(Complete Beginner) Japanese Maple

[Bennyb]

G'day all,

I'm a complete beginner and learning as I go. I'll probably ask stupid questions and willing to cop the harsh comments and criticism.

So I bought the little Maple you see below from a local garden shop.

I'm in Maitland, NSW. Little Maple will live on a verandah under a portico facing North-East. Full morning sun, possibly some frost.

Ideally I want a super realistic tree, I picked this as it has a nice double trunk (IMO). Any ideas?

I'm learning a lot from forums, YouTube videos and googling. However, I'd like to hear some opinions from you fine people, and update progress here.

Thanks all!

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[shibui]

Welcome to Bonsai and to Ausbonsai. Don't worry too much about questions, stupid or otherwise. Most of us can remember being where you are now.

Just clarifying your location. You mention the tree is in Maitland but your profile says Lane Cove?

North East should be an ideal location for sun exposure. Under a portico may cause some issues, depending what the roof is and how the light penetrates.
Cold is no problem for a Japanese maple in Australia. Mine all have full winter exposure with night temps down to -4C.

Your tree will need water whenever the soil begins to dry out. Watering bonsai is a bit of a balancing act. Too dry and the tree can die. Too wet for long periods can also kill a bonsai. Each pot, each soil mix, each tree and each location will require different watering. Water requirements also change with time of year. The most accurate way to gauge when to water is to feel the soil - not just the surface which can be dry while deeper there's still lots of water. Some growers push a wooden skewer or chopstick deep into the pot and pull it out each day to check moisture deep in the root zone.
Watering twice a day in summer is not uncommon. I'm currently watering most of my trees once a day now that it's cooler and the days are shorter. During winter, natural rainfall can be enough for most trees - again depending on your local climate.

Bonsai also need fertiliser during the growing season. Regular watering leaches nutrients out of the small pots. Unless we fertilise regularly the trees can starve. Any plant fertiliser will be Ok for your bonsai.

Trim shoots as they grow. I usually let shoots grow to around 4-6 pairs of leaves then cut back to 1 or 2 pairs.
If we want certain areas of a bonsai to grow larger or thicker it's not uncommon to allow shoots to grow really long. That may be unsightly but a couple of years of untidy often pays off with many more years of better bonsai.

Not sure how you feel about the roots above ground on your bonsai. I'd prefer it to look a little more natural with roots just showing on the soil surface to indicate age and stability. There's a few possible options to change the roots here.

I'd prefer to leave shape of trunk and branches until the tree is bare. Hard to see where all the branches and trunks come from with leaves in the way now.

[Bennyb]

Welcome to Bonsai and to Ausbonsai. Don't worry too much about questions, stupid or otherwise. Most of us can remember being where you are now.

Just clarifying your location. You mention the tree is in Maitland but your profile says Lane Cove?

North East should be an ideal location for sun exposure. Under a portico may cause some issues, depending what the roof is and how the light penetrates.
Cold is no problem for a Japanese maple in Australia. Mine all have full winter exposure with night temps down to -4C.

Your tree will need water whenever the soil begins to dry out. Watering bonsai is a bit of a balancing act. Too dry and the tree can die. Too wet for long periods can also kill a bonsai. Each pot, each soil mix, each tree and each location will require different watering. Water requirements also change with time of year. The most accurate way to gauge when to water is to feel the soil - not just the surface which can be dry while deeper there's still lots of water. Some growers push a wooden skewer or chopstick deep into the pot and pull it out each day to check moisture deep in the root zone.
Watering twice a day in summer is not uncommon. I'm currently watering most of my trees once a day now that it's cooler and the days are shorter. During winter, natural rainfall can be enough for most trees - again depending on your local climate.

Bonsai also need fertiliser during the growing season. Regular watering leaches nutrients out of the small pots. Unless we fertilise regularly the trees can starve. Any plant fertiliser will be Ok for your bonsai.

