New Bonsai

[j smoov]

Hello
i am very happy to be part of the helpful gardener forums. I just received
a bonsai for my fathers day gift from my lovely wife. I have been interested since i seen them on Karate kid years ago and that interest was rekindled a couple of weeks ago when i seen a new bonsai stand at my local mall. Well my wife took notice of this and well i got my new bonsai. It is a San Jose Juniper. It is very cute. I did notice though today that it had that glue rock top portion that you mentioned and the tree moves with a gentle touch. And as cute as it is i noticed that on some of the branches the needles at the base of the branches have that brown look. Is this normal? Im kinda worried about it. The bonsai is from wal mart, not the bonsai stand i mentioned, and it was grown by Nurseryments Exchange,. INC. My wife and i are planning on going to our local nursury tomorrow to get a better bonsai pot and the soil that you talked about. Is this a good idea or not? Or is it better to take the bonsai back to exchange it for another?

[The Helpful Gardener]

Hi

Welcome to the world of bonsai; I hope your introduction is a happy one, but starting with a chain store bought plant makes it a bit more of a challenge. First of all no one in Japan would call your tree a bonsai for another 5 years or so. Bonsai are conditioned to the pot by both top and root pruning, watering, and fertilizing over a course of 7 years. What is sold as bonsai here in the States is usually a rooted cutting that gets planted in a pot, glued in, grown for a few months, and whisked from a green house setting into a box store (where watering is unlikely) to languish until someone buys it; I call it the purchase or perish cycle.

First remove the glued rocks (if you decide to keep it; I can't make that call. There's Momma's hurt feelin's, and the overall look and feel of the plant to consider; I'd give it a try if the buds are still green and growing). They are not helping and may be hurting the plant's ability to get water. Then examine the rooting. If it seems loose right down into the root ball then I'd return it; chances are they have just done a bad job of securing the root ball into the pot. If you find you've still got a plant, then head to the nursery and get the right stuff. While you're there, look at the bonsai they have. Lots more money, but with good reason. These are probably true bonsai with years of training and decent care given, and that can be the difference between failure and success.

Don't give up, but keep in mind that like most everywhere else, you get what you pay for. Buying over the Internet through sites like the links you find here is a better bet than any of the box stores; these are the people who produce them, so no middleman to add more damage (Brussel's Nursery, who you can find from our Amazon link, is generally thought of as one of the best nurseries in the U.S.!) Keep up the watering and and watch the site for new info on caring for your tree (and I still stand by the old info...)

Scott

[j smoov]

i appreciate your immediate response to my questions. Your site is by far the easiest on newbies like myself. I value that. And for starters i will change my name from new bonsai man to future bonsai man in training to show respect to the japanese and bonsai lovers who hold that name in high regard for the skilled. I have decided to keep the little tree, somewhat sentimental and respectful of the environment. I believe every living thing needs a chance at life. Thanks again for the info

[The Helpful Gardener]

We are trying to be here for everyone; newbies need love too!

Scott

[MitchMMiller]

Yea! I have wanted a bonsai ever since I saw Karate Kid also! Man, that was a long time ago! lol. I have like 5 now. 3 are regular(?) bonsai, and I don't know what the other 2 are. But I'm experienceing the same thing with the browning on mine. If you find anything out I'd like to know too! =]

-Mitch

[Marie1uk]

Hi there,

If you have access to a digital camera and wish to upload your photos so I can see and help you further I will be more than happy to offer my humble suggestions. I come from the UK so I have no concept of what a Wal-Mart -esque bonsai looks like. I'd like to use William's excellent walkthrough of uploading photos to a 3rd part website:

"Hi i posted the following on this site before , its a site i use to post pics in forums, you can follow the instructions below and post a picture of your tree for us all to see...................

First of all you need a digital picture of your tree stored upon your pc.
then
go to a web site called Exoload.com

This is a free file uploader,

Click on the browse button and this will allow you to select a file ( the image your trying to post) from your pc you may have to search around your pc to find the image your looking for.

once found simply select the image and it will appear in the browse box.

Then click on the upload button ( blue colour).

you will now see a number of coded links in boxes, Simply copy and paste the link from the box titled BB code to show image on forums and then paste onto a reply page on this forum.

then preview your reply and you should see an image of your tree.

Submit the reply complete with code and we will also see your image,
Just be careful to preview before you submit or you may have some embarrassing times ahead.

Oh and you can add text to your reply before you submit."

San Jose juniper can make excellent bonsai and many possess jins, deadwood, Uro's and extensive carving. If you have a very small plant which has the potential to be a Bonsai in a few years (Potensai) and also have a garden where the juniper can grow freely for a few seasons I would wait until what is classed as optimum planting time for planting containerised plants in your Hemisphere (Early spring?) and whack the plant in the ground to thicken up and get a branch system you can train into a Bonsai.

Hope this helps - best wishes, Marie