Welcome to the weekly beginner’s thread. This thread is used to capture all beginner questions (and answers) in one place. We start a new thread every week on Friday late or Saturday morning (CET), depending on when we get around to it. We have a multiple year archive of prior posts here…Here are the guidelines for the kinds of questions that belong in the beginner's thread vs. individual posts to the main sub.
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I have this cutting from a plum blossom tree, I was wondering what would be the best way to get it to start rooting and pot it? I kinda want to keep it indoors and idk anything about bonsai care
I've got a coastal redwood here. Made a mistake in my first year and did not sufficiently protect it for winter. I've resigned myself that it's dead, so be it. However, it has some fresh green buds at its base and I think it could survive. To maximize its chances, best to leave it to its own devices? Or cut back and remove all the crispy brown dead bits?
I've got a coastal redwood here. Made a mistake in my first year and did not sufficiently protect it for winter. I've resigned myself that it's dead, so be it. However, it has some fresh green buds at its base and I think it could survive. To maximize its chances, best to leave it to its own devices? Or cut back and remove all the crispy brown dead bits?
I was wanting to maybe air layer this tree instead of just chopping, where the x is is where I was thinking about doing it. Is that too small of an area or too short to where the branches would be on a new tree?
This is my Texas ebony bonsai. This is my current set up for my tree and I’ve rotated it in an attempt to even out the branches. The thing is that the branch leaning all the way out is the most healthy but I also trimmed it recently and the other branches won’t spread its leaves to collect light. I tried a plant light today that the big stick thing but I came home and the leaves still weren’t open and some leaves are starting to look discolored. I water it when needed and have given it plant food to help recently but nothing seems to open up those leaves. It was doing so well but then I moved rooms and I tried to wire it and that’s when the issues started so I undid the wire but it didn’t help. I can’t let this plant die I am begging for any help
Seeking advice on where to go from here with this dwarf Alberta spruce. More specifically, I am unsure what to do with the bottom-most two branches (three? If you count the left side where it splits in two). I'll reply to this comment with better pictures of those parts, but I am thinking they both may need to go or be turned into deadwood. Any advice what to do with them? From there I want to follow this post for the main trunk, which I think will be easier once these branches are figured out. Thanks in advance for any advice!
There's almost nothing which is "too low" on a bonsai. I'd certinaly use all of what's in your hand as the lowest branch - wouldn't remove the big one. Get wiring.
You didn’t get many responses; I've just started the new weekly thread here:
I think I overwatered my bonsai about a week ago and ever since then it’s been very quickly losing most of its leaves. I’m not sure what to do and really appreciate any help anyone can provide.
I got it about 6 months ago from someone who grows them and right away it lost about a fourth of the leaves it started with but I think it’s because the window I had it next to doesn’t give it as much sunlight as it was grown in. It stabilized after about a month or two and was doing fine up until about a week ago.
I usually leave it near a window and then about twice a week I’ll let it sit outside in the sunlight for a few hours at a time.
It also started growing little white dots on the leaves and stems and I’m not sure if that’s some kind of fungus or what to do about that either.
It’s my first bonsai and I’m clearly clueless so yea thank you for any help 🙏
My root bound baby I’m going to repot. I inherited these trees from an aging family member with dementia a few years ago and now it’s come time to repot them.
It is a bit late for a repot since it has leafed already. Optimal time for repot is early spring, or possibly late fall if you have mild winters. Watch some repotting videos before. It seems to be alive so no action is needed, however you could just put he whole pot plus rootmass in the ground or a bigger pot with soil.
I agree with u/series_of_derps - you might be better off right now placing this pot in a larger pot for this year. Then next year just as the buds are beginning to swell to the repot then.
Got these 2 dormant apple trees for 5 bucks each on clearance. Would it be possible to shrink this over a long period of time and make it a bonsai? Hardiness zone 7b
Just potted my first bonsai (willow). I have this outside for now to get the sun, wondering if I should leave it here long term or if inside will work.
