Hello, new to the forum here and relatively new to bonsai =]

Sooo, there was what I'm pretty sure is a spruce, that was put in the garden where i work, it wasn't doing well, mainly do to position i think. I've dug it out and potted it with the intentions to bring it home for bonsai, provided i can get it healthy and happy again. It still has a decent root ball and i used some rooting hormone to help it settle into the pot and have put it in a semi shaded area. its about 5-6ft tall but only has branches on the top maybe 1-2ft.

my question is what do you think i should do with it? most my other trees are deciduous and i don't know too much about evergreens. ideally i think i would like to cut it down to about 3-4ft, but there isn't any branches that low to be able to leave any needles. will spruce bud back if i was to cut the top few feet off or would i need to work on getting it to bud back and slowly reduce its height as i get more lower branches?

what would you do with it? sorry the picture is rather bad, if you would like more ill take some when im at work =]

Thanks

LPXM wrote:

what would you do with it?

I would find a suitable place in my garden and plant it there in the ground.

ahhh, probably should have specified, my garden at home is all concrete =[ its just a little concrete box essentially =/

Hi, and welcome to the forum.

Do you want an honest opinion about what I would do?
I would not have considered this for bonsai. The reasons..

- I see a tall thin trunk, with only foliage high up. Spruce does not back-bud well enough to quickly make anything out of
- Spruce tends to not keep shape after wiring. So you have a species that require a lot of re-wiring, making this a tree that will never really set.

As far as I know, spruces won’t bud back just from where needles left.

LPXM wrote:

ahhh, probably should have specified, my garden at home is all concrete =[ its just a little concrete box essentially =/

Maybe give it to someone who has a garden? For bonsai, it's not suitable.

thanks for all the advice =]

i was mainly only doing it because it was just gonna die where it was so figured better than nothing, i prefer my deciduous trees =P ill try and find a more suitable space in the work garden, its just a bit full so will see what happens =] the tall thin trunk was why i was wondering about chopping it back and then growing it out to thicken up, not too fussed about time, pretty much all my trees are just waiting to grow, none are at anything i would call bonsai yet. on a budget so just salvage material where i can.