Greetings from the Northland!

LifeTrekker

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My wife actually wants me to start a new hobby, so she gave me a beginning bonsai book for Christmas, and, well, here I am.

Actually, I have expressed interest in bonsai many times to her in the past, so this is really not much of a stretch. Plus I used to do planted aquariums years ago, so this seems right up my alley. Also, I love learning new things, and there is certainly a lot new for me to learn about bonsai.

Of course I was anxious to get started, so I picked up my first plant today in order to try my hand at bonsai, and get my fingers a little dirty. My local Home Depot had some small Japanese juniper for $15.00, so I picked what seemed like a logical candidate and brought it home.

It was all done up with a Christmas bow and ornaments, so of course those had to go first.

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Once I got the extra ornamentation out of the way, I could see a little better what I had to work with.

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The next step was to do a little cleaning up and trimming, and this is what I ended up with.

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Right now I'm thinking I'll train it in the cascade style, but we'll see what I think next spring after it starts to get some new growth and I've learned a bit more. Right now it's a tiny little thing, but I like the way it turned out.

In any case, I'm glad to be here and hope to learn lots in the future as I read the forums and puruse the threads.
 

AZbonsai

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Welcome to bnut. You have come to the right place. Many knowledgeable bonsai people here who are relatively friendly! :):). There is a lot of information here in the forums. Good luck on your tree. Might think about putting your location down. That way people in your area can give you some good advice.
 

LifeTrekker

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Welcome to bnut. You have come to the right place. Many knowledgeable bonsai people here who are relatively friendly! :):). There is a lot of information here in the forums. Good luck on your tree. Might think about putting your location down. That way people in your area can give you some good advice.

Thanks! I just updated my profile to include my location, which just happens to be the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. So yeah, the Northland.
 

AZbonsai

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We have some folks from that area I believe I am sure they may give you their greetings.
 

LifeTrekker

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We have some folks from that area I believe I am sure they may give you their greetings.

I have found the website for the Minnesota Bonsai Society, and have also visited the bonsai display at the Como Park Conservatory recently, so I could already tell there was a lot of activity in this area. In fact, a past visit to the conservatory is what sparked my original interest in bonsai as a potential future hobby.
 

sparklemotion

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Indeed! Welcome!

The MBS website is somewhat in flux right now, so it's not as useful as it could be.

If you can, plan on attending the 2018 Bonsai Basics classes, which will be monthly starting on the 3rd Tuesday of February, at St. Christopher's Church in Roseville. Technically, it's members only, but we won't tell. ;) There are also the novice workshops. They fill up really quickly, but I find them to be super valuable for the price (which includes a year of membership).

People will (rightly) tell you that your juniper needs to live outside. Since it didn't get a chance to acclimate to our, um...climate*... this winter, it should stay inside until spring. You should also probably stop messing with it -- it's not really the right time to work on junipers.

That being said as you learn more, you'll start to read the word "mallsai." Which is what you've got yourself there. There's a good chance it will die soon, through no fault of your own. Plan to put it in a larger pot come springtime.

If you really want to play with trees right now, I'd look at tropicals (assuming you've got a sufficiently bright spot in your house). Bachmans always has some ficuses (houseplants -- skip the things that they consider to be "bonsai." Mother Earth Gardens had some nice looking rosemary bushes (and some coffea arabica, which is my current obsession) a month or so back. They won't survive serious work (resist the urge to repot) but you could play with pruning and wiring a little.

In the meantime -- read the Beginner's Walkthrough on the reddit r/bonsai wiki: https://www.reddit.com/r/Bonsai/wiki/walkthrough, google David Crust (waves at @crust) to find some northern weirdo inspiration, and check out the resources on the MBS website and the MN Bonsai Network http://www.mnbonsainetwork.com/.

