Picea Abies from french Alps

Hello here's a picea, trained for six years.
He's got a wild looking, could be a great tree ;:

Before



And now

I see you have some wire on the tree but I do not see a great deal of evidence that you have done anything in the way of styling on the tree. If this is the appearance you wish for this tree then you have succeeded but if you are looking for something that looks just a little more like a bonsai you need to engage is some aggressive styling techniques. From what I can see your wiring seems ineffectual. You ought to consider some classes at a convention. If this sounds harsh it's because I don't know any other way to tell you the truth than to tell you the truth.

Wow! Vance, as we say here "tu n'as pas la langue dans ta poche"    
(Litterally: "You don't have your tongue in your pocket"
That kind of comment -which of course I repeated - is what caused me to be banned from other forums, oye veh!.../. )

But Vance has got a point: now that the roots are established, maybe the overall design could be improved.

I'm no specialist about Spruce, but this is the options I see:



1/ (reddish): start a nex leader at the top. The easiest solution, but I think that building the top after the curve after the dead wood would mean a tree with the upper part more than one time the bottom. To me, it doesn't really work.

2/ (yellow): cut offf a bit lower, a back branch becoming the new leader.

3/ (green): cutting off even lower. Since I don't know the tree in 3-D, it's hard to say if that would be a good solution. I wonder if that's not, the one I prefer...

Howdy,

Great material and nice job keeping it healthy, but with the mass up top it's not highlighting that gnarly looking trunk. Choice 3 would create better proportions but choice 2 is probably the best bet now. Perhaps another option- you could use the existing length of the trunk and twist it down into the design? Whatever you choose to do, bringing the foliage closer would really bring out the best of this tree.

Keep updating : )

Thomas Urban wrote:Howdy,

Great material and nice job keeping it healthy, but with the mass up top it's not highlighting that gnarly looking trunk. Choice 3 would create better proportions but choice 2 is probably the best bet now. Perhaps another option- you could use the existing length of the trunk and twist it down into the design? Whatever you choose to do, bringing the foliage closer would really bring out the best of this tree.

Keep updating : )

What I was trying to say is that the OP needs help in designing this tree. We get this argument in America all of the time; the justification of removing Yamadori from the wild without a clear reason to do so. I also feel it is questionable to remove a tree you are not equiped to do the best for it. Either way the tree needs training and so does the owner.

http://www.bonsaidilettante.com/2015/12/unconventionality-at-the-convention.html

You might find this post about Dan Robinson of some interest,quatrefi.

geo wrote:http://www.bonsaidilettante.com/2015/12/unconventionality-at-the-convention.html

You might find this post about Dan Robinson of some interest,quatrefi.

If you look close at the most recent image of the tree you can see wire on the tree.  Some of it just hanging there.  This tells me there was an effort to do something with the tree but it failed.  I know there are some that might make the Dan Robinson argument but I don't think that applies here for reasons stated previously and I don't particularly think Mr. Robinson's approach to bonsai is particularly good.  JMH and mindless O. It is kind of double minded to carve and chisel the life out of a tree trunk and then turn around and make the statement you must make the effort to avoid the appearance of human intervention? I know a lot of people think great things of Dan Robinson's art so I wont say anything beyond this point; that some people think Bob Dylan is a great musician.

http://www.elandangardens.com/bonsai-redefined/

In Mr. Robinson's words,quatrefi.

Colin Lewis has an excellent, free, tutorial on wiring somewhere on line. I don't have the link handy on my phone, Perhaps someone else could post the link here.

Yes that Colin Lewis wiring video is offered free by Craftsy.com.It is free but you have to join.

http://www.craftsy.com/classes/gardening/free?filterMap={%22price%22%3A[%22price-free%22]}