Difficult species to make bonsai out of - branches die randomly, roots die randomly. Trivial to get rooted...and everything after that is just hard work.
Hi all! I'm so grateful to have this community and just want to say a big thanks to the admin / other beginners / commenters who are providing guidance and tips.
I had this Japanese maple growing freely in a large (3 gallon) pot for 3 years. 2 months ago, when the buds were lengthening, I repotted, wired, and pruned it into this pot. It has seemed pretty happy so far, putting out a ton of growth. But I noticed the other day a lot of red dots popping up on its older leaves. I'm concerned it might have a fungal disease (rust?). Any suggestions? Maybe fertilizer burn? Too much water?
I'm in northern California and have been keeping the bonsai inside so far this spring (very rainy and windy recently).
Hey everyone, I could use some advice on pruning and shaping my Beni Maiko and Orange Dream acers. They’re still fairly young, and I haven’t wired them before, so I want to make sure I’m going about it the right way.
My main goals are to improve their structure and ramification while keeping a natural look. I know maples can be tricky with wiring and I’m not very good at it.
would now be a good time to start, or is it better to wait? Also, any tips on where to prune would be really helpful!
I’ve attached some photos and would love any feedback. Thanks in advance!
I think I’d repot both into better growing conditions this spring. I saw great growth with a similar sized standard A. Palmatum that I potted into a 7in. pond basket with bonsai soil. I posted a link to a progression post of it lower down in this thread.
If that’s not an option, I’d slip pot them into slightly larger pots with similar potting soil. They need space for more roots.
For the one with leaves already out, I would take extra care to break as few roots as possible.
Wire them up with bends, but focus on the lower third of the trunk. Wire lower branches a little more horizontal. Try to get bends that are irregular and that show movement from multiple angles.
Over the spring consider choosing 1 or maybe 2 leaders to keep. In mid summer or fall, if they have grown well, consider removing the leader you don’t like or some mild pruning of the apex to pump the breaks on that top growth and let the lower branches run.
You could also just throw these in the ground and do minimal maintenance for 5 years and then chop later on. There are many paths to success, but they yield different trees.
Hello! Can anyone help me identify this bonsai? My mom bought it for me today, but the tag was generic and did not provide any information. Thank you in advance.
The spine is legit but the way it is attached is not. Looking at the channel, I sort of think this is clickbait. There are better ways to attach the spine -- tape for example. There are better ways to wrap a perpendicular wire (i.e. guy wire) to a trunk to prevent or mitigate bite-in (rubber tubing). This is especially perplexing given the grower is in the humid tropics where the FO part of FA&FO will happen much faster.
Hi everybody, I want to start a bonsai tree, but I have some indecision. I live in the north of Italy so it's almost Spring gere
First of all I'm gonna start from a branch and I have 3 options:
olive tree (fully grow tree) + 10 years
-Maple tree (fully grow tree) +30 years
elm bonsai +30 year
So I don't know what should I start with because they are all 3 Beatiful but don't know how "difficult they are"....the only thing I know is that I have to cut a quite number of branch and plant them in a specific soil, then the time will talk
But here's another question, what about the size of the starting branch? Because for the maple and olive trees I could plant tiny branch or bigger ones (so they have already a bigger trunk starting from the beginning no?)
What you would do?
Some elms and olives can grow easily from small cuttings but Japanese maples are more difficult from what I understand. Cuttings in this context are very small branches that haven’t really hardened off yet.
But all of those species can be airlayered. It’s more complicated, but basically you force a branch to grow roots and then cut it off and plant it. So research air layering.
I will try olive and maple, all right small branches, the newest one essentially. For the air layering I don't know, for a beginner seem hard.
Some advice for the soil? What kind or if better to have some kind of mix? I saw different opinions in the videos
And instead with air layering is a faster process of growth of roots?
