Complete newbie

[Daisyblackthumb]

Hi, I have just bought a plant that the nursery told me would be a great start for bonsai, it is a Cham. L. Rimelaar, it stays small by nature but I would like to get it into a smaller dish, not sure , do I price the roots first or the foliage. Or let it grow awhile. I had books on bonsai but have been misplaced over the years .

[tomc]

Hi, I have just bought a plant that would be great for bonsai, it is a Cham. L. Rimelaar, .

I'm not clicking on the abreviations. BRB from Google-land.

Uh OK, Chamacyparis Lawsonia Rimpelaar; aka Lawson's cypress. It looks to be a fair bonsai candidate. it is alas a true conifer, and I tend to avoid them. So I am a bad critic.

So, you tell me why this looks like a good bonsai candidate to you.

[Demosouthpaw]

Hi, I have just bought a plant that the nursery told me would be a great start for bonsai, it is a Cham. L. Rimelaar, it stays small by nature but I would like to get it into a smaller dish, not sure , do I price the roots first or the foliage. Or let it grow awhile. I had books on bonsai but have been misplaced over the years .

Good evening OP,

Good rule of thumb if you are unsure, is to do some homework and see what practices pertain to your particular tree. With that being said, first things first you want to begin to remove some branches starting from the bottom up to get a better "feel" for your tree. In bonsai less is more so don't go crazy removing branches until you're absolutely sure. Once you have removed enough to see your trunk line, and decided on a design (sketching helps here) you can determine a pot. Once the pot is selected you can begin GRADUALLY root pruning. If in doubt just do about 1/8-1/4 of the root ball at a time, and let the tree regain its strength. This process can take years to accomplish safely. Your next step once the root mass is down to a size suitable for your pot is to pot it in the bonsai pot. Hope this helps.




-Jonathan