Caring for a Seedling

[Wyverngale]

Hello!

I just recently decided to look into bonsai after a stray oak tree sprouted in one of my containers a few weeks ago, so I'm obviously very new to all of this. I am pretty sure it's a red oak which I hear grow pretty fast.

I'm just wondering what I should be doing to care for this for the time being. I'll list below what information I have gathered, and I would love if someone could let me know if I'm going in the right direction!

From what I've seen, it's generally advised to just make sure it's growing nice and healthy for the first year or more. I shouldn't worry about pruning or anything of that nature while it's developing and I should just wait until it starts to mature and develop a thicker trunk with real bark. I should be growing it in a large enough pot for it to not become root bound.

Once the tree has matured (gotten a trunk with the thickness I'm looking for and has developed bark) I could start pruning it and consider potting it into a bonsai pot.

Is this all correct? Is there some crucial information I'm missing?

Thanks for any and all help!

Also, here's a picture of it for anyone curious.
I am not keeping it in the jar for long. It's just for now while I wait for a bigger pot to come in.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

I don't want to shatter your dreams, but I do want to make clear that developing an oak from an acorn will probably take you at least 15 years. I take 5-6 year old specimens from the woods, because it saves a lot of time.

First things first: there are no drainage holes in this pot. That's one of the things every pot needs.
Transparent pots are fine, roots don't mind light at all, but you can expect algae to grow in transparent containers pretty fast.

So for now, getting it in a large pot with decent soil (look on youtube for bonsai soil, they'll tell you all about it) and learning how to water it properly will be your first year goal. In the mean time, consider looking at some videos about nursery stock selection on youtube, Bonsai Mirai has a beginners series that pretty much covers the basics. Then get back to us again. I think you'll have a couple dozen answers, but even more questions by then.

Good luck!

 

[sorce]

Welcome to Crazy!

Sorce