I dove right in and may have have hit a rock

[SneezingShelties]

So I watched a lot of Youtube videos and read 3 bonsai books, looked up as much info as I thought I could and then dove headlong into this obsession. In the past 2 months I have began the bonsai journeys of:
Juniper
Japanese maple (beni hime)
Azalea (Red bird)
Lantana
(and I want more!)

So turns out I didn't know as much as I thought I did. I only today found this forum and only a few weeks ago joined a similar resource on Facebook. I wired and pruned up my juniper about a month before repotting it. It looks like it's doing fine, I've noticed zero dieback and new foliage seems to be coming in nicely. The rest got repotted and wired almost immediately after acquisition. The azalea honestly had the most work done to it, vegetation and root pruning wise, but it seems the least unhappy about its new situation. Sure, some leaves have withered, the nearly open flower bud it had withered, but all the remaining leaves and buds are twisting to their new upwards positions and perking back up.

The maple had the LEAST amount of work done to it (after getting it out of it's nursery pot I barely cut any roots, it was still so small that it didn't need hardly any root-pruning to fit in the pot I chose for it), and NO branch/foliage trimming, and only minimal wiring of the main stem. I now know that I should have left it to grow up a bit in its nursery pot with minimal trimming this year, but wiring/training it alone would have been okay. It seems to be VERY unhappy with this treatment, as it has withered/dropped all it's minuscule leaves and no new ones have budded out yet. I figured this was normal and didn't get concerned until I went back to the nursery it came from and saw all its brethren happily leafing out and looking all happy. I have decided to just keep it moist, outside, and in decent bright light, and not touch it until further notice.

The lantana, well, it is featured in an "Indoor Bonsai for Beginners" book, and honestly I miss having indoor plants (I had to evict all my succulents a few years back because they got infested with ants and I am not about that life, they're not on my porch), so I decided to give it a try. Same treatment as the maple: fairly small root ball to begin with, minimal root pruning, minimal wiring (no major bends, and no breaks), and minimal foliage pruning (maybe 1/4 of foliage was removed, at most). The lantana appears to have fully died. All the leaves withered and fell off, and the stems seem stiffer than they were prior to wiring.

I'm sorry I don't have photos at the moment, but any advice is greatly welcomed! I've seen QUITE a bit of contradictory advice claiming to be ideal conditions for these species.

 

[Carol 83]

What work did you do to the Lantana? Curious because I have one coming in a few weeks from Zach Smith.

 

[SneezingShelties]

What work did you do to the Lantana? Curious because I have one coming in a few weeks from Zach Smith.

Not much. It was already a forked stem at the base and a trim the nursery did prior to my getting it. It already had one pretty slanted stem and one starting to zig and zag. If I can I'll try to upload a picture but I have to figure out how to get them off my phone and onto my computer for that, haha.

 

[Crawforde]

Don’t give up on the lantana, they are usually hard to kill, unless you want them to live and pamper them too much.
maybe talk trash at it and try to kill it, that is what seems to keep them alive here.
welcome to Bonsai!

 

[sorce]

Welcome to Crazy!

Sorce

 

[coachspinks]

Welcome!
Don't feel bad. You are making the same mistakes that everyone makes. Some advice-
It is hard to do bonsai if you don't have a good understanding of how plants grow. Learn this before trying to "work" your plants too much.
Also, I have found that without a fairly elaborate set-up, there are very, very few bonsai species that thrive indoors. It takes a fair amount of skill in doing this.
For now I would focus on species that do well naturally in your area.
Good luck! You are in the right place for good information. Stay away from the fb groups. I have found there are only a few really knowledgable bonsai enthusiasts who post there.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Shasta County California, should be "cool" enough that Japanese maples should do well. JM are forest understory trees, and thrive in a humid, mild temperate forest setting with dappled sun-shade all day. Key is they dislike low humidity combined with intense sunlight. They do well in part shade to full shade in periods of high summer heat. Maples are a bit "delicate" especially the 'Hime' types. 'Hime' in Japanese horticulture is used to denote dwarf or miniature habit. I believe it means Princess, but I do not speak Japanese so its connotations in different contexts I do not know.

I've killed a fair number of maples. Don't feel bad, it happens, it is a steep learning curve. Some failures I can explain, some I can not even with 40 years of experience.

 

[MrWunderful]

I am located near you and my climate is a touch more mild.

I can only speak to maples, but I do have quite a few different varieties. I repotted mine in early January, and generally only wire mid summer or fall.

Since I dont get a true winter I need to be careful about when they are worked, so I would extend that caution to you. I generally only “work” a maple once a year (either repot, chop, structural wire) unless its a vigorous Trident. You might get a true winter though and need to protect maples that have been repotted Once it gets under 32°.

Not sure how hot it gets in shasta (pretty hot I imagine) but I have my maples in a very wet mix- either 100% akadama, or 2:2:1:1 akadama/bark/pumice/lava.

Its also best to treat varietals like “beni-hime” with kid gloves as a beginner, because they can be more difficult. Good luck and enjoy.

 

[River's Edge]

So I watched a lot of Youtube videos and read 3 bonsai books, looked up as much info as I thought I could and then dove headlong into this obsession. In the past 2 months I have began the bonsai journeys of:
Juniper
Japanese maple (beni hime)
Azalea (Red bird)
Lantana
(and I want more!)

So turns out I didn't know as much as I thought I did. I only today found this forum and only a few weeks ago joined a similar resource on Facebook. I wired and pruned up my juniper about a month before repotting it. It looks like it's doing fine, I've noticed zero dieback and new foliage seems to be coming in nicely. The rest got repotted and wired almost immediately after acquisition. The azalea honestly had the most work done to it, vegetation and root pruning wise, but it seems the least unhappy about its new situation. Sure, some leaves have withered, the nearly open flower bud it had withered, but all the remaining leaves and buds are twisting to their new upwards positions and perking back up.

