Are these workable?

[Phishstix]

I received a shipment of trees from Bonsaify a few days ago and am hungry to work them. They’re grown in San Fran, and I live in Calgary.. quite a difference in where the trees are growth wise to where my trees are currently. My in ground trees are just starting to have buds swell or leafing out (elm, Larch, Alberta spruce, Bur Oak, Cotoneaster, and so on) and my junipers are just showing signs of waking up. This shipment of trees are all much more active than anything up here.
These are the first trees in my possession other than a Ficus Benjamina that are not being grown in the garden to gain a little size before working them, and I’d hate to kill this material. (I know it’s part of the hobby)
As a newbie I’ve watched the YouTube’s, I’ve read the books and I’m still nervous to take any steps and potentially killing what stock I have at my disposal.

So I’m looking for some clarification on what I can do to these trees in a 4a grow zone at this point in the year or is it best to let them grow until further in the year when I can complete these tasks.

1) Japanese Larch: The first tree is quite large for the given pot and I’d like to let it stretch its legs. I believe the general consensus is to do this before buds break, correct? Is it okay to slip pot, put it in the ground, or just leave it be?
I’d kind of like to trim height back near the “kink” in the leader and delicately wire the branches in a slightly downward direction.

2) Japanese Larch: Maybe just knock back the height and width a tad and let it go for a while as it’s a wispy little thing.

3) Zelkova Serrata: Would kind of like to just get it into a slightly larger terracotta pot to avoid getting blown over in the wind. Going for a broom style and don’t believe wiring is necessary. Maybe knock back a little height on the thick main trunk line.

4) Washington Hawthorn: Would like to perhaps wire for some more lateral movement to increase the crown width eventually. Knock back the height.

5) Multiple Japanese Black Pines: Various amounts of work done to these trees, but all have candles pushing up like this. Mainly hoping to repot into terracotta to lessen the chances of them being knocked over.

Please let me know if I’m out to lunch on what I’m seeing and wanting to do. I’m wanting to give these all the best chance at survival and if that means it’s too late than so be it. The desire to muck about is strong, but the desire not to kill is stronger.

Thank you in advance and sorry if I gave you a stroke trying to decipher this!

 

[Njyamadori]

I’m also a beginner so I don’t have many of the answers you are looking for. Ive been in the hobby for 3-4 years but now just really starting. I recommend that you stick to 1 or 2 species and understand how to grow them before making it more complicated. I have killed many trees due to how complex it got. However, now I have 20 beautyberries in development(for a year) and 7 itoigawas along with a few random trees that managed to live.

As a beginner all I have to do is make the best beautyberry bonsai that I can and hopefully trade most of them in the future.

 

[Phishstix]

I’m also a beginner so I don’t have many of the answers you are looking for. Ive been in the hobby for 3-4 years but now just really starting. I recommend that you stick to 1 or 2 species and understand how to grow them before making it more complicated. I have killed many trees due to how complex it got. However, now I have 20 beautyberries in development(for a year) and 7 itoigawas along with a few random trees that managed to live.

As a beginner all I have to do is make the best beautyberry bonsai that I can and hopefully trade most of them in the future.

This makes a lot of sense actually. May have outgrown my britches before I even started. Unlimited spruce and larches here.. maybe that’s my humble beginnings. Thanks for the insight.

 

[Drcuisine]

The first thing I do with new material is get it into a container size that works with my watering schedule. Small pots on hot days need to be watered often. Unless root bound just slip pot the trees. These will not be root bound because I know Eric. The next thing I do is nothing. I make sure I can keep the tree alive. I get to know the tree and make sure it’s growing. I then look at the tree regularly and slowly begin contemplating what I want to accomplish. Ideally don’t do anything for the first year. Just get the tree established and learn how they grow and make sure you know how to grow the trees. Think of bonsai development in terms of decades. Have a plan then work towards that plan. The main goals should be the ability to grow a healthy tree. Styling should be slow and secondary. The only reason to intervene early should be if you need to add movement on a trunk. That is not flexible like a Japanese maple. These trees still need years of growing so focus on that first, and don’t do too much cutting until your treats are established. I often don’t do styling until after I’ve owned a tree for a couple of years.

I’m assuming you’ve been watching eric’s videos.

I suggest follow along with what he’s doing and you should be fine.

Being a good horticulturist comes first.

Mats H

 

[pandacular]

Welcome to the forum!

Without knowing too much about the appropriate times to work several of these species, I would say that my biggest concern would be doing heavy work prior to a late frost. If you prune and wire a tree now, it will need extra protection in these cases. I would avoid repotting any of these trees, besides perhaps the JBP, as they are fairly along in their growth for the season.

The biggest thing you need to decide now is how big you'd like each of these trees to be when they grow up. If you want much larger trees, you should not prune the tops and let them run wild. Leaving a sacrifice branch is one of the best ways to drive growth.

I agree to an extent with the first poster, but I think it is helpful to have depth and breadth. If you go deep on one species, such as spruce or larch (both great choices btw), how will you know if it's what you like? You can learn a ton by comparison, and that includes comparing species AND comparing individuals of the same species.

The first thing I do with new material is get it into a container size that works with my watering schedule. Small pots on hot days need to be watered often. Unless root bound just slip pot the trees. These will not be root bound because I know Eric. The next thing I do is nothing. I make sure I can keep the tree alive. I get to know the tree and make sure it’s growing. I then look at the tree regularly and slowly begin contemplating what I want to accomplish. Ideally don’t do anything for the first year.

This is great advice, though much easier said than done!

Pretend you're a root!