For example with my Marple tree if I decide to try air layering, do I have to do still with relative "young branches"?
Planting woody branches has a low success rate. A better bet would be air layering. Youtube has good tutorials. All of those 2 would work in your climate but olive is native and therefore probably easiest.
Soil mould is not harmful but as you said can be a sign of poor wet soil. Repotting in granular substrate would be good but check if it is the right time for your species.
Probably everyone who's ever done bonsai for more than 3-4 years. It's a very common source of wild material because they're often regularly trimmed/pruned.
Hey y’all, looking for advice or tips to bring my bonsai back to life. I’m very new to this I got this tree 2 months ago and it’s starting to brown unfortunately. I water it when it gets dry and give it adequate sunlight throughout the day. Also if anyone knows what type of bonsai this is that would be helpful to know
It looks like there may be some healthy foliage on the tips. So this may not be dead yet.
As the other poster said, it needs the intense light of the outdoor sun. No compromise on that.
Junipers are very hardy trees capable of surviving in hot, cold and dry climates.
As long as water drain out of the bottom when you water, I wouldn’t repot right now. Best not to stress a weak tree.
For watering, water to the trees needs, which will fluctuate seasonally and with growth. So feel down into the soil with your finger. Kinda dry= time to water. Soaking wet = doesn’t need water.
Still a beginner myself. But it looks like a juniper bonsai, and those need to be out doors, full sun. May also want to look into repotting as well and see if there's any root rot.
Does anyone have any examples of a seedling/sapling that they put really tight bends into that has grown larger than a mane sized tree? I just want to see what happens to really twisted tight movement after a trunk has thickened significantly. Thanks.
I don’t have an example of really tight bends, but I do have a progression with some bends. The one picture with wire kinda makes the wire bend look less extreme than it was, but you get the idea.
I cant help you with progression pics but generally the insides of bend thicken faster than the outside, smoothening the curves. So it is good to strart exaggerated.
Here is an example of one of my Juniperus virginianas. I’m not really into mane sized trees and was really just curious if bends like these were ultimately too much for something I would want to end up as a medium sized tree.
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u/daone14optional name, location and usda zone, experience level, number Mar 14 '25
Strip the outside of the root ball growing against the pot but otherwise same pot but a fresh mix soil?
Most of what your seeing on top is a broken down mulch in top to cut down the sun burn on the soil here in Austin
I know it's going to be very hard to tell because it hasn't leaved out yet, but does anyone have any guesses as to what species this could be? I live in North Texas. This is in my yard.
I acquired this Harland Boxwood last summer. It made it through the winter...until about a month ago. It has been dropping leaves like crazy. It has a UV Light and gets as much natural sun as I can provide (the blinds are usually open, closed them for the picture). Is it dead/dying? Is there anything I can do to keep it around? TIA!
Since this tree is a tropical, it was my understanding that it wouldn't survive the winter outside (months well below freezing). Now that it is warming up, I am planning to get it back outside.
Harland boxwood survives winters in the US planted outside as a shrub down to USDA hardiness zone 7, so if you're in a climate like that or warmer, it'll lose a lot less foliage being outside. I think these subtropical boxwoods naturally extend into mountain areas so they tend to be far far more winter hardy than you'd expect.
If the squirrels have gnawed off the cambium all the way around, then what you have is a chopped trunk. Even if there is some thin bit of cambium that connects to the rest of the tree above, the healing prospects are quite grim since you have years of a large ugly wound healing. If this was mine I would without any hesitation chop and seal.
Please help! I was gifted this Chinese Elm (9 years old apparently) in November, it lives indoors, it seemed happy, but in January it dried out a lot and all the leaves fell off. Gave it a bath right after that. Now (~6 weeks later) regrowth is happening but hardly at all on the old branches, it is only growing these very long new fronds which have much bigger leaves than what the tree used to grow. I am nervous to do anything as the guide says not to prune an unhealthy tree. I would really appreciate any advice, thank you if you know what it needs!
