Local Garden Center Alberta Spruce

[cmsheehan]

Hello Bonsai Nuts,
I recently picked up a nice dwarf Alberta spruce tree from a big garden center. I am just wondering if I can re pot the tree now ( August 28 ) I live in Massachusetts, so it is still pretty hot here. I don’t want to do anything crazy yet, I just think it should be given a better pot and some fresh growing medium. Should I just leave it alone and wait for spring or fall weather? Thank you for your feedback!

 

[Deleted member 47471]

Make sure to share your zone on profile

Make sure to post a pic of the tree

Make sure to repot in the Fall or Spring

 

[RJG2]

Hello Bonsai Nuts,
I recently picked up a nice dwarf Alberta spruce tree from a big garden center. I am just wondering if I can re pot the tree now ( August 28 ) I live in Massachusetts, so it is still pretty hot here. I don’t want to do anything crazy yet, I just think it should be given a better pot and some fresh growing medium. Should I just leave it alone and wait for spring or fall weather? Thank you for your feedback!

Highly preferable to wait until spring for repotting. The best time is when buds are swelling but not quite pushing out needles (a few is fine).

Do proper root work while the tree is still strong and healthy from the nursery (in other words don't do any major pruning yet).

After repotting, wait for strong healthy growth before further work.

 

[coltranem]

I am not far from you. I'd wait until spring.

 

[pandacular]

From everything I’ve read about dwarf alberta spruce, they are rather slow to respond to bonsai technique. Many will advise to not work the roots and the top in the same growing season, but to give plenty of time to recover. I also think you’re right to repot the tree first before working on it, as this usually lets the tree get the strength to recover, and simplifies watering if everything is in substrate rather than some being in nursery soil.

If you’re itching to do something now, I’d grab another one and prune the top. That one would stay in the same pot until spring 2026, and you could get a feel for the different approaches.

 

[Dabbler]

ONE INSULT PER YEAR on Alberta spruce - repot in early spring, as well as remove some branches you don't want, then leave it alone all year and just fertilize with organics and water - next year do nothing and let it grow and if it's strong you can wire late fall winter. Leave it alone for the year after you wired. Very slow and steady wins the race with these guys

 

[cmsheehan]

Highly preferable to wait until spring for repotting. The best time is when buds are swelling but not quite pushing out needles (a few is fine).

Do proper root work while the tree is still strong and healthy from the nursery (in other words don't do any major pruning yet).

After repotting, wait for strong healthy growth before further work.

So, I’m confused, wait until spring to repot, but do root work now while the tree is still fresh from the nursery?
I was just thinking I should put it into a bigger container with some akadama and let it grow for awhile. Not doing anything else until earliest next spring.

 

[cmsheehan]

From everything I’ve read about dwarf alberta spruce, they are rather slow to respond to bonsai technique. Many will advise to not work the roots and the top in the same growing season, but to give plenty of time to recover. I also think you’re right to repot the tree first before working on it, as this usually lets the tree get the strength to recover, and simplifies watering if everything is in substrate rather than some being in nursery soil.

If you’re itching to do something now, I’d grab another one and prune the top. That one would stay in the same pot until spring 2026, and you could get a feel for the different approaches.

Great idea, thanks for your response!

 

[pandacular]

So, I’m confused, wait until spring to repot, but do root work now while the tree is still fresh from the nursery?
I was just thinking I should put it into a bigger container with some akadama and let it grow for awhile. Not doing anything else until earliest next spring.

“now” is somewhat relative in bonsai. in this case, it can be interpreted as “the next available opportunity, without other work”.

Getting used to the oace of some of these things took me time (I still don’t think I’ve internalized it yet) but it will come.

 

[Deleted member 47471]

So, I’m confused, wait until spring to repot, but do root work now while the tree is still fresh from the nursery?
I was just thinking I should put it into a bigger container with some akadama and let it grow for awhile. Not doing anything else until earliest next spring.

Root work = working away a good portion of the soil, loosening the roots, pruning away a portion of them and repotting while introducing aggregate soil each time you repot until the tree is in all/mostly inorganic soil and no longer the original nursery soil.

Root work = a repot. Either in the Fall or the Spring are the best times for repotting DAS. Patience, as you will find, is your best friend and your worst enemy.

 

[RJG2]

So, I’m confused, wait until spring to repot, but do root work now while the tree is still fresh from the nursery?
I was just thinking I should put it into a bigger container with some akadama and let it grow for awhile. Not doing anything else until earliest next spring.

Done at the same time. In other words - do proper root work when repotting; repot in spring. Timing it to when the buds are starting to swell.

That being said... I give conservative advice here. If you don't care about the material, feel free to experiment.

Hell, I bare-rooted this Black Hills spruce this spring (far from "proper"), and just did a heavy cut back and styling (also far from proper). But it was cheap material for a contest, so I'll either have a leg up, or bow out when it inevitably dies

Post in thread 'RJG2's 2023-2026 Little Christmas Tree Entry'

May 2, 2024

Go big or go home. Considering it's a 3 year contest, I figured I'd go extreme with the root work first. If it lives it's already reduced to final pot size-ish, and I have 2 years to worry about styling.

• RJG2

• 

 

[cmsheehan]

Root work = working away a good portion of the soil, loosening the roots, pruning away a portion of them and repotting while introducing aggregate soil each time you repot until the tree is in all/mostly inorganic soil and no longer the original nursery soil.

Root work = a repot. Either in the Fall or the Spring are the best times for repotting DAS. Patience, as you will find, is your best friend and your worst enemy.

Thanks, yes I completely understand the actual repotting and root work needs to be done at the proper time. What I was thinking about doing was getting the tree into a bigger pot and adding some better medium to help it through the winter months. Nothing like a traditional “Repot”, just saving it from the garbage container and soil that it came with for the big box garden center.