Help and and advice on these little guys be great!!!

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Happy I found a forum for this specificity. This is only my second day on this page and love the generosity and help you guys all give !! Been doing bonsai 3yrs now and came a long way. So figured I try my luck in other fields..... so the point of this post is these 2 little guys. Trying to keep them small and stay small. Can't really find much on the web about how to start them or keep continuous care for them. Only thing I found worthy enough was "if your going to keep in a small pot it's better to put into the small pot, then plant into a bigger pot, and as it grows trim roots growing out the bottom of the smaller pot"....but there has to be more to it. Any advice be great!!! Some back story on these little guys: the "Ficus" was a cutting that I put in peat moss, with one leaf and it took. When it took roots I put into this small pot/bigger pot and it's has continued to grow as you see. This is about 2 months like this.... The "Jap Maple" I was given this at this size about 3 weeks ago. I dug it out the small nursey pot it was in, fed the roots it had threw the hole of the smaller pot and let them grow free into the bigger pot..... everything happy, healthy, and doing good, But now what!!! Lol how to keep it going and staying small. I also tookpicture of the small pots I have them in. This pot is a size smaller then the ones there actually in, but it gives at a idea. So for the long post guys
 

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0soyoung

Imperial Masterpiece
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I keep my minis sitting on a bed of Turface filled humidity tray (I water the whole works) in shade. I'm sure other stuff such as coarse sand would do just as well to make an effective water reserve. I did not nest any inside a bigger pot, but probably should have this past winter as I lost an a. palmatum dissectum, a. platanoides, and a fothergilla that were in thumbnail sized pots. I also lost a walnut. It was in a larger 1 inch pot, but it was no big loss. Unlike all the others, the leaves stay full size! It was a bit of a laugh, though.
 
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I was told the low light is good to keep small, but not to dark or it will die. I keep them in a window sill behind a screen that gets dappled light because of huge tree branch in front of window. So you have you roots grow out the bottom of the pot and into water so they stay alive until your ready to prune them? Instead of them growing threw a hole in a small pot into a larger one? Thanks for the advice and taking ya time out to explain!! Would you happen to have any pictures you can upload so I can get a better idea of your setup?? Thanks
 

plant_dr

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A few things...First add your location to your profile page, it will help people give you advice pertinent to your growing zone, etc. I found out you are in New Jersey from another post but having it in your profile will be help others not have to search. Especially as your number of posts grows, that one will get harder to find.

Next thing. Where are you keeping these? I also read on your other thread that you've been doing bonsai for about three years so I'm sure you've got a grasp on indoor vs. outdoor trees. But just to be sure, the maple needs to be outside or it will suffer and eventually die. The ficus can be outside too until the weather turns cold. Then inside for him.

It's gonna be tricky with those guys in such small pots when the weather gets hot though- they will dry out super fast. Do you have a setup that can keep them moist throughout the day? Having them double potted as you do will help but still watch them very closely.

As for styling, what you do in that department depends on what your goals are for them. For the Acer if you would like to keep that thin, delicate, feminine look then keeping it in a smaller pot will help maintain that size. Eventually it will still grow and get thicker but that will help keep it small. Also you could wire the trunk and put some bends in it to make it more interesting.

If you want it to get a bit thicker trunk and build some taper with more branches in the canopy then you'll have to plant it in the ground or a much larger pot to get girth. Then you will chop the trunk back -then let it grow, and chop and grow until you get where you want to be with it.

With the ficus its essentially the same, you just have to decide where you want to go with it.
 
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Thanks for the info. Just changed my profile info. Yes I have came a long way with knowledge of bonsai and outdoors vs indoors. I'm a outdoor guy myself and have 3 shade cloth structures with about 50 trees. Shade cloth is needed for my only available location out back. Everything is thriving and well!! Also have a spare bedroom that I dedicate to my Tropicals during winter. High quality lights, fans, intake and exhaust fans, humidifier, etc... you name it I got it in there lol. Couldn't be for my 1st indoor winter grow I had 100% success with 15 trees.... a lot of researching and patients I believe is key and why I'm doing so well so soon.

So as for these 2 I keep them on a windowsill, right up close to the screen with dapple sunlight because of a tree branch that is in front of the window filters it. Seems like there really thriving and doing well. The Ficus in for sure trying to thicken trunk but not some much the height. It's also branching which I like. Same goes for the Acer, the height is good, but want to thicken the trunk a little with out letting it get to much taller. Also I like the acer to start branching out and showing some character. I would like both to have a broom like canopy. That's my opinion now, but we all know as a bonsai takes off and shapes we end up changing our mind a few times on what we would like lol. Thanks for the info man!
 
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