Bonsaiguy
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knowing my Bonsai by name, really I'm not sure what I got

I am a novice and actually have a seed kit with a container, soil, seeds, and rocks. I have not started planting, but would like to know accouratly (sorry if I misspelled it) what kind it is. All I read was miniature elm and I'm...stumped! >xD really though, I don't know if there are certain types or what?

tomc
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BG starting from seed is an extreemly slow way to start.

"Bonsai Kits" Aren't nearly as easy a proposition as the kits directions sound. The seven to twenty year hiatus between germination and first styling, may get passed over in the directions.

Elm and zelkova do have slight botanical and heartyness differences.

Both are deciduous trees, more suited for spring time germination. Both will overwhelmingly need to live outdoors for as much of the time as their heartyness will tolerate.

You have a great deal of research in front of you.

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rainbowgardener
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RE I don't know if there are certain types or what

Bonsai is not a kind of plant. Bonsai is the art of growing and styling trees and woody plants to keep them miniature, but give them artistic forms, and make them look not like baby trees but like a scale model of a big old tree.

It can be done with (almost) any kind of woody plants, though some are better adapted for it than others. E.g. I doubt any one would try to make a bonsai out of the paw paw trees in my back yard, because the leaves are gigantic, would be all out of scale on an miniature tree.

When your "bonsai kit" says "miniature elm" it probably is a dwarf elm that if planted and left alone would never get as big as a traditional elm tree, but would turn into a regular tree (this website https://www.paghat.com/elm.html says their dwarf elm if not raised as a bonsai would get 6' tall and wide in the first 10 years).

But tom is right, starting from a seed, all you will be doing is growing out a seedling for a number of years until it gets to be even "pre-bonsai." And he is right that you can use those years for reading and learning about what you have gotten yourself into!

TomM
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Unless you are well experienced at seed propagation AND quite young you will not get any satisfaction from creating bonsai with this method. As noted above it will takes many years to see good results - decades.

My advice? First, read some good 'bonsai for beginners' books. Spend all of this winter doing this. These books can be found online, the usual bookstores and some libraries. Learn all you can about basic horticulture and how it relates to growing the best kinds of trees most suitable for you and where YOU live.

If the urge and interest are still with you in spring find a decent local nursery, with honest and helpful workers to get you started with stock material.

I hope you stick around and will develop your interest into a life-long passion.

tomc
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I am very fond of growing out trees in trays starting with seed or seedling trees.

I've been hooked on this for a while and fully expect that there will be trees I start in this way that I will never live to see graduate to a bonsai pot.

Please use these months to read and begin to collect soil components.

Tree seeds are full of things that Mike Dirr* describes as 'inhibitors', which make tree seeds germinate in the spring of the year during increasing sunlight. Don't bother to try and defeat these genetic means to ensure success in your new seedling trees growth.

If Dirr and us geezer bonsai lovers can't beat this game, you can't either.

* Mike Dirr writes books like Manual of Woody Landscape Plants.

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Gnome
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Bonsaiguy,

To all of this I will add that starting from seed is very much a numbers game. When I start from seeds I always start as may as I can collect even if this means thinning them later. You never know what kind of germination rate you will experience. After that, you will have losses due to various things, insects, rodents, birds, disease or any number of other pitfalls await.

After one year you will re-pot and root prune, at this time you can expect more casualties. Some seedlings just don't seem to "have it in them" and fail to thrive. After all that not all of your fledgling bonsai will be aesthetically suitable, some just don't seem to cooperate. I know it would seem that we are in control but that is not always the case.

What I'm saying is that a kit with a few seeds has the potential to be very disappointing. Grow your seeds if you wish but don't put all of your eggs into that particular basket. :wink:

Norm



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