Amateur, felt like showing what I've got.

[SpencerCW]

Hi everyone, my name is Spencer. I live in eastern Tennessee. I am 93 days clean and sober and have been looking for various hobbies. My dad has donated 2 of his Chinese elms as he has his own backyard nursery for trees and plants. He also gave me some of his bonsai books but I don't think he has any bonsai to show. I've been exploring the woods around the halfway house I stay at, saw lots of Virginia pine, hickory, black tupelo, a beech tree, and sweet gum, also found a few Virginia juniperus, some still small enough I thought I could dig em up and place them in pots. I'm working with no budget, little knowledge, and no experience. I've read that Virginia juniper grows bean pole straight and from what I've seen in the woods that seems to be true. I'm hoping that since the junipers I've collected are still very young I can put some bends and twists in the trunk. The 2 small junipers have a wire running from the base of the trunk through the drainage hole and hooked to the bottom of the pot. Comments and criticism are welcome, I will not resent the truth.

 

[Paradox]

Welcome to BNut and this crazy hobby.
There is lots to learn for a lifetime so enjoy the process.

First thing I'm going to ask you is to please put your location on your profile so we don't have to repeatedly ask you where you are located. A lot of bonsai advice is dependent location since that relates to weather and seasonal patterns.

Since you've just collected these little guys, I wouldn't plan to do anything more to them right now. You need to let them recover from being collected. Bonsai is a marathon, not a sprint. Doing too many things to a tree too soon can kill it.

You need to put them outside. They will not survive in your house. Since it is almost October, you'll need to think about how you will overwinter these and get that plan sorted put pretty quickly. This can be as simple as mulching them up against the north or east side of your house.

Over the winter, you have lots of time to read, research and start learning the basic concepts of bonsai and ask questions if you need clarification. Most things in bonsai have a best time of year to do, repotting, wiring, some pruning, etc. Each species is different, so as I said lots to learn but many of us love that aspect of the hobby.

 

[SpencerCW]

I have the elms inside right now because it's been raining the last three days and had some high winds. I keep the pines and junipers outside protected from rain.

 

[Michigan Tree Murderer]

Welcome aboard. Everyone has a different Bonsai starting point, it's a long journey, and paticence is key. I would recommend reading as much as you can, sticking to native trees in your area, and leave them outside as that's where they came from. Here's some reading material that helped get me started. LINK Good luck.

 

[Gabler]

I have the elms inside right now because it's been raining the last three days and had some high winds. I keep the pines and junipers outside protected from rain.

Why?

 

[snowman04]

If you are in Tennessee the elms belong outside... Congrats on finding the new journey! It is well worth the effort if you have patience...

 

[SpencerCW]

Well after reading the link Michigan tree murderer shared I've moved all my trees to larger pots, most of my pines aren't doing too well, think they got too wet for too long because the soil they were in is soaked. I used the soil from an old vegetable patch, a year Ago someone grew some veggies and the soil was loose, like old miracle grow, I added some small gravel in the mix and an inch of gravel at the bottom of my pots, I also mixed in a small amount of chicken poo, for the nutrients. Again I'm working with a zero dollar budget, so my pots are just found containers at least 0.5 gallon to one 5 gallon bucket with holes drilled in. I'm not gonna touch my plants for a few months just to give them time to recuperate from being uprooted from the forest. My Chinese elms are two years old and have never left the small cup my dad started them in. Their roots are well developed.

 

[Gabler]

Well after reading the link Michigan tree murderer shared I've moved all my trees to larger pots, most of my pines aren't doing too well, think they got too wet for too long because the soil they were in is soaked. I used the soil from an old vegetable patch, a year Ago someone grew some veggies and the soil was loose, like old miracle grow, I added some small gravel in the mix and an inch of gravel at the bottom of my pots, I also mixed in a small amount of chicken poo, for the nutrients. Again I'm working with a zero dollar budget, so my pots are just found containers at least 0.5 gallon to one 5 gallon bucket with holes drilled in. I'm not gonna touch my plants for a few months just to give them time to recuperate from being uprooted from the forest. My Chinese elms are two years old and have never left the small cup my dad started them in. Their roots are well developed.

Yeah. Using field soil can lead to a lot of headaches. I guess it's good you're closely monitoring the moisture content, but it would save you a lot of headache if you could get some perlite. A mix of roughly 80% perlite and 20% organic matter works okay as a budget mix. It's what I use for starting seedlings. Can you increase your budget by $30 to get a gigantic bag of perlite?