Trim shoots as they grow. I usually let shoots grow to around 4-6 pairs of leaves then cut back to 1 or 2 pairs.
If we want certain areas of a bonsai to grow larger or thicker it's not uncommon to allow shoots to grow really long. That may be unsightly but a couple of years of untidy often pays off with many more years of better bonsai.

Not sure how you feel about the roots above ground on your bonsai. I'd prefer it to look a little more natural with roots just showing on the soil surface to indicate age and stability. There's a few possible options to change the roots here.

I'd prefer to leave shape of trunk and branches until the tree is bare. Hard to see where all the branches and trunks come from with leaves in the way now.

Thankyou for the welcome!

I think my partner set up an account years ago for a ficus she was gifted. Which was in Lane Cove. I'll have to change it, I'm in Maitland.

Portico is solid underside lined with FC sheeting, only 1.5m depth, so doesn't impede the sun much. It would be rare to get -4° here.

Copy on the water. It's quite warm here even still. Paddlepop is a great idea!

Fertiliser, granular? Or a seasol liquid? The growing season being Spring to Autumn?

Ok, I'm unsure of the trimming yet, more research needed for that.

I agree fully on the roots, I'd like it to look very natural.

I'll update once it drops leaves!

Thanks for your help.

Sent from my SM-S908E using Tapatalk

[shibui]

All fertilisers are made for plants and all bonsai are plants therefore any fertiliser will be OK for your bonsai.
Different types act slightly differently:
Liquid fertiliser is water soluble so quick acting. Roots can start absorbing it immediately. Being water soluble it also leaches out of the pot quicker so need to apply regularly.
Organic fertilisers are not immediately water soluble. They need to break down to release the nutrients in water soluble form so they are slower acting and tend to release nutrients over a month or more.
Slow release chemical 'compounded' fertilisers have been designed to release some nutrients each time they get wet. Nutrient release over time but can be unpredictable depending on water, soil, temp, etc.
Controlled release fertiliser (eg Osmocote) are much newer technology. Release small amounts of nutrients whenever the prills are wet. Nutrient release is controlled by the coating and is relatively predictable. Available in 3 month, 6 month, 12 month, etc release times.
Note that Seasol is not really a fertiliser. Check the bottle - sold as 'soil conditioner' because it has variable amounts of plant nutrients depending where the seaweed came from, time of year and processing. It is a good source of trace elements but should not be your primary fertiliser. Use in conjunction with another reliable complete fertiliser. Seasol company have recognised the shortcoming of the original product and now produce 'Power Feed' which has the seaweed for trace elements but also has added NPK to provide all necessary nutrients for plants.

Any of the above are suitable for bonsai. Advertising hype will try to convince you that one is better than others and some growers are convinced that some are better. I tend to use liquid for reliable quick action, organic for slow release and a slightly different spread of nutrients and controlled release for reliable, background nutrient supply for when I forget or get too busy to apply the others.

If all that's too confusing to make decisions just use any fertiliser because, when it comes to fertiliser, anything is way better than nothing.

At 1.5 m deep the portico sounds OK. Need to remember that trees are much more sensitive to light than we are. Your tree will definitely sense the different light levels on each side and tend to grow toward the open side where there's more light. Best practice is to rotate the tree every week or 2 so all sides get equal light.

Pruning is like a haircut. It all grows back and you get another chance.
New buds can grow from 'nodes' at the base of every leaf. New buds tend to form toward the ends of a branch so if you cut to leave long branches then new shoots will usually be near the end which may look odd in a bonsai. Cutting shorter gives better results for bonsai because new shoots will be closer to the trunk to create a bushier, more compact tree.
There are many nuances to achieve slightly different outcomes but no real need to worry. It's hard to do it 'wrong'.

[Trimmy]

That looks like one of those bonsai they sell at Bunnings. I bought a couple of those for fun. They aren't potted up very well. They glue the rocks on the top to stop them spilling in transit and the potting mix is poor quality. You may want to practice your repotting at the end of winter with it. There are plenty of videos on Youtube that show what to do. "Growing Bonsai by Jelle" has quite a few videos on developing maples.