First steps to a spruce cascade

This tree had a great misfortune in its live by growing in the middle of a hiking path. The top was broken and the trunk was almost split in two halves, but it was still alive. Although the tree was not really healthy, I collected it in the year 2004.



In the following years the spruce died step by step.
In spring 2008 the remaining foliage got brown. I thought the spruce is dead, but then the tree seemed to explode!
Everywhere buds appeared.
This behaviour of norwegian spruces to substract energy from the foliage to get power for the new budding is known by me, but I havent seen this in such an extreme way.
Although the tree seems not to be very promising.



In late summer 2009 the tree was repotted for the first time. Now one can see at least a little potential in this spruce.





After another year the spruce got its first styling, only the main branches are wired. The next steps will follow...



Regards,
Marco

I´m very impressed by this one
and looking forward for its future.
You must have enjoyed the repotting so much!

Great progress Marco! Looks like you made the most of what the trunk had to offer. Hope you'll give us a chance to see the tree develop further. I also like the fact you're doing things step by step and mind the health of the plant. Best regards!

Marco, Your spruce seems to be well on its way to become a nice bonsai. I like the cascade style you have chosen. The shari has a lot of character. I am discovering that my spruce will drop needles to put energy into bud production. I have two varieties of Colorado Blue Spruce which have done this, on some branches, for the past two years. In fact, one tree, which I thought was dying last Fall, lost 80% of its needles. It is one of three in a grouping. the other two did not lose needles. this one tree has an abundance of new green buds for this year. I presume they will com out. Only time will tell. I am encouraged by the green buds and still-flexible branches. I had already planned to repot the group to become a two tree planting and turn the "dead" tree into a fallen tree in the forest. I will have to wait and see.
Please keep us posted on the progress of your tree.
Salut,
Todd

Hi Marco,

thats a great story and you've done something very interesting with challenging material, well done, it looks very god so far. It ceratinly proves that we shouldn't give up on any tree no matter the challenges. PLease let us know how it continues to develop.

Jonny.

Hi Marco

Very interesing and nice Spruce.

Very well-chosen option. Good job. Congratulations and I look forward to further developments.


Pavel

Hello Marco. The early pictures show a fairly uninteresting Spruce. Your change of planting angle has completely transformed the tree. Excellent stuff and I look forward to seeing it develop.

hi marco,it just shows us by simply turning the tree upside down to form cascade anything can be achieved it just takes vision,great stuff i await to see it in the future

Thanks for the nice comments!

It was a little bit risky to put this tree up side down. Quite a thick root had to be cut off, but "no risk no fun". In the old position the tree was just poor material, nothing to make with.
I haven`t treated the deadwood parts heavily. You can see a craquele pattern of cracks on some of the dead wood parts. And I don`t want to destroy this. Every year the deadwood parts are flamed decently only to build new cracks and deepen the old ones. After this the wood is not treatend with lime sulphur to support the building of a natural like surface.
I hope with the crown getting mature within the next years, the dead wood also does.

Best regards,
Marco

No risk, no fun! Exactly so, Marco!
And the outcome is justifying your guts, isn't it?
One question (I'm trying to learn everytime, you see...) : those little round holes seen on deadwood in pic. 2 & 3, do they imply any insects devouring there?

Normally "no risk no fun" is just a silly saying in order to do bonsai.
I avoid taking risks whenever I can. But sometimes there are situations where you can get 100% or lose it all, or have a completly unsatisfiying result. Just to set my writen words in the correct context...

Alexandra, the holes came from insects surely, but these are old ones.

Regards,
Marco

MerschelMarco wrote: ....Alexandra, the holes came from insects surely, but these are old ones.....

So, there is no need for insecticides?
Insects are only feeding on dead wood or they also do in living wood?
Thank you!

One very nice spruce!

Regards, Miguel

p.s: I hope that the insects are gone for good

Alexandra,

sorry for my late reply.
These holes are really old ones, at least ten years or older. There is no need for insecticides.
"Insects are only feeding on dead wood or they also do in living wood?
Thank you!"
I don´t know whre you come from, but in my region (Germany) the "Bark beetle" can really be a problem, because he feeds on living wood, more exactly on the cambium, and causes the dead of a tree very quickly.

Regards,
Marco

The hole tree is rewired now, but this time completely. The crown is getting more concrete now.

Regards,
Marco

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Great idea to turn this one into a cascade! It looks so much more interesting. Looking forward to seeing it develop from here!

Chris

Hi Marco

A very good way. Indeed the great tree. Good job.
Gretings Pavel

I enjoyed following this progression. I like how you take your time to get the result. Sometimes, patience is the shorter path to the end result..

This is how, the spruce looks today. The foliage needs to be edited but not within the next few months.

Regards,
Marco


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Another update. A little spruce was added in spring. The foliage needs to be refined within the next years.

regards,
Marco

I like the addition of the second tree, very nice. It is a good match for foliage size and color. Looks like it was part of the original. Nice.

Amazing results. This is a tree project I will be watching.

help me understand what you saw in choosing the current pot.

Dick,
the pot was not chosen, the pot was built exactly for this tree. Why? On the one hand I think it fits, on the other hand it is my flair for experimentation. But unfortunately (for you and others maybe fortunately ) the pot is not frost resistant, so I have to search/build another one.

Regards,
Marco

I can appreciate your thinking. I think in a show, competeing for attention, the pot would slow people down
having them ask what was trying to be said here. as opposed to just another proper display, accepted and moved on from. I hope you were not offended in the way i asked the question.