AusBonsai

My girlfriend and I were looking to get some bonsai, when we went to see what we could find locally, there wasn't much to get, so we grabbed what was there and thought we'd see what some people with experience had to say about them, from what I understand they are young and not really bonsai at all, I'm wondering what I'm going to need to do to get them to that bonsai state? I've seen a lot of conflicting advice online, about the only thing i can gather for sure is that it will take some time.

In the meantime, I'm also wondering if there are any acceptable places to buy online for plants grown properly and at an age to start working on, since I don't think there is anywhere near by... If not I guess I'll have to look into the closest bonsai nursery.

I've uploaded some images to so you guys can see what I've got, left is a 'Juniperus Squamata Prostrata' and the one on the right is a 'Serissa' - Or so say the tags.



Juniper



Serissa



Any advice on either helping these little guys become bonsai, or where I can get some online, would be great, I'd really love to stick around and share my experience with you guys

Thanks,
AJ.

G'day AJ,

Welcome to the bonsai life. What you have there is commonly known as a bonsai starter. about a 1 year old plant that is of a species popular in, or suitable for bonsai culture. I'm sorry to tell you but I and most other members on here will have the same advice that you have already heard...

Those babies need to grow. If you want to get something happening really fast research mame bonsai... but these types of trees require a lot of experience to style and keep alive (generally).

Short answer: These are a long way from being bonsai. Again... if you're serious

If you want to buy a more advanced tree perhaps the best way online for us in Australia is to post an ad with a desire to buy a species you like in the trading and selling forum on Ausbonsai. Maybe someone will have something you like that they want to move on. Bonsai aesthetics are about personal taste (again, generally).

good luck with it guys

Thanks for the reply Ces.

Well, I intend on doing this for a long time, so I don't mind spending the time on these little ones. From what I read they should be planted in a larger pot or in the ground, I think its probably safer if I plant them in a bigger pot, but the one thing I can't seem to find much advice on is if its fine to re-pot these as soon as you bring them home?

Looks like I'll have to do some searching around about what sorts of soil are good for each of these.

And thanks for the tip about the trading and selling, looks like it might be where I'll have to get my first real bonsai

hey aj

welcome to aus bonsai

good choices on your first trees
if you are going to put them into bigger pots then you can do that safely anytime you want its called "slip potting"
just gently pull it out of it pot and into a bigger not disturbing the roots, make sure you give it a good water when your done
the ausbonsaiWIKI page https://www.ausbonsai.com.au/wiki/index. ... =Main_Page
is fantastic it will answer a lot of questions you may have
it helped me so much when i got my first bonsai

cheers
matt

Hi there AJ,

I’m in a similar situation to you, so maybe take my advice with a grain of salt (I welcome corrections ).

I think you’re on the right track researching online and moving them into bigger pots. Until you get your hands on some ideal bonsai soil, I suggest good quality well draining potting mix should be OK.
The idea of the bigger pot is to promote root development and expedite growth. Initially I recommend just keeping them alive and getting familiar with watering and feeding routine.

In the mean-time you could consider the finished height and style. This will then determine the general calliper and movement of the trunk. Once you have a rough idea, you will have a bit of a guide as to how much growth is needed.

..Or not, lol.

Regards,

evenings

I'm sure any local club would welcome a visitor with open arms--ausbonsai is good but for a beginner you can't beat face to face chat

Guy wrote:I'm sure any local club would welcome a visitor with open arms--ausbonsai is good but for a beginner you can't beat face to face chat

And the chance to see trees in the bark... you can look at lots of pics online or in books but nothing compares to the real thing

Thanks everyone, looks like I'll be getting some larger pots and some soil for these guys asap. How large do I let it get compared to how large I want it to be before I take them out of the larger pots?

Also, I did some searching and I found a bonsai nursery and club in one of the smaller towns not far from where i live, so I'll be going to check them out. Are these two guys I got a good sort to be looking for for a grown bonsai, or is there something a little easier that I should be looking for?

In my experience (which is zero! ), you should start reducing pot size once the trunk has progressed to where you want it.
Reducing the root mass to suit a smaller/shallower pot will in-turn reduce growth rate (which is ideal for bonsai).

This article is quite interesting and explains about trunks, taper and sacrifice branches. http://www.evergreengardenworks.com/trunks.htm

evenings wrote:In my experience (which is zero! ), you should start reducing pot size once the trunk has progressed to where you want it.
Reducing the root mass to suit a smaller/shallower pot will in-turn reduce growth rate (which is ideal for bonsai).

This article is quite interesting and explains about trunks, taper and sacrifice branches. http://www.evergreengardenworks.com/trunks.htm

Thanks a lot, I'll give it a read, should help me a lot.

