Pruning/Training For Colorado Blue Spruce, Bald Cypress & Dawn Redwood

[TooManyHumans]

Good day all, my first post on the site, hope to make some friends. I am in NYC {USDA plant zone 7B} and have a great backyard and quite a few years of growing a wide range of plants and gardening etc. I have recently been gifted three beautiful deciduous bonsai all three in the upright style. The Bald Cypress, Colorado Blue Spruce & Dawn Redwood all look very healthy and were recently potted & sent out to me. They were all three in the pre-bonsai stage and had been trained in planters etc. by "Bonsai Boy of NY". Age range of all three in the 6-8 year range approximately.
With all of this out there, it is now May 5th(still cool evenings out here in NYC), I want to train/style & begin the process of proper Bonsai training with them but I do not want to mess up. They all have nice structure but I see potential for more, I just need guidance as I am just dipping my toes in the water here. Main points(I think):
1). How/when to start training them(they were just placed in bonsai pots a week ago).
2). When to start snipping new growth & pruning so I do not mess up? I understand not to take too much off here at a time. Just want to see what more experienced folks might have to say and what I can do this summer to start the process.
3). Wire training - since they are all three in the upright style already, what are my options to begin training them to get a pleasing aesthetic and how would anyone recommend the starting process and timeline considering they were just placed in pots(do not want to stress them out).

I have pictures if anyone could offer any time to this, I would be most grateful and honored to get helpful feedback.

 

[Carol 83]

Welcome! Even though you stated where you are from, if you add it to your profile people won't have to go back and look and you will get the best advice for your climate. Post your pictures so everyone knows what you are working with.

 

[TooManyHumans]

Thanks Carol, very kind of you to advise. I have uploaded photos here in this reply to your comment, not sure I see a place to add them to the main post.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Welcome to the forum.

All three of your trees were just repotted. They all need to recover. There is no pruning, no snipping to do until sometime in 2021. Your trees look a bit dehydrated, all 3 look a bit dehydrated. Be certain to check daily to see if they need water, and water when they need it. Move them to a spot that gets morning sun & afternoon shade until the foliage perks back up. The dull and slightly wilted look is not good. Once they perk up they all require full sun.

In autumn you can wire for shape, but you don't have to do it in autumn, wiring can also be done next year. All 3 species stay flexible for a number of years.

There are a lot of nuances to handling spruce. When you cut back a sprunce you must cut back in a way to make sure every branch has a bud left on it. Cut it back to no buds the branch will likely die. Read through "other conifers" forum for more spruce posts.

Dawn redwood and bald cypress are pretty similar in growth habits. Both would normally require pruning a couple times a growing season in years that they were not repotted. I prefer to leave them alone in the years they were repotted. Read posts usually in "Other Conifers" sub-forum, but they are sometimes included under deciduous. Use the BNut site search function.