Advice for new guy please....

Graft

Shohin
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A ficus is an excellent choice for an indoor tolerant, and easy care plant to begin with. Be forewarned that by the time spring hits the bonsai bug will have you. One tree, one species is never enough. Have fun
True that. I started 6 months ago with 1 ginkgo and now have about 25 or so species!
 

Joe58

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Now I’ve a lot of reading to do. When to re-pot, and which sizes to use, fertilizer, trimming, etc.

Looking forward to it actually. I’ve already ordered another starter ficus kit from Bonsai Empire, and am watching a Mount Fuji Serissa on the auction site. They’ll need to be potted, trimmed, and wired. A lot to take in so I’m pretty sure I’ll screw up some. The first ficus I have coming looks as though it’s already been pretty much started towards a bonsai. In looks anyway. It’ll be here tomorrow.

I’ve been reading through threads here. Lots of great information.

Looking at photos, it really is incredible what folks are able to create. Wishing now I’d of looked into bonsai when I was younger. I really appreciate how helpful the members here are.
 

Mapleminx

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The first ficus I have coming looks as though it’s already been pretty much started towards a bonsai. In looks anyway. It’ll be here tomorrow.

Can’t wait to see it 🙂
 

Forsoothe!

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Avoid Serissa and Fukien Tea as a beginner. They are very picky and hard to keep.
 

Joe58

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Oh! Glad you toId me! Almost ordered it. I’ll pass on it then.

What beside a ginsing then would be good for a new guy? Indoors.

Would like a little variety to look at over winter.

Thank you!
 

smc

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Look at dwarf schefflera as well. Fuku bonsai has a lot of really nice ones (I have one in my apartment). I passed on ficus for indoor space because some species can cause allergies. Port Afra / elephant bush is also great. Can find many of them in nurseries and pretty easy to shape - see below an instagram page for inspiration.


I have spent far too long experimenting with the wrong type of trees with a NYC apartment (with bad results) and the above two species have done well by me. The money spent on grow lights was not worth it in hindsight for other species.
 

ShadyStump

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Dang....I can’t even screw up in the correct order....

:)

In the military, my supervisors loved to ask me why I was such a screw up. I always wished I could just answer with something like, "well, if I'm screwing EVERYTHING up then at least I know I'm screwing it up right."
 

Joe58

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Not great for bonsai tbh. They are more aertistic houseplants.

Elms are good starter trees. Note.. Best species are local to you, so you can keep them outdoors. Indoors is not great for trees.
Yeah, I gathered the ginsing is more houseplant than bonsai, but that’s ok. I can mess with it and it doesn’t make it, not too big of a deal. Some larger specimens are really expensive. I kinda want to sneak in on a budget to start off.
 

Michael P

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If you can grow outdoors year round, elms are a great beginner tree. Indoors they are much more difficult, with most species being impossible. Don't be tempted.
 

leatherback

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If you can grow outdoors year round, elms are a great beginner tree. Indoors they are much more difficult, with most species being impossible. Don't be tempted.
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Not many species that would not need any winter protection I would suspect!?
 

ShadyStump

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Also, this, @Joe58 ...


Great comfort and inspiration from other newbs, along with a healthy dose trolling and the humor to weather it. Popped up about the time a I joined Bnut, and I might have gotten discouraged if it wasn't for this thread.
 

Joe58

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Here is an elm list for Nebraska: https://greatplainsnursery.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Elms-for-Nebraska.pdf

Note that what bonsai people call Chinese elm, Ulmus parvifolia, is called lacebark on that list. In Nebraska I wouldn't try any of the dwarf or tiny leaved cultivars of the species without protection.
I’m assuming you mean to cultivate it over winter indoors till spring, and move it outside? That would be doable.
 

Bonsai Nut

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Now I’ve a lot of reading to do.

Welcome to the site!

Yes you should read. Yes you should consider joining a bonsai society. Yes you should consider watching online videos, and possibly signing up for online classes.

But first... look out your window. Bonsai is the art of keeping nature in a small form. It is to try to capture the beauty of a tree in nature, and to hold that impression and keep it in a pot. Look around where you live. What trees grow there naturally? What do they look like? Do you see any that speak to you of age... of struggling for survival... of being molded by the elements?

Any tree you see outside your window can be kept as a bonsai. More importantly, since they are already surviving Neb winters, they will survive them as bonsai trees. Take photos. Use them as inspiration to style your trees. Make your bonsai look like trees in nature. There is a misperception among some beginners that bonsai trees need to be a special type of tree... or that only some species can be kept as bonsai. Any tree can be kept as bonsai. In Nebraska there are plenty of good candidates. And be prepared to own at least 100 trees... and perhaps 200.
 

ShadyStump

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How come?

Mind you, I never would have gotten discouraged from bonsai. It's been an interest my whole life, and I had been killing trees for a year before joined Bnut. But I might have gotten discouraged from ever wanting to be a part of the "bonsai community," or ever pushing myself further than a fistful of experiments now and again.
I saw that thread and happily posted pics of my two new pines- also dead now- and the fistful of cutting I had made- half of which are also dead now- and all I thought the whole time was, "if some snooty bastard dares gripe about my awful trees, then I'm damned well gonna make sure I make me some wonderfully awful trees to stick his nose in."
That's right. I troll trolls, and this thread empowered me to do it to bonsai trolls even when I was fresh from the mulch pile.

Oh, and warm fuzzy inspirational stuff too. Whatever floats your bout.
 
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