This tree is a Picea abies, which is a Spruce.
A very cheap nursery stock material, I payed about 10-12 USD for this plant.
This is challenging material, especially the beginning,
because there's no tree here yet right, it's just a bush in a big pot,
we'll try to make a first Bonsai design out of this today.
Today is step one,
it's Fall right now, so it's a good time to work on this kind of material in in early fall.
We'll wire, we'll prune today, and that's it - no repotting not doing too much stuff
at the same time, because I want to keep the momentum of the tree going.
So pruning is where we begin, and before we can really decide anything
about the structure of this tree, we'll need to clean it up a bit,
so I'm gonna prune all this this dead foliage using scissors,
also probably take it out of the pot or take a part of the pot off,
just so that I can start seeing where the trunk begins and where the first roots appear.
So that way I can see the trunk and decide where I want to keep my first branches.
So there's a few steps that you need to follow for styling this kind of material,
and it starts with cleaning the tree, figuring out where the trunk is,
pruning, wiring, setting branches in position,
and eventually repotting. So let's begin with cleaning the tree.
Like I said, I just take the top layer off until the first Roots start to appear.
And this kind of material is really fun to work with, you can get it in many places.
A spruce, or perhaps a juniper, or the kind of young material which isn't very expensive.
But it is challenging to to style, but a lot of fun as well so let's see.
I'll start scissoring away all the dead foliage.
I can see it well here from underneath the tree, and once I get rid of all the
dead stuff we'll start evaluating the tree and start making the decision making process
for which branches to keep - and which ones to prune away.
Alright, so I finished cleaning the tree,
and it's still a little bit hard because we can't see all that much but
immediately there's a few branches that are just growing too low on the trunk.
I want to be able to see a trunk before the first branches appear so the two branches that are
growing super low; this one, as well as this one, I'm just going to prune away.
I don't need to think much about it it's just too low on the trunk.
So let's take those out I'll leave a little stump perhaps we can make a a Jin out of those.
All right - and then I'll remove this lower branch as well.
We start seeing a little bit of the trunk...
And then there's another issue which is quite clear as well;
there's a big branch here, which could be our first main directional branch,
and straight above it is another branch. I'm not sure if you can see
it well but it's right here, so just growing above each other, same thickness
so I can't use them both, so I'm gonna remove the one just growing slightly above it.
So this could be the first main branch,
but we could also prune it away and use for example this branch as the the first branch.
I'll study the tree a little bit more and then make up my mind.
So as you work on similar material at home just make sure that you
really get a good idea of the of the tree,
so keep rotating it, keep looking at it in different angles...
You don't need to plant it like this you can plant it like that or like that.
So there's yeah, you just need to start to understand the structure of the tree,
and the cleaning that we did just before really helps with that,
because you you start going through the tree, cleaning all of that stuff,
and you start to feel or to develop an understanding of the structure of the tree.
And then you can start making decisions. And the decision-making process,
really you're just looking for for a first first directional branch,
is it this one or is it this one - okay if I if I use this one what
could be the main second branch, somewhere on the other side of the tree and the back
branch and that way you just circle around the tree making these kind of decisions.
And if you're not sure, don't remove anything, just start making up your
mind for what could be a next branch and then eventually you'll figure out
if this one has to go, or or you if you want to want to keep it in your design.
On some places on the trunk there are too many branches, so we will remove a few of these.
We also remove dangling growth, to prepare the tree for wiring.
Deciding on the design of a Bonsai isn't always easy,
especially when a tree is as full and overgrown as this plant.
Try to apply the pruning guidelines we just mentioned to your own trees,
and if you are interested to learn more about these techniques,
consider enrolling in one of our online Bonsai courses.
Here expert teachers explain the relevant techniques,
and you can ask them questions.
For a free lesson go to bonsaiempire.com/courses
All right almost done with pruning the tree, as you can see we really took
off a lot a lot of foliage, so I think you're now looking at about 30
percent of the foliage that remains on the tree, which is totally fine the tree will be
fine especially because we're not touching the roots at the same time.
I think there's one more decision to make; so this is clearly my my directional Branch,
I'll bend the trunk a little bit away from there, so this might make a nice back branch.
This one, so there's two branches here growing over each other, and I'm thinking of removing this one.
And using this one actually. So this one I'm going to remove.
And then use this branch and bring it down a bit, this is too big now so I'll just shorten it a bit.
And I think for pruning this is about as far as I want to go today.
So next step is is wiring, so putting wire around the branches
enables me to set them in a new position, and I can also add some movement into the
branches by making slight s-curves, not too much but a little bit just,
to reduce the size of the branches, that's all that I would do for for now.
Try to select pairs of branches that are more or less of the same thickness,
and wire these with one piece of wire.
Start with wiring the main branches and slowly work your way up the tree.
Smaller and thinner branches need a thinner wire as well.
I finished wiring the tree, all the branches have been
wired so I can really put them in the position that I envision.
You're looking more or less at the front of the tree from this angle,
so this is the the main branch, all these branches will
have to come down a little bit, and I'll add some movement in them as well.
That's pretty much it, so we're almost done; setting them in position,
putting in the movement, and then I'll protect the tree during winter.
It can take a little Frost so I'll definitely keep it outside.
But if there's a few nights in mid-winter that are very very cold,
I might protect this by putting it in an unheated room for example during the night.
In the next spring, so about six months from now, I'll place this in a in a small Bonsai pot.
And perhaps do a little pruning then, but at least for for the next six
months the tree can recover and then it's ready for the repotting.
I could do the repotting now and I think the tree would be fine but
you do slow down the process and the progress of this tree,
because you kind of lose the momentum so by doing only pruning and wiring
now and repotting later, the strength of the tree and the momentum keeps going much faster,
so you actually save time by doing a little bit less today.
So in six months from now you'll see this being repotted - very close to uh
to the finished uh design that I had in mind for the for the tree.
Learn how to create your own bonsai trees, by enrolling in one of our online Bonsai courses.
We explain techniques like pruning, wiring, and repotting, and you can ask questions
to the teachers.
For the curriculums and free lessons go to: bonsaiempire.com/courses