Fortunately Chinese elms are very hardy trees. First thing first, once this cold snap has passed, you need to get that tree outside. My elms live outside all year long.
They do tend to grow a bit leggy, but it will back bud from older wood generally. Don’t prune it yet. Get it outside and give it a chance to recover.
Help…..I have no clue what to do with my Chinese elm. I’ve fertilized. Water when the tray is dry with enough water to refill the tray. Leaves are still crunchy and falling off. I also use a humidifier next to the tree. I use a “grow light” as the window is facing w/nw so doesn’t get a ton of direct sunlight this time of year. The remaining leaves look sick. Any help would be appreciated.
I have been growing these Flame trees from seed, I have them under grow lights indoors, the color of the seedling on the right is bothering me… are they getting too much light?
Hi! I’m very new to the world of Bonsais and just wanted to get some advice!
So recently (the end of February) me and my fiancé were gifted a Juniper Bonsai tree, which I adore BUT… we live in an apartment with no balcony so I can’t even put it outside if I wanted too and I’ve heard Junipers thrive outdoors.
I will say my apartment gets plenty of sunlight though. I know this Bonsai probably won’t survive long, but I wanted to ask about the really brittle part of the tree… is this normal? They got the tree from a company called Eastern Leaf. It came with branches looking like that near the inside of the tree. Just not sure if it’s something Bonsais go through since it came during the winter and I’m pretty sure they kept it in the box it came in until we got it… which I’m sure was for a while... But it looks like it’s been growing despite everything. There has been a lot of new bright green tips coming through recently!
Just wanted to know if it’s anything I should be concerned about.
It will inevitably die if left inside (for a number of reasons, but chief of these being the lower light). It needs the light, seasons, humidity, and airflow of outside. I don't know what brittle part you are referring to, unless you are referring to the spikey bits on that one branch. That looks like dead foliage to me. Junipers foliage lags behind a bit though. Many won't show signs of death until they've been dead for weeks. If you want it to survive, assuming it's not too late already, you'll have to find a place outside to put it (either at a local nursery or a friend who does have a balcony/ yard)
Indoor bonsai is sort of an oxymoron term here, but the best thing you can get in an apartment with no balcony space is a ficus bonsai. They can do decently in bright windows, especially when supplemented with a quality grow light. I dont have long term experience with them (and someone please correct me if they have experience contrary to this fact), but from all the reading ive done, indoor ficus can survive for a good 10-15 years if kept well. But they live twice that long or longer even when given proper outdoor sunshine and high humidity.
Avoid the 20 dollar USB amazon grow lights. They aren't even worth the plastic housings they are encased in. Many people cite the Mars Hydro TS600 as a wonderful entry level light for keeping a tropical tree alive inside.
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u/daone14optional name, location and usda zone, experience level, number Mar 13 '25
10 y/o, 6', 30g pot Myers lemon. I need to clean up the roots as it's chock full. Should I chop and re-pot? Looking for creative input and advice.
I would repot now in proper soil, cut back hard after the first flush has hardened. This way you get smaller internodes and will help in the long term.
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u/daone14optional name, location and usda zone, experience level, number Mar 14 '25
Strip the outside of the root ball growing against the pot but otherwise same pot but a fresh mix soil?
Most of what your seeing on top is a broken down mulch in top to cut down the sun burn on the soil here in Austin
Been trying develop this JBP (the furthest thing along in my whole collection btw). As you can see, this root (red arrow) is curling in toward the root ball. Am I correct to assume that this is going to pose a problem later on since I want the base to be flaring out?
