Well, I hate to say it, but blue spruce do not make great bonsai. They won't behave well under training and may play some tricks that you won't like. However, you have the trees (unless you can return them for something else?) so I suggest you either just plant them in the ground or training pots, leave everything else alone til late winter and do a lot more reading, starting with www.evergreengardenworks.com.

Thanks Lucy. You have confirmed my suspicions about waiting. Most of my reading indicates that late autumn and winter are the best time to wire conifers, however some of my books contradict that advice. Also, I have read a lot of interesting internet resources but have not yet stumbled onto Evergreen Gardens. Thanks for pointing me in that direction as I will surely spend the next hour or so reading their information, too.

As for the Picea Glauca Conicas I have, they are actually Alberta Spruces. From a number of sources they are recommended for Bonsai although they grow slow. I think the Blue (or Colorado) Spruce is Picea Pungens, but then again I may be mistaken.

Anyway, thanks for the reply and the advice.

Oh %*#() - of course I mixed them up, but maybe because what I said about 'blues' also hold true for Alta's, though you may have better luck with them. Sorry!

No problem. My reading indicates, especially on the site you recommended, that they, too, can present some problems. Regardless, at $6 apiece, I'm willing to take a chance.

So, when repotting to a training pot, is it best to just use the soil that the plants are in or is it best to use a bonsai mix appropriate for conifers, or some combination? Again, the books I've read and sites I've researched address in great detail repotting into a bonsai pot but very little is said about repotting into a training pot.

Gritty bonsai mix absolutely. If you've collected a tree from the woods or somewhere, you would take a large rootball with it and the soil it's growing in for a training box to help it transition, but it's not the same as something grown in questionable (e.g. cheap) stuff from a nursery and at least adding lots of gritty stuff of whatever you can find (lots available) is best and makes watering issues a lot easier to deal with.

Lucy, you're a big help. I hope you don't mind me asking a few more questions. If you do mind, just say so and I'll try elsewhere.

Based on what I have learned from my reading and from you...

I'm going to repot the nursery plants into training pots by removing as much of the old soil and using a suitable bonsai mix (which I have numerous recipes for) and only combing out the roots just enough to get them into the pot. The training pots are all larger than what will eventually be the bonsai pot, but what size training pot to use I'm not sure. However, most of the mica training pots I've been able to find that seem to be suitable to me are:

Round - 12" long by 3" deep
Oval - 11" long by 8" wide by 3" deep
Rectangle - 12" x 9" x 4"

There are others with slight variations but these are close to the others I've found.

Finally, I shouldn't do any root pruning, branch pruning, and wiring right now. It would be best to wait until very early spring to do the branch and root pruning, and then wait until next winter to do any wiring.

Does this all sound like a reasonable approach? Please, feel free to offer any advice. I've just joined the local Bonsai Society but have not had the occassion yet to meet others and get advice from them.

Thanks!

Here are the two trees I purchased.

Here is a link that might be useful: