotted over 25 years ago. I want to turn it into a bonsai and I'm not sure if I should trim it first or repot it. I'm from Canada and I wanted to make this my winer project. I actually have 2 pines. They are accents at the bottom of my entrance in front of my house. They have always been facing north. Thank for your time I hope you could help me.
Hey! If it were me I'd work on the foliage of the spruce first. Reducing the unnecessary foliage and wiring. Repotting would be the second job but because its in such a big pot it may be a good idea to reduce the size of the pot slowly so that you do not remove too many roots at one time! Hope this helps!
@@notionbonsai thank you for your reply. They were my dads trees and im scared i might kill them off. They haven't been touched in years. how long should or can I wait to repot it after I wire it. Whats healthier for the tree? Repot shortly after I wire or wait a season
I'm only half way through and already learned so much. Do you find the needled trees irritate your hands? I bought a picea half price today (after Christmas bargain!) and my hands are so irritated just from looking for one with a good trunk.
Hey nice! Some people can get an allergic reaction to the sap on some trees. I'd advise washing your hands thouroughly after working on a tree if you are succeptible to it. I'd always end up with little spikle dots on my hands when I first worked on needle junipers!!!
Hey Adam. I'd recommend taking cuttings from the most recent growth from the tree as it contains the most auxin. Usually the thicker you try to root the more difficult it is. Not saying it won't root but it may take a long time!
