Acer "butterfly" can i bonsai this?

[Bonsainoob88]

Hi again everyone, 3rd post in 2 days sorry if I should of condensed into 1 post but i thought may be easier creating another thread to avoid confusion.

So i picked up this tree for £3 , it doesnt look in great shape and i probably havent helped it much with the substrate i used and I cant get hold of any with all this covid 19 situation .

I put the plant into a full pot of cheap compost about 2 weeks ago and it doesnt seem to have done anything . So I proceeded to mix compost with topsoil into pot pictured and that's where it is now.

Where do I go from here please help me I love these little acers and would like to get a nice little bonsai out of it one day.
So once again thanks to anyone who offers their wisdom p.s I will be sticking to 3 bonsai for now I dont want to push my luck on here ✌

 

[0soyoung]

A.p. 'Butterfly' does well (best?) in full sun.

Compost is not the best growing medium as it tends to compact and to have low air-filled porosity. You must be careful to wait until it has dried to the point it won't stick to your finger when poked and wiggled down under the surface. I use medium sized landscape bark and less than an equal amount of compost/potting-soil/garden-soil/dirt. But leave your tree as-is until next spring - you can change the soil 'when the buds swell'.

Being freshly potted, it won't seem to do anything at first because root damage is being repaired. Also, if you put it into a significantly larger pot that it was in previously, above ground growth will seem to be stalled until the roots have grown to populate the soil in this bigger container. Once they have, vigorous top growth will start/resume.

 

[Carol 83]

p.s I will be sticking to 3 bonsai for now

Good luck with that, once you've been bitten by the bonsai bug it's like eating potato chips. You always want another one or two..........

 

[Bonsainoob88]

Ok great I'll leave in pot till next spring and take from there . Hopefully it will stay alive till then ... plant is usually kept in a south facing position in an open space. however I took it round the shaded side of side of house earlier as I just repotted and it is a bit windy which I believe acers dont like, hence the darkness .

Yes I fear this may be an addiction growing

 

[HorseloverFat]

Yes I fear this may be an addiction growing

Your fears are valid. Once already here, it may be “too late”

You’ll try to hide it from people... but they’ll know...

*exhales*

One day at a time.

 

[sorce]

Seems a stretch to Bonsai that.

They say regular palmatum is best.

Each move away from that ups the difficulty I reckon. This one is far from regular.

I'd yard it.

Sorce

 

[Bonsainoob88]

Seems a stretch to Bonsai that.

They say regular palmatum is best.

Each move away from that ups the difficulty I reckon. This one is far from regular.

I'd yard it.

Sorce

When you say yard it , do you mean put it in the ground? Or the bin ?

 

[sorce]

Lol, I meant ground but I was thinking.....


Sorce

 

[Bonsainoob88]

My poor little plant