Think I'll have to look into 'Shohin' as I think the smaller the better :p

Not sure if I should post this in a new thread or not. But I moved the small guys into bigger pots, tho not without some hassle, went out for the day and my dog decided the soil made for some good lunch, he didn't touch the trees much tho so I think once i potted them up again they were ok, but time will tell.

Went to get some more supplies and see if I could find a local Bonsai nursery, turns out there seems to be a club, the guys might even be members here so I'll keep an eye out.

But went to Bunnings for some pots, etc. and saw this larger Juniper, still don't think its quiet a bonsai, but it wasn't looking too healthy compared to the others, so I thought I'd bring it home and see if I could save it, thing is, I'm not exactly sure what to do :p

I read about pruning of the needles, I'm a little confused if you do this needle by needle, or if you pull out bunches/little branches at a time? Either way I uploaded some photos and thought you guys might be able to give me some advice and maybe tell me whats going on with the plant so I can better understand when and if this happens to future plants. And also maybe some tips to help the grow as quickly as possible.


All three sitting there.


Original Juniper moved to a larger pot.


Thats what he looks like inside tho? Do I remove the browner ones or can they still come back to life?


New guy!


Different angle.


As you can see, not looking healthy... How much do I remove?


Another shot of some of the brown stuff...

So guys, what should I be doing to this bigger one to make sure it doesn't die? Advice on that or anything else would be great!

Hey mate
And Welcome.

Where about are you living in nsw? if ya dont mind me asking?

Ill add my 2cents. The bigger pots is a good start, just let them grwo fro the year, see how the plant actually grows. For practice wise you could just tip prun the a tiny bit to see how they spring new shoots and where they do.
As the rest of the guys will suggest, get to a club, cause hands on teaching/face to face will be so much more beneficial. First time i went to a club meeting training a tree became so much more clearer. lol
Good luck, keep asking questions, and ask for links to threads if you cant find the specific answers. Maybe flick through the progression threads on this site?

Pat

Pat093 wrote:Hey mate
And Welcome.

Where about are you living in nsw? if ya dont mind me asking?

Ill add my 2cents. The bigger pots is a good start, just let them grwo fro the year, see how the plant actually grows. For practice wise you could just tip prun the a tiny bit to see how they spring new shoots and where they do.
As the rest of the guys will suggest, get to a club, cause hands on teaching/face to face will be so much more beneficial. First time i went to a club meeting training a tree became so much more clearer. lol
Good luck, keep asking questions, and ask for links to threads if you cant find the specific answers. Maybe flick through the progression threads on this site?

Pat

Thanks Pat, I'm living in Port Macquarie at the moment, I believe there is a club around after doing some research, but I'm not sure how popular it would be around here.

I think some face to face would really help me right now, the more I read the more questions I have!

Hi AJ and Welcome to Ausbonsai
The classic newbie questions and normal proression
Re you trees, they are called Starters and event the one iin the larger pot is stil a starter.
Check out thi wiki page https://www.ausbonsai.com.au/wiki/index.php?title=Newbie
and the links from it to get an idea of what to do.

another important page is this one What is a Bonsai https://www.ausbonsai.com.au/wiki/index.php?title=Bonsai

Both smaller trees will be fine in their pots just now you have to learn to water and keep them alive. that is you first task, and not as easy as it sounds
The larger one needs to recover but looks healthy enough I think
Give them seasol liquid feeds for till christmas then you can start to fertilise after then.

Get yourself along to the Port mac groups and see what they are up to. there is some great trees near you to get ideas from. https://www.ausbonsai.com.au/wiki/index. ... s_by_State .
check out the Recent comp thread and look at the final trees as to what Bonsai actually can be.
It would be well worth your while to make the trip down to Newcastle for one of there meetings to and get some ideas and skills.
It is really hard to do only from pictures tho

Ken

G'day Aj,

welcome to bonsai and Ausbonsai

As I have been told many times in the past few months, the search bar is your friend and so is the wiki, Im under 12 months old in bonsai have already killed a few trees and learnt from some mistakes still waiting to see how others pan out, I cant make my local club meets but have made a few friends on here and was privileged enough to go to the Newcastle bonsai show and see some REAL bonsai on display and have had a few chances to go talk with others and learnt a lot. mostly make sure your enjoying it ask lots of questions

Also research the species you have to know what they like don't let the 'Serissa' be out in really cold nights for example they tend to die after a while through a cold winter with out protection... one thing I learnt lol...another plants in pots need more watering than in the ground find out how much they like and try keep the soil how they like it their is heaps of this info on this site you just have to look

Cheers

J