Newbie Questions :P

Hey, welcome and kudos to you for doing what sounds like a fair amount of research before tackling that really crazy thing called bonsai, eh. You're a rarity, and I don't mean that in a bad way, eh. To me it seems obvious, (well, when my daughter slowly bounced over the curb in our initial learning how to drive, I knew right away using the brake wasn't obvious to her - but I digress) what to consider as a bonsai in your area. Ok, step out the door, and look at the trees, (oh, yeah, maybe he's in a grass land, I don't know???eh.) As has been mentioned by others, some of the native stock that survives there is what most bonsai-ers (-ists?) would try, eh. Oh, the eh, eh. Just trying to help you feel at home. Again, welcome to bnut.
 
Me and my twigs appreciate some mood lighting.....
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And I shower them with fancy gadgets.....
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Nothing like a whistle/thermometer to help "break the ice".......DSC00781.JPG
And make sure they enjoy some good Canadian music....
 
[QUOTE="LanceMac10,
[/QUOTE]
Man those look great i love the colours in that, im guessing ill start indoors if i can see something that catches my eye that i can throw out doors later i will definitely invest.
 
rockm said:
Amur maple is also considered an invasive pest in a growing number of states here in the U.S. It grows like a weed and takes over stretches of territory. Makes decent bonsai. I've been growing a bonsai forest of them for 15 years now.

Apparently, it's getting annoying to Canadian authorities also--so it might be a difficult find at more conscientious nurseries...

http://ottawa.ca/en/residents/water-and-environment/plants-and-animals/what-are-invasive-species
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funny tho since the maple leaf is on our flag :P
 
FWIW, indoors complicates everything in bonsai by a factor of five, from which species to use to how to water and everything in between.

"Outdoor" trees are vastly more forgiving and easier to handle than "indoor" trees, as you don't have to supplement lighting, air circulation, humidity, etc. All three of those are critical to healthy bonsai, all three are also vastly deficient inside a house (humidity levels inside a typical house are lower than a desert's. Typical lighting inside houses is also laughably too low for most tree species).

If you get an "indoor" species, get a ficus and get any tree you have inside the house outside 24/7 in late spring through mid-fall to keep them strong enough to withstand months indoors.
 
rockm said:
FWIW, indoors complicates everything in bonsai by a factor of five, from which species to use to how to water and everything in between.

"Outdoor" trees are vastly more forgiving and easier to handle than "indoor" trees, as you don't have to supplement lighting, air circulation, humidity, etc. All three of those are critical to healthy bonsai, all three are also vastly deficient inside a house (humidity levels inside a typical house are lower than a desert's. Typical lighting inside houses is also laughably too low for most tree species).

If you get an "indoor" species, get a ficus and get any tree you have inside the house outside 24/7 in late spring through mid-fall to keep them strong enough to withstand months indoors.
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Great info thank you very much for the information, if i do have on indoors i will do everything i could to help out like humidity tray as well as humidifier by the plant, our summers are usually pretty humid here in Alberta its our winters that are dry most homes run humidifiers ect.

if i need to run artificial light for the plant i will but would prefer not to ...in all honesty id probably do an aquarium build on an indoor plant i think they look beautiful and be easier to keep a light over top plus humidity up picture.jpg
 
Not the best situation for a tree either. It's been done, but with marginal results. Ask Redwood Ryan about what he does for his indoor trees. He's got some good approaches.

BTW, those humidity trays sold with pots (and any other humidity tray) is useless. Doesn't provide nearly enough. To get decent humidity indoors requires dedication of an entire closed room along with a decent humidifier.
 
lol so i cant use an aquarium to help with humidity and a light, i cant use a humidity tray I knew it was gonna be hard but now its just sounding like its impossible i will come up with something im not gonna let indoors stop me ..just gonna have to be creative and learn the hard way i guess lol. that and figure what i can plant outside
 
Get yourself a hygrometer or two for your growing areas. It will let you try different humidification methods and see what works and what doesn't. I am currently considering a few of the cheap water bottle topper humidifiers to see if they can boost things a little.
 
