Learn how to Bonsai a White Spruce Tree – (Picea Glauca)
In this video I show you how to Bonsai a White Spruce Tree from garden center material. It is a lot easier than you think!
I first show you how to select the front of a tree. The front of a Bonsai is the best viewing angle. We do this by removing the surface soil to reveal more of the trunk, then remove any lower branches that is hiding the trunk. After selecting a front for the tree, I then show you how to properly wire the branches downwards. Wiring two branches with one piece of wire ensures that the wire is anchored in place. Finally we finish by pruning the tree into the classical Bonsai tringular shape for a formal upright Bonsai.
I think Picea make great Bonsai due to their small needles. It is important to place the Picea in full sun during the summer months to ensure the tree thrives and back buds well as light needs to reach the inner branches. This particular tree will be repotted next spring.
How do you care for a Picea Bonsai Tree?
Only repot the Picea Bonsai in spring every 2 years. Older trees can be repotted every five years as the tree begings to slow down. When watering, make sure that the soil is never too wet and it has good drainage and never let the soil dry out completely. The best time to prune is early spring.
During winter: keep the tree well protected from frost as if the roots freeze they will not be able to sufficiently supply water to the foliage.
Also! This is an outdoor tree and I recommend keeping it outdoors throughout the growing seasons.
Chapters:
00:00 – Intro.
00:20 – The White Spruce – Material.
00:40 – Bonsai Tools That I Will Use.
00:50 – Revealing The Trunk/Nebari.
01:37 – Removing Lower Branches.
02:58 – How To Take Picea Cuttings.
04:24 – Preparing The Tree For Wiring.
05:17 – Chosing A Front.
05:36 – Wiring.
08:58 – Creating The Apex.
10:37 – Using Cut Putty Tip!
11:57 – Pruning The Tree To A Tringular Shape.
12:31 – Adding Moss.
#Bonsai #sprucebonsai #notionbonsai #bonsaitree
27 Comments
👆 – HOT GIRLS ARE WAITING HERE! ✅💞k👩
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.
Another cool tree!! Do you wire overtop of the needles or pull them out?
Another great video!
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
Would really love to see a follow up on this in a while.
the upper trunk has the same thickness as bottom..
Nice work.
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?
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.
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. 🌲
Sorry Adam but for me the lack of any taper whatsoever on the trunk looks a little 'odd' for me. Still a great video though, thanks for sharing.
Adam, In order to show tree taper and age one can Jin all the top portion which was cut off. If its doesn't suit you later it can be altered.
I appreciate your videos so much. Great explanation and great demonstration Adam!
Great video Adam tree looks really nice 👍..
Lol😂
Nice
Nice explanations and clear working. Rough weather over here, wind and rain so daily checks are required to make sure all is well. Keep growing xx
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.
Mantap kawan my bro😀
Take one leader up and then turn it down will look more natural. Great work. Jesus bless you.
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 YouTube, 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.
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 🙏✝️ ✌️🇷🇺☮️🇺🇦✌️
in terms of heel cuttings, how large a branch can you break off to get roots from it?
Hello, I'm Việt Nam. Good bonsai❤🤝🤝🤝
nice clearly explained video. by the way where do you get those large trays of putty?
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. 👍