During the Christmas season I received a 3.5 year old live oak bonsai tree as a gift, and also purchased a small blue spruce from Walmart for 3 or so bucks.
I generally understand the basics, as I've wanted to get into bonsai for some time now.
So far, the oak (which is a pair of 3.5 year old Live Oaks in one pot) has been root trimmed and pruned prior to my ownership. It is getting a bit lanky, so I'm looking for advice on how to reshape it and keep it from proceeding in this fashion. It just sprouted some new growth this weekend, and has rapidly developed since.
The spruce, which is a Colorado Blue Spruce, I got from walmart, and it was entirely root bound in its pot (there was maybe 1/2 cup of dirt inside). I trimmed 2/3 of the roots off, which is more than I would normally do but it was so dense the tree handled it nicely. It has also been repotted with two or three small, dead shoots removed from the bottom. I know spruces are difficult to style, but I have nothing else better to do with my time and I like it. It also started putting out new growth this weekend as well.
All the pruning guides I have seen only say "pinch back to the safest point" but I have seen very little info on where exactly this point is.
I have attached pictures of each tree at the bottom in an imgur album (they exceed the sites file size limit). Yes, they are indoors, I have already setup a lighting system for them that seems to be working great (its been a month) and my room is well ventilated and temperature controlled. I also took two cuttings off the oak to reduce its overall height, but I am thinking of rooting them as well. I have some wire coming in the mail, at this point in time I may just use it to guide some branches downward instead of actually full flown wiring the trees.
Thanks for any advice.
imgur.com/a/S1qBq