How do I begin to bonsify my walnut seedlings?
I sprouted 7 black walnut trees recently, they range in age from 2 weeks to 1 month. I want to make a couple of them into bonsais but I'm not sure when would be the best time to begin that process. I have read that walnuts need to establish themselves more before they are repotted so I'm not sure if they are too young now. Any advice is appreciated!
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rainbowgardener
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 25279
- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
- Location: TN/GA 7b
way too young, teeny babies. All you can do with them at this point is put them in big pots and let them grow for a few years. Small bonsai do not grow into big bonsai. Once you trim all its roots and put it in a little bonsai pot, its growth will be very stunted after that and to get it to look like an actual bonsai would be a labor of decades.
Walnut trees are actually not very well suited for bonsai. They have large compound leaves that can't be reduced much; their roots are also very coarse. So unless you are willing to grow the tree in the ground for say a decade, until it has a good thick trunk and then cut it down to be say three feet tall and make a bonsai that size, its features are going to look way out of proportion on a small bonsai.
I went looking to see if I could find an example of anyone doing a walnut tree bonsai and could not find a single one, which should tell you something.
Sorry to be discouraging, but better you should think about these things ahead of time, than to invest years of effort and be disappointed at the results.
If you are looking for a tree to bonsai that you can collect for free, my yard sprouts redbud seedlings like weeds. They are still not the easiest tree to bonsai, but much easier that the walnut and beautiful in bloom:
https://www.virtualdollhouse.net/Custome ... REDBUD.JPG
Junipers, maples, and oaks grow natively in Utah and all would be much easier to work with as bonsai.
Welcome to the Forum!!!
Walnut trees are actually not very well suited for bonsai. They have large compound leaves that can't be reduced much; their roots are also very coarse. So unless you are willing to grow the tree in the ground for say a decade, until it has a good thick trunk and then cut it down to be say three feet tall and make a bonsai that size, its features are going to look way out of proportion on a small bonsai.
I went looking to see if I could find an example of anyone doing a walnut tree bonsai and could not find a single one, which should tell you something.
Sorry to be discouraging, but better you should think about these things ahead of time, than to invest years of effort and be disappointed at the results.
If you are looking for a tree to bonsai that you can collect for free, my yard sprouts redbud seedlings like weeds. They are still not the easiest tree to bonsai, but much easier that the walnut and beautiful in bloom:
https://www.virtualdollhouse.net/Custome ... REDBUD.JPG
Junipers, maples, and oaks grow natively in Utah and all would be much easier to work with as bonsai.
Welcome to the Forum!!!
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rainbowgardener
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 25279
- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
- Location: TN/GA 7b
Thanks for coming back to respond, people don't always!
Even working with something like juniper, which is a classic bonsai tree, one of the most common, starting from seed is a slow way to go. Even if you are going to do that, in the meantime while you are waiting a few years for your seedling tree to get big enough to do anything with, think about getting yourself a nursery specimen. At the end of the season, many nurseries have sales and you can buy trees or shrubs in 2 gallon or 5 gallon pots very cheap.
Then you can start right away to learn and practice bonsai techniques, like visualizing what you might be able to do with this specimen, coming up with a design, cutting it down, maybe wiring branches, seeing how a live tree/ shrub responds to the changes you made, etc.
Even working with something like juniper, which is a classic bonsai tree, one of the most common, starting from seed is a slow way to go. Even if you are going to do that, in the meantime while you are waiting a few years for your seedling tree to get big enough to do anything with, think about getting yourself a nursery specimen. At the end of the season, many nurseries have sales and you can buy trees or shrubs in 2 gallon or 5 gallon pots very cheap.
Then you can start right away to learn and practice bonsai techniques, like visualizing what you might be able to do with this specimen, coming up with a design, cutting it down, maybe wiring branches, seeing how a live tree/ shrub responds to the changes you made, etc.