New to the bonsai world

[KimL]

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Hi guys I'm pretty new to the world of growing bonsai

I started with a kit from bunnings, just a pine one got 5 seedlings on the go....

Just after some beginners advice so I don't cock it up

Here is a picture of my pine bonsai just sun and water at the moment so any advice will be greatly appreciated

[Bougy Fan]

Hi Kim and welcome. You definitely must have loads of patience to start with seed Make sure you fill out your location so you can receive advice relative to your climate. Enjoy the journey

[shibui]

So many start out with the idea that little trees must be started from seeds and kept small. The truth is far from that. keep an eye on the threads and see some of the ways others are doing it.
Your seedlings will be fine but probably won't be bonsai for 10-20 years.

Enjoy the journey.

[its_kano]

Go hunting for nursery stock. I am also new, 1 year in and have converted several plants this way and its a quicker approach if your keen to get something that resembles a bonsai relatively quick. I found a ficus growing in a gutter and that was perfect for pre bonsai material as roots were already sideways and shallow. I have even asked people to take air layering's or cuttings of their trees ie bougainvillea, Jacaranda, crepe myrtle which worked great. If you are in Sydney there is a good bonsai nursery that sell pre bonsai . Good luck have fun!

[Watto]

Welcome Kim and enjoy the fun.
You have done a good job with growing your seedlings, congrats. The advice given so far is all sound.

[KimL]

Cheers guy! Appreciate all the advice that's been given so far My location is geelong Victoria

I'll definitely find some established plants to bonsai in the meantime to get the practice in for my seedlings now

I know there's a lot of time and patience in growing bonsai from seeds but I feel like I'll appreciate them more once they establish more.... Even if it will take 10-20 years

Would love to see pictures of other people's bonsai and steps they took!

Knowledge is power!

[Joshua]

Hi Kim,

Welcome.
I'm completely new too, but not a very active forum person in general. I've got a few random things I've started from seed or cuttings. I will get some older plants too eventually but I'm happy for now to grow them just as plants for a while.
I found the ausbonsai wiki pages pretty good to get an overview of some things you need to know and some things that you'll need to research more into as you go.
There I found out that the first thing you'll do to your seedlings is potting them up after a year or two

Regards,
Joshua

[shibui]

Here's a couple of bonsai from seed for you Kim.

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I think the steps for that one were: Germinate seed, grow, transfer to larger container, grow, cut, root prune, transfer to a larger container, grow, cut, grow, cut, grow, air layer, grow, cut, grow, cut, root prune, grow, cut, root prune, transfer to a training pot, grow, cut, root prune, grow, cut, grow, cut, root prune, transfer to a bonsai pot, more grow, cut cycles and root pruning. That's all there is to it.

I actually bought this next one from a bonsai club sales table as a small sapling. It had a slightly different development: grow, cut, grow, cut, grow, cut, grow, graft new leader, grow, cut, grow, cut, root prune, grow, cut, transfer to bonsai pot, more grow, cut, root prune cycles cycles.

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Here's another Japanese maple. This one started as an air layer from a larger tree and development was along the lines of: Air layer, grow, root prune, transfer to poly fruit box grow container, grow, cut, grow, cut, root prune, grow, cut grow, cut root prune, grow, cut, grow, cut, root prune, grow, cut, grow, cut, root prune, transfer to training pot, grow, cut, grow, cut, root prune,grow, cut, grow, cut, root prune, transfer to bonsai pot followed by more grow and cut.

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The next one is a trident maple.

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It was made by planting 3 seedlings close together then grow, cut, transfer to a polystyrene fruit box, grow, cut, grow, cut, root prune, at one stage I realised the trunks were all in a straight line. A more experienced club member thought it would look better with another, smaller trunk toward the rear to add some depth and 3D to the arrangement so I approach grafted a new seedling at the rear. grow, cut, grow, cut, root prune, Not really sure when the rock was put into the arrangement. May have been much earlier, before I added the extra trunk but more grow, cut, grow, cut, root prune cycles then into a training pot to start refinement. Eventually into a bonsai pot follower by more grow, cut, grow, cut, root prune cycles.

I suppose I should have added some strategic wiring in among all that growing and pruning but you get the drift, nothing to it really

[MJL]

Welcome KimL and well done with your seedlings. And crumbs .... you bought out the best in Shibui - a fine set of seed progressions indeed!

[SquatJar]

Great trees Shibui. Approx how many years to get them to this point?

[juan73870]

Each time he's written the word "grow" equals one year

[KimL]

That's awesome shibui! You definitely have a good grasp on this art form I hope with time I can have some bonsai's as impressive as yours

Cheers for all the support people!

[SquatJar]

if thats the case most of these are 10-15years from seed, very impressive

[shibui]

I may have missed some 'grows' in a couple of those
The first JM is quite small, about 30 cm tall, but is one of the oldest in that group. I've probably had that one for 30 or more years.
The second JM is the youngest at around 20 years old and the last 2 are 20-30 years from seed.

You can get good trees reasonably quickly but it takes time to create really good branching and older looking trunks. Better skills and techniques speed up the processes. Some of my older trees have had wasted years because of lack of info or just plain bad management.

[KimL]

The branching and trunks are quite impressive shibui!

I just had a quick browse through your site is definitely like to purchase one of your pre bonsai in the near future!

I just purchased a pre bonsai shimpaku juniper but always open to more to learn with