Colorado Blue Spruce #2. RIP #1

[p_anova]

Hey Nonsai Buts,

Unfortunately #1 did not survive its Spring repot ( I believe that my root reduction was to aggressive and it never recovered) so I picked up a rather large Colorado Blue Spruce from the depot and wanted to start a progression thread. Trunk was pretty thick to start out with

After an hour or so of digging down to find the nebari, I ended up taking 4 inches of soil from the top.Think I will leave it be till next Spring to see what it does unless anyone thinks I should be doing anything else. Probably just going to hit it with fertilizer in the fall to pump the foliage up for Spring.

 

[WNC Bonsai]

Given the look of the plants in the background in photo #4 I give it a 50:50 chance at best!

 

[p_anova]

Given the look of the plants in the background in photo #4 I give it a 50:50 chance at best!

Someone else is responsible for the indoor plants .

 

[Potawatomi13]

Always puzzles why so many call green Colorado Spruce "blue" as most are green.

 

[Tycoss]

Always puzzles why so many call green Colorado Spruce "blue" as most are green.

In my experience, put a Colorado spruce in full sun and it is usually blue, part shade and it is usually green. Although not as blue, the same rules apply to englemann and white spruce

 

[Tycoss]

I love spruce, but at least in my ( decidedly harsher) climate, you do need to be careful about the timing for work. When in doubt do less, spruce bonsai are not for the impatient. Best of luck with this one.

 

[p_anova]

Spruce #1 (R.I.P) definitely had a blue tint to it unlike this guy. Not sure if you can see the depot tag, but it says "Columnar CBS Glauca Fastigiata". But yes, very green indeed. If someone could now explain to me why we call pines white, black or red. There is mischief afoot.

 

[p_anova]

I love spruce, but at least in my ( decidedly harsher) climate, you do need to be careful about the timing for work. When in doubt do less, spruce bonsai are not for the impatient. Best of luck with this one.

Amen to that. I may or may not have put a Birds Nest in the "Spruce" Box as well, god rest its soul. I'm not crying, you're crying. I just removed top soil to find nebari on #2. No other root work or trimming was done so hopefully it doesn't get fussy.