DWARF ALBERTA SPRUCE

I went to Home Depot to get a new pot for my jade plant (not bonsai). It was around the middle of October and they had there last few trees and shrubs outside on sale. I grabbed a Dwarf Alberta Spruce. Not sure of the age. From soil to where they cut the top is 13". And the truck at the base is 1". And the foliage is pretty dense. I intend on putting it in the ground for a year or so. Or at least until I feel it is ready for my liking. My questions are... how much should I trim back the foliage before putting in the ground ? What kind of tile should I use to bury it on top of ? I have read a lot of books in the past few months and this is my 1st bonsai.

Any support would be a tremendous help. Thank you

The tile part is easy: whatever you've got handy. A 1-foot square piece of plywood will do as well, or an old plastic dinner plate.

You don't need to cut any foliage back if you don't cut any roots. Plant it, let it grow, and study it as it grows. Otherwise, what you cut depends on your plans for the tree.

thank u Jim. One last thought on this.... put in ground as soon as the last couple frosts get here or wait till spring ?

anyone ever pulled off a good dwarf alberta spruce? Ive heard that even after years of wire on the limbs pop right back to an upright position. Ive thought about cutting a wedge out from under each branch at the trunk and then pulling them down with guywires and hopefully they will stay. Do they back bud at all?

Buck- after getting some more information from another forum i came to a couple conclusions. 1st off, the dwarf alberta spruce is a very hard tree to bonsai. and guywires is the only solution i could come up with. many have told me that the branches r some of the most stubborn to work with. 2nd, they r very slow growers. so mine will be in the ground for quit some time now. i guess that will give me some practice. im just getting into bonsai. i have been reading alot from books i got from amazon. and then last october i just happened to buy very stubborn species for bonsai. at least im only at a loss of $4.

The best one I've seen is in the opening chapter of Nick Lenz's book Bonsai from the Wild

I had a dwarf Alberta Spruce I had in training for about three to four years. In the original plastic nursery pot (it had remarkably good soil for coming from a nursery). I ended up drilling holes in the upper edge of the pot, and used copper wires (with some aquarium tubing to protect the bark) to pull the limbs downward. The limbs took well over a year to take a set, and continued to need some help even after that.

Sadly, shortly after I got it into a better training pot, it seemed to dry out and die on me. I transplanted at what I had been told was the correct time of year, barely touched the roots, used carefully prepared soil and yet it withered away. What exactly happened remains a bit of a mystery to me, but I have a couple smaller specimens I have been growing the past couple of years so I am going to give it a try again.

i've been using 4 other forums as well and gotten many responses in some and none in others. most everyone is saying that they are not a vary dependable plant to start with. but i still plan on putting it in the ground for a couple years and see what i can come up with.