*it's cute when the zone 6 and 7 folks start wringing their hands about 10F lows. It's -1F right now, and I'm pretty sure we'll see double digits below zero before double digits above around here.
 

crust

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Ahhh Mallsi,
if you are serious about saving the little tree, which is tough and already may be beyond, its hope is best if you either find someone in the MN club with a non-freezing storage facility and see if they will slip it in. If you want to do it yourself, its hard in that what you want is an evenly cool not dry place, optimally just below 40, light helps but is not as big of a deal as the temp and humidity. Some people grow these under lights but it cannot make the transition now--you want it to become dormant. In the future, it could be wintered differently but for now, it needs dormancy, not for the soil to dry out, not for the soil to be too wet, then come spring, if it lives, transition it to more warmth and light, eventually to outside (unless you chose the path of the light-gardener).
 

LifeTrekker

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Thanks for the long post and all the detailed information Sparklemotion. I knew I had a lot to learn. Thanks for getting me started in the right direction.

So I guess my question right now is, what can I do to maximize the survival chances of my little "mallsai"? I do have a South facing window, so light shouldn't be an issue. I also realize that a complete repotting is not advisable at this time, but what about a partial repotting? What I'm thinking is of just replacing the surface rocks and other "decoration" with a suitable bonsai soil. Would this help or harm this little "mallsai"?
 

LifeTrekker

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Ahhh Mallsi,
if you are serious about saving the little tree, which is tough and already may be beyond, its hope is best if you either find someone in the MN club with a non-freezing storage facility and see if they will slip it in. If you want to do it yourself, its hard in that what you want is an evenly cool not dry place, optimally just below 40, light helps but is not as big of a deal as the temp and humidity. Some people grow these under lights but it cannot make the transition now--you want it to become dormant. In the future, it could be wintered differently but for now, it needs dormancy, not for the soil to dry out, not for the soil to be too wet, then come spring, if it lives, transition it to more warmth and light, eventually to outside (unless you chose the path of the light-gardener).

Well, as I said, I know I have a lot to learn. Right now I would just like to maximize this little tree's chances of survival.

If I were to go for dormancy, I don't really have a place where I can get to a consistent 40°F, but I do have a downstairs bedroom that is fairly cool in the winter and gets some sun, but it is in the mid to high 60°F range. Unfortunately, it's also very dry in the house this time of year. I suppose I could put this little "mallsai" in a tray of water, (but with the pot supported out of the water) in order to raise the humidity around it a bit.
 

crust

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taking off the rocks and surface gravel and replacing it with bonsai soil would not hurt and would make checking soil moisture levels easier--its not necessary though, you could just poke your finger in to check. Don't fiddle with roots.
 

crust

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One could make a plastic conservatory, keep it humid but not too humid. This would be a challenge but it may work to limp it through until spring. These things tend to turn into crunchies without reasonable humidity and a MN house is dry as the Sahara in the winter. Succulents and tropicals are easier to keep inside of a house.
 

LifeTrekker

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One could make a plastic conservatory, keep it humid but not too humid. This would be a challenge but it may work to limp it through until spring. These things tend to turn into crunchies without reasonable humidity and a MN house is dry as the Sahara in the winter. Succulents and tropicals are easier to keep inside of a house.

I do have an unused 20 gallon aquarium out in the shed that I could use. That would be faster than trying to build something out of plastic to keep the humidity levels elevated.
 

crust

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What you have is a Juniperus procumbens (Japanese garden juniper). It is a very tough and hardy species and well known for bonsai. It grows well and adapts to bonsai culture well. Most people grow them outside and let them become dormant and protect them in the winter in our climate. My procumbens, a gift years ago from my wife, is frozen solid at this time and at about 23 degrees F in my wintering facility. It grows outside during those few unfrozen days in MN.
 

crust

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I do have an unused 20 gallon aquarium out in the shed that I could use. That would be faster than trying to build something out of plastic to keep the humidity levels elevated.
Its all about what you can put up with. the bigger, the easier it is to maintain and keep even temps and humidity. This is not a for sure thing.
 
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