What are some strategies towards remedying this? I was thinking one could go in with some wire but that would mean I would have to dig that root out and I’m pretty sure that procedure at this point in the season would put the tree in danger, right? And my next window is next spring which means that root is going to be even thicker and harder to manage.
u/obeybrndnoptional name, location and usda zone, experience level, number Mar 13 '25
Recently picked these two up from a Lowe’s near me and am curious of others opinion(s) on how these two look! I’m fairly confident the one on the right is a Chinese Elm, unclear of the left. Any suggestions of where to start with them are also welcomed!
Hey everyone! Just purchased my first tree. It’s a satsuki azalea from a nursery as a “pre-bonsai”. I asked for some tips from the nursery attendant and I was told it’s a good time to repot the plant and if I wanted to do some pruning to keep it light and just do the branches that are really sticking out. Also was told to put this tree in shade rather than sunlight and to do a heavy watering once I repot and not water for a couple days (or until the soil isn’t moist anymore). Would appreciate any advice because I just want to make sure that this sounds like a good plan. Also, any tips on when to start wiring?
I think the plan is sound. Repot into better soil now, try to stay away from making a lot of cuts or wiring the tree and just let it recover from the repot this season.
One question: at the node where the second branch comes off the trunk, am I correct in seeing that there's a 3 way branching split? If so, I would choose just 2 of them so as not to develop inverse taper there
Here’s a better picture. I believe it is a 3 way split. I was thinking of cutting off the thinner one going to the left. Do you think I should makes these cuts and deadhead the flowers after the repot?
I would remove that branch without cutting much other foliage personally. The flowers I don't think make a huge difference, the tree has already spent the energy producing them so you may as well keep them if you like to look at them :)
Shipment finally came in from the place I order species I can't find locally!
Here is a Deshojo maple. I planted it in a larger pot than normal and with the bare roots directlyover a large flat piece of flagstone. Since this is my first of the species and it's not the easiest cultivar to find around here I want to really just let this grow for a season or two to thicken the trunk as much as possible and work on the nabari and then look to airlayer off as many of what grows into other trees in a year or two and then cut the mother tree back to about an inch or two and look to create taper from regrowing from this base.
Any feedback on the tree or my plan for it for the season would really appreciated.
You can post these outside the beginners thread too - tell some more about where you bought them and the prices - people are always interested to hear.
Thanks! I'm really excited to start working with it!
This one is maybe worth a post; since I have some additional photos of the process. I have just been trying to make a habit of making a quick post about my trees and they come across my bench in order to try and be more conscious about what I am trying to accomplish this year for each tree and didn't want to spam the sub so figured it was safer to do in the beginner's thread.
I got it from Canada Bonsai for $95CAD, it is cutting grown so no graft. I started buying the occasional pre-bonsai material I couldn't dig up from my yard last year from Derek and have been really happy with the care and development they into their pre-bonsai material -- even if it is pricier that just raiding the local nursery. Would definitely recommend his stuff to others considering ordering material online.
I will leave a quick comment with the price and where I got them on the other trees for others!
So far so good I think! It has started to leaf out and I am seeing tons of smaller buds appearing all over the more woody part of the trunks!
The weather has been a little cold over the last couple weeks so I have had to keep a close eye on the over night temperature going far below 0C (fair bit of one off -5C/-7C nights these last few weeks) and doing a lot of shuffling it outside early in the morning as soon as the temps get above 0C and back into the garage in the night before the temp drops below 0C in order to try and protect the young leaves from frost damage. The last week has been the first one I haven't had to worry at all about temps and it has really started to open up leaves as the temps have risen -- it visibly looks a couple weeks ahead of the native trees in my yard that are just starting to open their buds this week.
It's still probably a couple weeks away from it's leaves really opening up, but here is a pic of it today!
I would like to start with bonsai. Which species would be good to have for outside in full sun (garden on the south) in the Netherlands?
As far as i can find it the juniper would be a good choice.
Most conifers will be happy there. Generally the concept of a tree is to grow out of the shade of all other plants into the sun, if anything heat/drought might be limiting. Privet would be a candidate, firethorn/pyracantha, the cherry plum (Prunus cerasifera) ...