I'd like to live beneath the dirt
A tiny space to move and breathe
Is all that I would ever need

 

[Phishstix]

The first thing I do with new material is get it into a container size that works with my watering schedule. Small pots on hot days need to be watered often. Unless root bound just slip pot the trees. These will not be root bound because I know Eric. The next thing I do is nothing. I make sure I can keep the tree alive. I get to know the tree and make sure it’s growing. I then look at the tree regularly and slowly begin contemplating what I want to accomplish. Ideally don’t do anything for the first year. Just get the tree established and learn how they grow and make sure you know how to grow the trees. Think of bonsai development in terms of decades. Have a plan then work towards that plan. The main goals should be the ability to grow a healthy tree. Styling should be slow and secondary. The only reason to intervene early should be if you need to add movement on a trunk. That is not flexible like a Japanese maple. These trees still need years of growing so focus on that first, and don’t do too much cutting until your treats are established. I often don’t do styling until after I’ve owned a tree for a couple of years.

I’m assuming you’ve been watching eric’s videos.

I suggest follow along with what he’s doing and you should be fine.

Being a good horticulturist comes first.

Mats H

I appreciate all this more than you know. In my mind I knew this was probably the case. I think at most I’m just going to slip pot into something slightly more sturdy to avoid being easily toppled by wind/ squirrels and just let them grow.

 

[Phishstix]

Welcome to the forum!

Without knowing too much about the appropriate times to work several of these species, I would say that my biggest concern would be doing heavy work prior to a late frost. If you prune and wire a tree now, it will need extra protection in these cases. I would avoid repotting any of these trees, besides perhaps the JBP, as they are fairly along in their growth for the season.

The biggest thing you need to decide now is how big you'd like each of these trees to be when they grow up. If you want much larger trees, you should not prune the tops and let them run wild. Leaving a sacrifice branch is one of the best ways to drive growth.

I agree to an extent with the first poster, but I think it is helpful to have depth and breadth. If you go deep on one species, such as spruce or larch (both great choices btw), how will you know if it's what you like? You can learn a ton by comparison, and that includes comparing species AND comparing individuals of the same species.


This is great advice, though much easier said than done!

Pretend you're a root!

Thank you!

Well, we’re not out of the chance of snow/ frost till the end of May .

I do have the set up for extra protection being a sun room where I have all of my seedlings growing. However I think I’ll err on the side of caution and take things slow and learn the trees firstly. I may do the pines as you mentioned they appear quite far along and can keep them warm and sheltered with the seedlings as I’m concerned with them being blown off the bench or messed around with by squirrels.

I’m not looking for monster trees by any means nor am I a mame fan, but Shohin to Chu is my preferred size range. Long range plans.

I see the merit in both for sure. However it’s too late in the game for me to slow down on the collection. Aside from the 100s of seedlings I have on the go I spent the last year collecting saplings and the occasional nursery find. I’ve never been one to hone in on specifics of anything, I like to test the waters.

 

[pandacular]

However it’s too late in the game for me to slow down on the collection. Aside from the 100s of seedlings I have on the go I spent the last year collecting saplings and the occasional nursery find. I’ve never been one to hone in on specifics of anything, I like to test the waters

If you’re acquiring enough stuff, you’ll naturally have a heavier weight in one genus based on whats available and you like, I wouldn’t worry about it too much. Come to think of it, I have about 35 trees in pots, and the only species I have more than 3 of are ones that were given to me from club members that were culling their seedling grow operations.

I don’t think species specific techniques matter a ton when you’re just starting out anyway. For example, one doesn’t generally decandle young black pine or pinch most species (juniper, spruce, maples) until they’ve been bonsai for many years. Focus instead of working from first principles and direct observation, which are considered stronger ways to learn than by rote. Hone your skills on basic technique, but also recognize that what you consider a basic technique might not be accurate, as may be the case of grafting or air-layering, which many would consider basic.

 

[Paradox]

I appreciate all this more than you know. In my mind I knew this was probably the case. I think at most I’m just going to slip pot into something slightly more sturdy to avoid being easily toppled by wind/ squirrels and just let them grow.

Slip pot but be very careful not to disturb the roots much at all. All of these trees are past normal repotting time.

Spend this first year studying them and learning more about bonsai techniques and timing for those species. Many trees have been killed by an inexperienced new hobbiest working and/or overworking a tree at the wrong time

 

[Phishstix]

Slip pot but be very careful not to disturb the roots much at all. All of these trees are past normal repotting time.

Spend this first year studying them and learning more about bonsai techniques and timing for those species. Many trees have been killed by an inexperienced new hobbiest working and/or overworking a tree at the wrong time

Absolutely. I was checking a prior batch of JBP I got from the same grower and they slide right out of the pot and barely drop any substrate. Should be a pretty straightforward process. We have some nice weather in the next few days, I’ll wait till then and try my luck.

 

[Phishstix]

If you’re acquiring enough stuff, you’ll naturally have a heavier weight in one genus based on whats available and you like, I wouldn’t worry about it too much. Come to think of it, I have about 35 trees in pots, and the only species I have more than 3 of are ones that were given to me from club members that were culling their seedling grow operations.

I don’t think species specific techniques matter a ton when you’re just starting out anyway. For example, one doesn’t generally decandle young black pine or pinch most species (juniper, spruce, maples) until they’ve been bonsai for many years. Focus instead of working from first principles and direct observation, which are considered stronger ways to learn than by rote. Hone your skills on basic technique, but also recognize that what you consider a basic technique might not be accurate, as may be the case of grafting or air-layering, which many would consider basic.

I’m a ways off from this, I’m scared to look at these things the wrong way still. I realize if all goes well these will be mature and enjoyable for my retirement years. Like you or Paradox mentioned, think in decades.