Newbies - want to share your trees?

[Clorgan]

You're golden!

Your apprehension is at a great level.

The best thing about a juniper, is they are not going to make you hurry at all!
Let a maple go too long and you'll have reverse taper and unfixable holes
Let a juniper go too long and you have some beautiful Deadwood to display, and maybe a bit more work for yourself, but they lose potential at the slowest rate!

I'm going to Repot 1-3 or mine that look just like that this year.
One equally healthy, and one certainly less healthy.

I'll be safe to do one the first full moon after the solstice, and one the next, so you can follow right along with the same actions if you like. Watch the first, then we can get yours did along side the second. A few days before the full moon of August.

I haven't lost a tree like this yet. So I'd even buy ya a new one of it failed!

Sorce

Ahh this is exactly the clear explanation I needed! I will trust your judgement! And obviously if it fails I can blame and insult you

That'd give me a good amount of time to sort a pot and soil mix - sounds like as good a plan as any.

Much gratitude as always - a people's hero you are!

 

[DBPooper]

Nursery Stock Crapemyrtle. I love them.
In possession a few days. Letting it grow, nothing done to it.
Just for fun and actually his tree. I may take a layer or cuttings.

 

[JoeR]

LOL, yeah an extremely tight budget for hobbies in this house. I also have a nice tea tin awaiting something to help it rust.
Really, the trunks on that elm were all several feet long to start. Trying to keep some foliage while it adapts to potted life.

I hear you on the budget brotha. Nothing wrong with that, just takes more time- but is also more gratifying. The most I have spent on a tree is $125, quite alot for me at the time. With another exception or two verything else has been less than $20, you can search my threads to find em.

I cringe when people show me their 'best trees', when they purchased nearly finished trees and have essentially just watered them. Thats not doing art, thats more like a museum curator occupation.

We budgeters are artists!! Lol

 

[JoeR]

Here are a couple of mine, moving around while I clean the deck for sealing.. little Japanese black pine, trio of Junipers I've been working on. The most literati of the juniper I got at a club sales last year, trying to add some movement to the branches. The Nana is new stock, looking for direction still

B

Second juniper is real nice!

Don't be afraid to really bend those branches on the other one. As long as the wires are anchored correctly, and the coils are more or less evenly spaced, you can really twist them up.

 

[Yamabudoudanshi]

I'll play.

I started playing with trees in 2019.

Various projects I have in the works in no particular order. Not all recent photos. I have some bigger/more promising trees too. I'll post them individually once they get some work done.

I'm up to 2 shinpaku, 2 white pines, 8 (and counting) J. larches, 1 satsuki, 2 J.maple seedlings, 30 trident seedlings, 15 or so mugo seedlings.

 

[ShadyStump]

I hear you on the budget brotha. Nothing wrong with that, just takes more time- but is also more gratifying. The most I have spent on a tree is $125, quite alot for me at the time. With another exception or two verything else has been less than $20, you can search my threads to find em.

I cringe when people show me their 'best trees', when they purchased nearly finished trees and have essentially just watered them. Thats not doing art, thats more like a museum curator occupation.

We budgeters are artists!! Lol

Man, I spent $40 on a pot I haven't used yet and that felt like a splurge. LOL
I figure when the ancient Chinese first started the practice they didn't have anything like the resources available now.

BTW, anyone else get annoyed with the conflation of the art of bonsai with the religious practice of Zen or other eastern phylosophies? And especially all the bonsai videos with mellow East Asian classical?
I don't know about you all, but when I get anew tree I hear Jet's "Are you gonna be my girl" and rock out.

 

[Cadillactaste]

Wish to thank you all for sharing, be proud, these document your first steps on your journey. Never forget your roots... <3

~Enjoy your journey...

 

[JoeR]

Man, I spent $40 on a pot I haven't used yet and that felt like a splurge. LOL
I figure when the ancient Chinese first started the practice they didn't have anything like the resources available now.

BTW, anyone else get annoyed with the conflation of the art of bonsai with the religious practice of Zen or other eastern phylosophies? And especially all the bonsai videos with mellow East Asian classical?
I don't know about you all, but when I get anew tree I hear Jet's "Are you gonna be my girl" and rock out.

They also had access to beautiful collected junipers that were more or less naturally created bonsai. That is supposedly how it started anyway, status symbol junipers. But, they certainly did not have the resources we have today thats for sure. It was a simpler time in the art no doubt.

I've only bought one real bonsai pot, back when niteowlstudios was active- definitely felt like a splurge to me too!

 

[canadianlights]

I'll join in! I have been doing bonsai for a bit longer than 6 months but have been trying to learn like crazy. I've definitely got the bonsai bug.

Here are some of my trees, please give me any advice and critique.

1. My favourite tree so far, my Jaboticaba bonsai. It however has a thin trunk and I heard they're slow to thicken. Where should I go from here? I plan on reducing the apex and pruning for more back budding since the foliage is only at the tips. Not sure of which direction this tree should head.

2. Another great tree, this one is a Hokkaido Chinese elm. I've been doing clip and grow, but I'm not sure how to further develop the pads to be in the ideal position. The nebari is wild, almost like an octopus, I'm not sure if I want to ground layer or to just keep it as gnarly as it is. The pot it is in is definitely not the pot its staying in. Any suggestions on pot shape/colour?

