Hi, I have a field grown blue spruce I dug up last winter. I’d like to try and start reducing it down and slowly try and make it into a bonsai. Should I just go for a big trunk chop and work on branches after it recovers? Any advice or ideas for next steps would be great!!
by Real-Hedgehog3312
4 Comments
Go check our herons bonsai on YouTube I just watched a video of him making a tree about this size into a bonsai but I think it was a white pine, still some good info on his channel
Conifers generally do not bud back like a deciduous tree, so trunk chop is taking a big chance.
I love these so much and yet I still don’t have one.
You’ll probably want to shorten it, but you can’t chop and regrow a spruce. Use the existing branches!
Blue spruce is very difficult to work with and takes a lot of years trying to force back budding.
It’s not like with a maple where you can trunk chop near anywhere and expect back budding. You need to select strong branches that aren’t too far from the trunk (so you can style) but aren’t so weak that next season you find them naturally dying back. You the need to cut back to a whorl where you’ve left green on the branch but there’s a dormant bud that will spur growth next season.
Cutting back apical growth is something you need to time as well. Conifers need the energy they get in summer, if you chop it right now you’re basically hamstringing the tree.