New to bonsai: SO MANY QUESTIONS!

[Beetleman72]

Hi, I am fairly new to bonsai. I've been studying and piddling with it for the last year or two now but there are still so many questions that I have and I feel like they would be best answered by those of you who have vast experience in the area so here we are. I have a few starter trees. I have a kousa dogwood, a trident maple, a couple azaleas, a bald cypress, and a poorly finished Chinese elm. The trident maple is about 1/4" caliper as is the dogwood and azaleas. Are these too small to start with? My Chinese elm is curved more than I would like but has about a 4" trunk. Is there any way to straighten it to an informal upright? Also there are so many scars on the trunk from poor wiring and branch removal. The cypress I just got from a nursery it's about 7-8' tall from the pot. When I do my initial chop (for formal upright) after I've angled the cut and blended it with a rasp do I need to treat it with something to avoid an unsightly scar? I have more questions but I'll get to them later. Thanks in advance for your imput.

 

[Poink88]

Welcome!

Please post pictures. It will help us help you better.

 

[Beetleman72]

I'm sorry but this is also my first time ever posting on a forum so I don't actually know how to post pictures

 

[Danilo]

For the bald cypress, unless you have a new leader selected, do not make an angled cut. If you have a new leader, go ahead with the cut, and just put some cut paste on it to keep bugs off.
If you need help with pictures, you can email them to me and I will post for you (danilofaulin [AT] Gmail.com)

 

[Bonsai Nut]

First thing about bonsai is that it is horticulture. You can't keep bonsai if you can't keep trees alive. So before we see ANY photos of your trees, you need to ask yourself the question - do you know everything you need to know to keep these guys ALIVE?

 

[jkd2572]

Buy as many books as you can and watch you tube videos on bonsai.

 

[Beetleman72]

First thing about bonsai is that it is horticulture. You can't keep bonsai if you can't keep trees alive. So before we see ANY photos of your trees, you need to ask yourself the question - do you know everything you need to know to keep these guys ALIVE?

I do landscaping for a living. I've killed a few of my bonsais early on but I can keep about anything alive. I not only enjoy bonsai but also orchids and African violets, but I do have a green thumb I just have a lot of questions about soil, fertilizing, styling....

 

[edprocoat]

Beetleman, the Bald Cypress are amazingly tough trees. I would cut it flat and wait to see where the new growth pops, I chopped one last year and it popped two new shoots just a hair below the cut and then grew radically fast. It froze this spring and turned reddish brown on most the leaves and then after a week came back green again. The two shoots grew straight up tall and have just about filled in the chop on their own, no rasping at all, the bark has curved in nicely. Now a week ago I woke up early to find a deer eating the top of my Bald Cypress, I was going to chop it again as I hope to keep it small, not as small as the deer decided it needed to be chopped though, so I guess this son of a buck saved me the job, now I am hoping it will live as he ate most the foliage except the one part that cascaded down.

ed

 

[milehigh_7]

Beetleman,

We need to know where you live so we can give proper advice for your climate. So update your profile with your location. See the red arrow in the picture below? It points to a button on the tool bar that allows you to upload pictures. You can choose a directory on your computer or a link.



Welcome to the hobby and welcome to the site!

 

[Beetleman72]

I live in the mountains of very western NC the zone here is about a 6-7a