3. Here is a semi-cascade grewia, I'm letting it grow wild to enjoy the flowers before pruning. However, is it safe to prune while the tree is flowering, multiple sites say different things so I'm unsure.

4. Potentilla I got at a local nursery that I chopped down. Not sure where I want to head with this one, but I'm just letting it recover as of now. Does anyone have ideas of where to go with this one? Perhaps like the picture beside it?

5. Lastly, a ficus mallsai that I cut all of the tubers off and planted deep. My first "it is what it is" moment with bonsai, where I had almost no hope that it would survive, but happy to know it is growing like crazy! Planning on making a shohin with this but it is going to grow for a while. The ugly stump is where the graft used to be.


I'm loving this forum. Finally, somewhere I feel comfortable sharing my trees on this site lol.

 

[BajaKen]

[Installment 1 of 2] Okay, I'm going to jump in... I hope y'all are still interested. Partner decided to get some mail order brides... uh, plants, for the office. The Fukien Tea scared him off so he sent it home with me. From what we read it was not going to survive inside an office. It seemed healthy, and it was I guess, but within about 2 weeks at home, I started noticing what I determined were spider mites. It has been brutal on the tree with spraying soap insecticide, washing in the sink, but I'm happy to say the bugs are gone, new leaf growth, stems, blooms, and what seems to be overall good health. Phew! I do keep it inside, but right next to a generally open west-facing open sliding glass door, and it gets fairly often treats out on the patio for mostly indirect sun. I'm definitely new, but I've tried asking questions (generally unsuccessfully) and scared to do anything wrong so the Fukien is my constant companion! I only have a small patio, but in spite of that, I have already turned into a "Bonsai" Nut. Does anyone else feel the need to share what you are doing with everyone you know? (The second pic shows healthy growth.). More in the next installment.

 

[sorce]

Sorce

 

[ShadyStump]

I'm lovig this forum. Finally, somewhere I feel comfortable sharing my trees on this site lol.

IMHO, bonsai is all about ugly trees, and there's no such thing as a finished product.
Thanks for sharing!

 

[Clorgan]

Sorce

*Mic drop*

I loveeeee this. This video has the potential to have powerful effects with everyone here - the novices, masters and everyone in between. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Vali]

That thing is looking good to me! I collected a burning bush earlier this year. Made a post on it and got a few responses. Still haven’t decided when/where to chop.

The tree I posted here is the one I was talking about in the thread you started. I didn't go easy with it. It seems to be a very tough species in my garden

 

[Vali]

2. Another great tree, this one is a Hokkaido Chinese elm

That one is great. I really like the roots despite the fact that they break lots of rules

 

[Lumaca]

I've been scouring the site for care info for these pines. I've been growing herbs and bought some tree seeds when I spotted these seeds. We'll see how they do in the tropics. They say the best time to plant bonsai is 20 years ago right? These will be gifts for myself in 20 years!

4 Survivors from 5 Seedlings (out of 10 seeds). Was thinking that it might be time for them to go to a bigger pot.



Bonus lemon tree from a slice of lemon in my negroni, might decide to bonsai:

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

I think "noob" I think 1 year or less. Maybe 2 depending on your exposure to the hobby.

I don't consider myself a noob, I consider myself and "beginner "..... past the stage of noob, able to walk in a garden center and pass trees up, not feel compelled to buy something. Willing to still learn and accept criticism and advice without taking it personally.

I think 1. Noob 2. Beginner 3. Intermediate 4. Advanced 5. Elite 6. Smoke (lol just all in good fun)

But I know for sure @Wires_Guy_wires is definitely not a noob lol

That's very kind of you Jonathan, but the thing is: as soon as I lose a noob status, I lose my noob privileges. I'm quite fond of those.
I feel just fine playing in the sandbox eating dirt. Every bite is different and there are way more people to play with.
The reward is bigger too!

 

[bluecat]

Ive only recently been able to photograph my trees and have been using BonsaiDroid to start a record overtime.

I love collecting different species for a varied bench so have a good spread of species and am always on the look out for new cheap additions. I will be trying to start new development threads soon but I'd be the first to say most of them need work. Fortunately I should have about 50-60 more years in me to keep learning.

I fell in love with the Beni Chidori Acer and my wife said I could have it as a birthday present. It's had some heavy root pruning done due to rot and has a scar from branch removal higher up.

specific question: do branch scars heal better/faster with a single new branch nearby or do multiple branches help a wound heal over faster?

Feedback is always welcome, but I won't throw a tree away unless it dies. I might set it free and plant it out in nature though.

 

[sorce]

do branch scars heal better/faster with a single new branch nearby or do multiple branches help a wound heal over faster?

Traffic around the wound increases healing. Specifically, traffic starting before it, and ending after it.
A branch opposite a hole, won't do as much to heal the hole, as a branch later down on the same side as the hole.
Healing is only growing, just to the side. Same cells though.

Some trees are more "root to branch" than others. At least they say so, I doubt it, more accurately, some trees reroute sap flow more efficiently than others.

So if you have a trunk wound on a root and folaige shy side, it will heal slower than one full of both.

Point wounds to the sun!

Sorce

 

[Kanorin]

I’ll join in with a few of mine. Here I’ve got a “mallsai” ficus, an AP ‘Mikawa yatsabusa’ (practice wiring tree #2, won’t show the first), and a Japanese black pine.
Not shown: 2 azaleas that I recently killed, RIP.