new to bonsaI trees
Hi I was just wondering how you got into growing bonsai trees ive always thought they were cool but never knew how to grow one do they come in a seed or is there more involved.
Jared I don't want to sound like I'm picking on you, but there is a six hundred pound but in the room.
The but is: you need to take up enough to know what you don't know.
I would look around here for FAQ, and on every other bonsai forum you can find.
You are probably going to have to evoke (or relearn) 'how to forage'. There will be training tools your going to have to find. Soil components to collect. and have looked at a few thousand photos of trees in pots to work out where you want to go next.
I'll steal from Readers Digest: You are Joe, your first tree(s) are going to be Joe's bonsai.
Joe's bonsai was either collected locally, bought on impulse, or gifted to you on anothers impulse. Very often it does not come with instructions. Many times without so much as a varietal tag to describe it.
In order to succeed you will have to set aside the belief (that) you already know how to care for your tree in a tray. FAQ's will start you on the path of comparing what your tree shows and others say about its care.
The sooner you learn to use your tools of observation against others standard the better your tree will fare. In fact the people who stay with bonsai handle their trees at least daily. It is that handling that becomes the reward of bonsai. More than the tree itself.
Joe's bonsai may often be just a twig in a pot. The transition between that twig and something of Joe's imagining is fluid and takes a lifetime to realize.
Here that FAQ is spread out at: Learning Forum & Library I'd start at "Growing tips--read First", and spread out on that forum from there.
The but is: you need to take up enough to know what you don't know.
I would look around here for FAQ, and on every other bonsai forum you can find.
You are probably going to have to evoke (or relearn) 'how to forage'. There will be training tools your going to have to find. Soil components to collect. and have looked at a few thousand photos of trees in pots to work out where you want to go next.
I'll steal from Readers Digest: You are Joe, your first tree(s) are going to be Joe's bonsai.
Joe's bonsai was either collected locally, bought on impulse, or gifted to you on anothers impulse. Very often it does not come with instructions. Many times without so much as a varietal tag to describe it.
In order to succeed you will have to set aside the belief (that) you already know how to care for your tree in a tray. FAQ's will start you on the path of comparing what your tree shows and others say about its care.
The sooner you learn to use your tools of observation against others standard the better your tree will fare. In fact the people who stay with bonsai handle their trees at least daily. It is that handling that becomes the reward of bonsai. More than the tree itself.
Joe's bonsai may often be just a twig in a pot. The transition between that twig and something of Joe's imagining is fluid and takes a lifetime to realize.
Here that FAQ is spread out at: Learning Forum & Library I'd start at "Growing tips--read First", and spread out on that forum from there.
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rainbowgardener
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But no, starting from a seed is the worst way. They sell "bonsai kits" that are basically a tree seed or two, some soil and a little bonsai pot, maybe a little tool or something. Big rip off. You will have no use for the bonsai pot and tool for at least five years. All you will do at first is plant the tree seed in regular soil in a regular pot and wait and wait and wait and .... until the tree gets big enough and especially enough girth, to be able to do anything with. You can't grow it in the little bonsai pot, it will never get big enough that way.
As tom suggested how to get in to bonsai is 1) get a book and read enough about bonsai to have an idea of what you are talking about and getting yourself in to 2) get a tree/shrub to work on. This can be a commercial bonsai that you just start by learning how to maintain and not kill it and keep it shaped, it can be a "pre-bonsai" tree that you buy that is not in finished form but has had some preliminary training and shaping (e.g. https://wigertsbonsai.com/store/index.ph ... x&cPath=66 ) or it can be an ordinary tree or shrub that you aquire from a nursery, from your yard, or rescue and cut down. 3) after you have lived with your book and tree for a year or two and have an image of what you want your tree to become as a bonsai, get a couple of tools, some wire, etc and start working on it.
I have been reading about bonsai for years and am now finally trying my hand a little for the first time. I dug out a 4' tall burning bush shrub from one of my flower beds and am in the process of turning it in to a bonsai.
PS, looking back at your original post, I'm not sure if you really understand. You can't just grow a bonsai. Bonsai is the art of training any ordinary tree or shrub, shaping, pruning, directing its growth, and cutting it down to adapt it to life in a tiny pot. The idea is to create a small to tiny tree (or tree shaped shrub), that none the less looks natural, looks like a miniature of a full sized mature tree, like it might have survived the vicissitudes of years of nature, and is beautiful... It is a very slow and delicate art form, using materials that have their own will, so won't necessarily cooperate with your vision for them.
As tom suggested how to get in to bonsai is 1) get a book and read enough about bonsai to have an idea of what you are talking about and getting yourself in to 2) get a tree/shrub to work on. This can be a commercial bonsai that you just start by learning how to maintain and not kill it and keep it shaped, it can be a "pre-bonsai" tree that you buy that is not in finished form but has had some preliminary training and shaping (e.g. https://wigertsbonsai.com/store/index.ph ... x&cPath=66 ) or it can be an ordinary tree or shrub that you aquire from a nursery, from your yard, or rescue and cut down. 3) after you have lived with your book and tree for a year or two and have an image of what you want your tree to become as a bonsai, get a couple of tools, some wire, etc and start working on it.
I have been reading about bonsai for years and am now finally trying my hand a little for the first time. I dug out a 4' tall burning bush shrub from one of my flower beds and am in the process of turning it in to a bonsai.
PS, looking back at your original post, I'm not sure if you really understand. You can't just grow a bonsai. Bonsai is the art of training any ordinary tree or shrub, shaping, pruning, directing its growth, and cutting it down to adapt it to life in a tiny pot. The idea is to create a small to tiny tree (or tree shaped shrub), that none the less looks natural, looks like a miniature of a full sized mature tree, like it might have survived the vicissitudes of years of nature, and is beautiful... It is a very slow and delicate art form, using materials that have their own will, so won't necessarily cooperate with your vision for them.
Jared I fear what I have written sounds discouraging. It is not meant to be so.
The price of admission for 'Joe' to bonsai, is killing as few trees as he can.
How should you start? look for (as in forage for) a mature Japan maple. Late in May seedling volunteers should be germinating underneath the parent.
Ask permission and pluck out a few from the lawn they're in. Grow them to field or in bonsai soil for a period of years in your back yard.
Water and or handle them daily. repeat as needed.
The price of admission for 'Joe' to bonsai, is killing as few trees as he can.
How should you start? look for (as in forage for) a mature Japan maple. Late in May seedling volunteers should be germinating underneath the parent.
Ask permission and pluck out a few from the lawn they're in. Grow them to field or in bonsai soil for a period of years in your back yard.
Water and or handle them daily. repeat as needed.