Recent content by BonsaiPrelude

For any who haven't already seen it, I think my interview with Marco is worth a look. http://bonsaiprelude.wordpress.com/2014/06/07/artist-profile-a-bonsai-prelude-exclusive-interview-with-marco-invernizzi/

I really wouldn't recommend trunk chopping your maple. When I started I was eager to do exactly the same thing because I thought it would give me a nice tree with a big trunk quickly. It won't. I've very rarely seen a convincing trunk chop. Most of them still look like trunks with twigs. You can...

Based on the photo you posted I would stay off the water as long as I possibly could. Some of the trees I have are nursery stock and the soil is similar to yours (not ideal). Sometimes I can go a week without watering them. During the late fall and winter sometimes 10 days to 2 weeks. I've never...

If you have a little extra cash, the annual Brussel's Bonsai Rendezvous is well worth the trip. I live 10+ hours from Memphis where it is held, so I ended up flying in. Every June a collection of 5 or 6 internationally recognized bonsai artists come to the rendezvous for a 3-day weekend of...

Sorry, I should have included the link. I don't remember exactly which video goes over defoliation but all of his videos are an awesome resource so it's worth watching through them. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VbKcOcYctk

One facet of defoliation that has not been touched on yet is that defoliation is used most effectively as a means of balancing strength in the tree. The Strongest parts of the tree are the ones that grow the fastest and produce the longest shoots in the spring. Cutting these areas back...

Guaranteed too much water. They are very finicky as others have mentioned. If you over water them even a little the leaves will yellow and drop. Its funny but because of their size, inexpensiveness, and flowers they are a lot of people's first bonsai. This is unfortunate because everyone ends up...

Hello all, I just stumbled across this forum recently and decided to join. I have been doing bonsai for the last year and have done my best to collect as much info as I can along the way. I started a blog recently where I hope to answer for others many of the questions I had when I started...

Bonsai Prelude Hey Michael, Congratulations on your first trees. I think my blog may be useful to you or anyone else starting out. I haven't commented on styling yet, but I have listed a great number of sources for more information. http://bonsaiprelude.wordpress.com/ Thanks! And best...