Best time to create bonsai forest uk

[Kipper10]

I have some young maple starter bonsai individually potted that I would like to make into a forest. Is it best to do this in autumn after leaf fall or in spring as buds break? Uk
I do have a conservatory I can use to protect from cold in winter.

 

[leatherback]

At leaf drop or at bud-break would both work.
Commen recommendation woul dbe spring.

Pick your poison:
The spring timeslot means the forest will be wobbly at first when the leaves come out untill new roots develop
The fall moment means you have to keep a wobbly forest stable over winter if the plants do not root well, with the added risk that fungal issues develop in cut roots

maybe of interest: https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/sapling-division-leatherback-maple-forest.47926/

 

[Shibui]

I prefer Spring because you'll likely need to remove considerable roots from some trees. First to fit them into a shallow pot but also to get some of your trunks closer together. Random spacing is one of the keys to getting a natural forest look. Some trunks should be almost touching to get that random spaced look.
For some reason we seem to have an unconscious bias to even spacing. Whenever I put groups together I find the trunks end up evenly spaced and have to make adjustments. Starting with trees in individual pots makes it even harder to get uneven spacing. You will likely need to cut all the roots off one side of a few of your trees to be able to plant a couple of them really close together.

You might get away with autumn planting but what's the point? Nothing will happen until Spring anyway so you're not really any further ahead but will have the added worry of overwintering newly repotted plants.

 

[Kipper10]

At leaf drop or at bud-break would both work.
Commen recommendation woul dbe spring.

Pick your poison:
The spring timeslot means the forest will be wobbly at first when the leaves come out untill new roots develop
The fall moment means you have to keep a wobbly forest stable over winter if the plants do not root well, with the added risk that fungal issues develop in cut roots

maybe of interest: https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/sapling-division-leatherback-maple-forest.47926/

Thank you for your reply, I think I will wait till spring but they are too tall should I reduce height when the leaves have fallen or do everything in the spring?

 

[Shibui]

Reduce height whenever you like. If you already know which will be placed where in the group you could trim all to final height but I tend to leave them all a little longer than needed and do the final trim after assembling the group so I can make the outside trunks a bit shorter than the inner trunks.

 

[Kipper10]

Thank you, I will wait until they are in place.