New to hobby from Singapore

[declay]

Hello everyone,

My name is Declay, and I'm from Singapore. I've been lurking around this forum for a few days because I was hesitant to post as I'm really new to bonsai growing. I bought my first bonsai (a Juniper - might be dying) about a year and a half ago, and the rest about a year ago. I haven't made much progress in the hobby yet, which made me embarrassed to post anything here.

After gathering up my courage, I've decided to snap some pics and post them.

Currently, I have three bonsai: a Juniper, a Ficus (I'm not sure about its subspecies), and a Buddhist Pine (I think). I've tried following some YouTube videos on pruning and repotting, but I feel like I'm failing miserably at styling them.

Here are some pictures of my bonsai. I would greatly appreciate any advice on styling and caring for them. Thank you in advance!

 

[Attmos]

Hello everyone,

My name is Declay, and I'm from Singapore. I've been lurking around this forum for a few days because I was hesitant to post as I'm really new to bonsai growing. I bought my first bonsai (a Juniper - might be dying) about a year and a half ago, and the rest about a year ago. I haven't made much progress in the hobby yet, which made me embarrassed to post anything here.

After gathering up my courage, I've decided to snap some pics and post them.

Currently, I have three bonsai: a Juniper, a Ficus (I'm not sure about its subspecies), and a Buddhist Pine (I think). I've tried following some YouTube videos on pruning and repotting, but I feel like I'm failing miserably at styling them.

Here are some pictures of my bonsai. I would greatly appreciate any advice on styling and caring for them. Thank you in advance!

Nice to meet you, I'm Matt.

Wish I could help but I'm brand new to the hobby as well. Lots of very helpful people here though.

 

[gooeytek]

Welcome!

You're keeping these outdoors, right?

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Greetings and Welcome Aboard Declay!

A couple guidelines to help get statutes on the first two twos shown

- We generally style trees to keep the branches full of foliage. No long bare stretches. This requires pruning the tips back in an attempt to get the tree to bacbud in these spaces. Done consistently a good backbudding species will eventually fill the branches with growth.

- Sometimes one has to successively shorten a branch as new foliage appears inward of the branch tips until this occurs, then grow the bench out again. This is actually a good thing as the subsequent slow lengthening of the branch creates taper.

- one guideline we use in trees is each branch junction has only two branches forking out.. To do this we strategically prune back additional branches at a junction to create a fork.. both new branchlets come out at an angle from the main branch. Sometimes we use wire to help accomplish this.

- Wondering about the Juniper. It is definitely an outdoors species. The ficus can be kept both in and outside, but does best in areas of good light. Don’t know about the other tree.

- The Juniper does look like it is pretty well gone to a better place. If you wish to try a juniper again, and I highly encourage this as it’s a great tree to work with… buy one in nursery media and keep it in this mix for a year or two to ensure it stays healthy before moving to another mix. Do not wire, just prune over time… or “clip and grow” to style it.

- Then transition to whatever media is best used for bonsai in your area. Once transitioned, leave the tree alone except for clip and grow for a year. Then you can go in and wire it if it is needed.

Good Luck and please keep us posted.

Cheers
DSD sends

 

[rockm]

If all these trees are being kept inside in Singapore, that is likely one of your primary problems. The ficus is the only one that can tolerate indoor cultivation for any length of time. Indoor conditions are extremely harsh for plants. Low light, extremely low humidity if you're using air conditioning. No air circulation.

All you have would be healthier and better managed outdoor in a location that gets a lot of sun, but partial shade in the afternoon. If you don't have an outdoor location, you need high-efficiency supplemental lighting (not just a grow light) and a humidifier that can be effective in an entire room. Without such a set-up, the juniper and podocarpus are not going to do well at all. The juniper already looks like it may be dead.

 

[dbonsaiw]

Welcome aboard.

 

[declay]

Nice to meet you, I'm Matt.

Wish I could help but I'm brand new to the hobby as well. Lots of very helpful people here though.

Thank you for the warm welcome

 

[declay]

Welcome!

You're keeping these outdoors, right?

Hi gooeytek,

Unfortunately I don't. Living in a HDB. It's like a tenement. But i place my plants at a west facing window and j get like afternoon sun from 3-6ish?

 

[declay]

Greetings and Welcome Aboard Declay!

A couple guidelines to help get statutes on the first two twos shown

- We generally style trees to keep the branches full of foliage. No long bare stretches. This requires pruning the tips back in an attempt to get the tree to bacbud in these spaces. Done consistently a good backbudding species will eventually fill the branches with growth.

- Sometimes one has to successively shorten a branch as new foliage appears inward of the branch tips until this occurs, then grow the bench out again. This is actually a good thing as the subsequent slow lengthening of the branch creates taper.

- one guideline we use in trees is each branch junction has only two branches forking out.. To do this we strategically prune back additional branches at a junction to create a fork.. both new branchlets come out at an angle from the main branch. Sometimes we use wire to help accomplish this.

- Wondering about the Juniper. It is definitely an outdoors species. The ficus can be kept both in and outside, but does best in areas of good light. Don’t know about the other tree.

- The Juniper does look like it is pretty well gone to a better place. If you wish to try a juniper again, and I highly encourage this as it’s a great tree to work with… buy one in nursery media and keep it in this mix for a year or two to ensure it stays healthy before moving to another mix. Do not wire, just prune over time… or “clip and grow” to style it.

- Then transition to whatever media is best used for bonsai in your area. Once transitioned, leave the tree alone except for clip and grow for a year. Then you can go in and wire it if it is needed.

Good Luck and please keep us posted.

Cheers
DSD sends

Hello!

Thank you for the reply. Let me go read up about back budding and try it out!

Yea live in hdb (it's like a tenement) but I place my plants at a west facing window and get direct/partial sun from 3-6ish.

Would love to try another juniper. But since it's an outdoor plant I will refrain

 

[declay]

If all these trees are being kept inside in Singapore, that is likely one of your primary problems. The ficus is the only one that can tolerate indoor cultivation for any length of time. Indoor conditions are extremely harsh for plants. Low light, extremely low humidity if you're using air conditioning. No air circulation.

All you have would be healthier and better managed outdoor in a location that gets a lot of sun, but partial shade in the afternoon. If you don't have an outdoor location, you need high-efficiency supplemental lighting (not just a grow light) and a humidifier that can be effective in an entire room. Without such a set-up, the juniper and podocarpus are not going to do well at all. The juniper already looks like it may be dead.

Hi rockm

Yea all of them are kept inside and I know it's not ideal. However I'm moving to a new place at the end of the year and was kind a hoping to build a racking system as such. (Or any recommendations will be welcome) Will that be better for the plants?

Yea prolly gonna dispose of the juniper with an heavy heart as it was my first bonsai