Ironbeaver said:
Get yourself a hygrometer or two for your growing areas. It will let you try different humidification methods and see what works and what doesn't. I am currently considering a few of the cheap water bottle topper humidifiers to see if they can boost things a little.
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Thats a great idea you can control the direction of the mist and they are powerful my friend uses one in their office works like a charm !
 
MattE said:
lol so i cant use an aquarium to help with humidity and a light, i cant use a humidity tray I knew it was gonna be hard but now its just sounding like its impossible i will come up with something im not gonna let indoors stop me ..just gonna have to be creative and learn the hard way i guess lol. that and figure what i can plant outside
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The bug to keep bonsai indoors is strong when you first start out. I had quite a collection of "indoor" trees 20 years ago. After having the more delicate ones croak and the tougher ones limp along for five years, I threw my hands up and dove into outdoor deciduous trees. I learned more about bonsai working on those outdoor trees in a year than I did working with indoor trees for five. I no longer had to work so hard just to get them healthy enough to work on...Just sayin...
 
[QUOTE="rockm, .[/QUOTE]

i completely understand what your saying and i know your wisdome when it comes to bonsai far surpasses my own ( i mean that with sincerity ) i just dont want to have to wait to start doing bonsai since im an apartment dweller. as soon as i have a yard i will be doing outdoor bonsai like no tomorrow lol
 
@rockm couldn't have said it better, absolutely about that bug. I think I spent about 2 years believing that bonsai can achieve greatness indoors. Not saying they can't but if you held a gun to my head demanding if this tree should be outdoors or indoors, out you go! go go go! I personally think the tokonoma (an alcove that are in traditional japanese homes that are used exclusively to display art and at times bonsai/plants) made me think else wise. I always saw plants and trees in the tokonoma in pictures and magazines and thought, yeah these grow indoors.
 
rockm said:
"Outdoor" trees are vastly more forgiving and easier to handle than "indoor" trees, as you don't have to supplement lighting, air circulation, humidity, etc. All three of those are critical to healthy bonsai, all three are also vastly deficient inside a house (humidity levels inside a typical house are lower than a desert's. Typical lighting inside houses is also laughably too low for most tree species).

If you get an "indoor" species, get a ficus and get any tree you have inside the house outside 24/7 in late spring through mid-fall to keep them strong enough to withstand months indoors.
Click to expand...

Great advice!

MattE said:
i completely understand what your saying and i know your wisdome when it comes to bonsai far surpasses my own ( i mean that with sincerity ) i just dont want to have to wait to start doing bonsai since im an apartment dweller. as soon as i have a yard i will be doing outdoor bonsai like no tomorrow lol
Click to expand...

I made an extra room a "plant" room to Winter a wide variety of plants - it actually as is has 6 different micro-climates and although far from complete holds a little over 50 plants. When they go outside in the Spring I am moving the Tortoise table and adding a lot more shelving and lighting to handle more. It really was not expensive - just started late and could not complete more work then the plants needed. In post #14 on this thread http://www.bonsainut.com/threads/plant-lighting-for-beginners.21116/ you can see how it works for now.

Grimmy
 
GrimLore said:
Great advice!



I made an extra room a "plant" room to Winter a wide variety of plants - it actually as is has 6 different micro-climates and although far from complete holds a little over 50 plants. When they go outside in the Spring I am moving the Tortoise table and adding a lot more shelving and lighting to handle more. It really was not expensive - just started late and could not complete more work then the plants needed. In post #14 on this thread http://www.bonsainut.com/threads/plant-lighting-for-beginners.21116/ you can see how it works for now.

Grimmy
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Thanks so much
 
LanceMac10 said:
Whadda' minute here, you didn't turn Thomas into a table, did you Grimmy?:eek:
Click to expand...

Cheers! And no way would harm the beast! The Wife acquired him as a rescue 9 years ago and he was no more then 1 1/2 inches wide. He is now 30+ pounds and will grow to 125+!!! The "table" is actually a box on cedar legs with a "trestle" to hold his timed lighting needs.

Grimmy
 
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