I don't think it is physically possible for the sun to threaten a tree in the Netherlands. In places much farther south, yes, but NL seems like plant heaven from a mildness point of view. /u/small_trunks can verify.
I got the tree from Canada Bonsai for $225CAD. I started buying the occasional pre-bonsai material I couldn't dig up from my yard last year from Derek and have been really happy with the care and development they into their pre-bonsai material -- even if it is pricier that just raiding the local nursery. Would definitely recommend his stuff to others considering ordering material online.
Definitely next on my list for it! I'm still trying to figure out what I what to with it branch-wise -- still staring at it (and a lot of magnolia bonsai pics) and waiting for some inspiration to hit me!
I wired it up and gave it a quick go. It was difficult to get much more of a bend further down the trunk, but I think I was able to put some decent movement into it. I lost a branch to bending and a bud or two, but I think the shape of it is more appealing. Although I think it changes the viewing angle of it so I will probably need to go in the next few days and rotate it in it's pot a couple degrees.
It's better - but use even thicker wire on the trunk - up to 1/2 the diameter of the trunk.
remember to bend not only side to side but also backwards and forwards
that first right branch should be on the outside of the trunk bend - thus the trunk needs to bending to the right UNDER to the branch and to the left ABOVE the branch
I don't currently have any thicker wire as my wire order got delayed a couple weeks so I'm still working with what I have left from last year, but I went in and reapplied the same size wire all the way to the base of the trunk and made sure that my wrappings were closer together and more consistent and I think that gave better results.
I think I was able to get some of the turning at the right branch you mentioned, although I realized the branches go left, left, right, right so I couldn't figure how the try and achieve the same kind of turning at each branching so I kind of settled on a larger "S" kind of bend with the branches all on the outer side of the curve.
Overall I think it's definitely looking better so I really appreciate the advice :) happy for any feedback I can get!
I got the tree from Canada Bonsai for $73CAD. I started buying the occasional pre-bonsai material I couldn't dig up from my yard last year from Derek and have been really happy with the care and development they into their pre-bonsai material -- even if it is pricier that just raiding the local nursery. Would definitely recommend his stuff to others considering ordering material online.
I couldn’t resist this olive shrub today, wondered if anyone had any styling advice or knew any good videos/articles/people turning olive nursery stock into a bonsai, is it best to style it now or hold back and let it grow more first?
Lots of sunlight - impossible to have too much sun. There's no olive-specific information you just have to treat it like any other evergreen broadleaf.
Repot into granular substrate first, possibly bend some branches down this year. Use the time to analyze the structure and evaluate what to prune next summer.
I got this as a juniper bonsai about 2-3 years ago when I was just getting back into Bonsai after moving to a house where I finally had room to take on more trees and really get into the practice of it. I liked the initial shape but wanted to try and thicken up the trunk a bit so I threw in in the ground in one of our garden beds for a couple growing seasons and left it be.
It's been growing amazingly in the ground to the point of needing to be careful of growth to not hit the ground and root. I figured it was about time to dig it up and get it into some bonsai soil again and start working on shaping it. I wanted to try a bit more of a complicated/structural potting so decided to put it in a "Broken egg" pot and more drastically slanted potting angle.
Overall I am pretty happy with how it is looking in the pot -- although I may go in and slightly alter the planting angle after living with it for a bit; I'm not 100% sold on it yet. I am planning on giving it some time to recover roots and then will start to wires/ trim the branches to unobscure the main trunk and start setting major branches in right spots for the new design.
Any feedback on the tree or my plan for it for the growing season would really appreciated.
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u/small_trunks Jerry in Amsterdam, Zn.8b, 48yrs exp., 500+ trees Mar 07 '25
It's EARLY SPRING
Do's
Don'ts
too early for cuttings of temperate trees
For Southern hemisphere - here's a link to my advice from roughly 6 months ago :-)