The maple had the LEAST amount of work done to it (after getting it out of it's nursery pot I barely cut any roots, it was still so small that it didn't need hardly any root-pruning to fit in the pot I chose for it), and NO branch/foliage trimming, and only minimal wiring of the main stem. I now know that I should have left it to grow up a bit in its nursery pot with minimal trimming this year, but wiring/training it alone would have been okay. It seems to be VERY unhappy with this treatment, as it has withered/dropped all it's minuscule leaves and no new ones have budded out yet. I figured this was normal and didn't get concerned until I went back to the nursery it came from and saw all its brethren happily leafing out and looking all happy. I have decided to just keep it moist, outside, and in decent bright light, and not touch it until further notice.

The lantana, well, it is featured in an "Indoor Bonsai for Beginners" book, and honestly I miss having indoor plants (I had to evict all my succulents a few years back because they got infested with ants and I am not about that life, they're not on my porch), so I decided to give it a try. Same treatment as the maple: fairly small root ball to begin with, minimal root pruning, minimal wiring (no major bends, and no breaks), and minimal foliage pruning (maybe 1/4 of foliage was removed, at most). The lantana appears to have fully died. All the leaves withered and fell off, and the stems seem stiffer than they were prior to wiring.

I'm sorry I don't have photos at the moment, but any advice is greatly welcomed! I've seen QUITE a bit of contradictory advice claiming to be ideal conditions for these species.

Early on spend some time determining what are desirable characteristics for Bonsai. Root formation, trunk size , branch arrangement, foliage appearance! Make a habit of going through nurseries, garden centers, bonsai collections and trying to decide which are the best candidates for Bonsai and why. This will help you to focus your efforts on material that will give you the best results as you grow in the hobby! Pay particular attention to native trees and shrubs that are available locally as well as the usual suspects.
Many beginners spend a lot of time on little sticks and pretty pots, before they discover the beauty of the key elements of Bonsai. A great starting point is checking out the judging formats used to evaluate Bonsai and the noted differences between species.

 

[erich_raudebaugh]

I don't know if your trees were indoors for any amount of time, but if so that may have been what did them in. Stick with outdoor species to start with, they are much easier. Even after 30 years doing bonsai, I will usually let a new tree, especially a new species to me, just grow for a year or two to see how much light and water it needs in my yard. Before working a tree it helps to let it grow strongly for a year anyway.

Like others have said, before you move trees to small bonsai pots, just learn how to care for them in their nursery pots. Another thing you can do is work them gradually, moving them to training pots first, like large mica or terracotta, and just removing a few branches instead of trying to achieve the ultimate design all at once.

 

[just.wing.it]

I love Lantana, they're sold as annuals here.
I should try one!

Welcome to the Nut House!

 

[SneezingShelties]

Shasta County California, should be "cool" enough that Japanese maples should do well. JM are forest understory trees, and thrive in a humid, mild temperate forest setting with dappled sun-shade all day. Key is they dislike low humidity combined with intense sunlight. They do well in part shade to full shade in periods of high summer heat. Maples are a bit "delicate" especially the 'Hime' types. 'Hime' in Japanese horticulture is used to denote dwarf or miniature habit. I believe it means Princess, but I do not speak Japanese so its connotations in different contexts I do not know.

I've killed a fair number of maples. Don't feel bad, it happens, it is a steep learning curve. Some failures I can explain, some I can not even with 40 years of experience.

"cool" enough for now. It gets well over 100°F for weeks at a time here in the summer. Northern California with a Central Californian summer is a more accurate climate. The humidity will be difficult outside, as it's regularly within single digits in the summer. That said, I see plenty of large tree-size Japanese maples as landscape plants here, outdoor year round and they survive, so I know it's possible!

 

[SneezingShelties]

I don't know if your trees were indoors for any amount of time, but if so that may have been what did them in. Stick with outdoor species to start with, they are much easier. Even after 30 years doing bonsai, I will usually let a new tree, especially a new species to me, just grow for a year or two to see how much light and water it needs in my yard. Before working a tree it helps to let it grow strongly for a year anyway.

Like others have said, before you move trees to small bonsai pots, just learn how to care for them in their nursery pots. Another thing you can do is work them gradually, moving them to training pots first, like large mica or terracotta, and just removing a few branches instead of trying to achieve the ultimate design all at once.

They were all purchased from various amounts of shade at nurseries, but they were all originally outside. I've been moving the maple and lantana inside at nights when it gets below about 40, since the nurseries came from a slightly more mild climate south of me, I'm not sure any of them experienced freezing before.

Thanks for the advice, I am mostly confused because the maple didn't get trimmed at all and only wired to grow a little straighter, noting too dramatic or anything. I guess it's still in shock.

 

[SneezingShelties]

I am located near you and my climate is a touch more mild.

I can only speak to maples, but I do have quite a few different varieties. I repotted mine in early January, and generally only wire mid summer or fall.

Since I dont get a true winter I need to be careful about when they are worked, so I would extend that caution to you. I generally only “work” a maple once a year (either repot, chop, structural wire) unless its a vigorous Trident. You might get a true winter though and need to protect maples that have been repotted Once it gets under 32°.

Not sure how hot it gets in shasta (pretty hot I imagine) but I have my maples in a very wet mix- either 100% akadama, or 2:2:1:1 akadama/bark/pumice/lava.

Its also best to treat varietals like “beni-hime” with kid gloves as a beginner, because they can be more difficult. Good luck and enjoy.

I just bought the only bag of soil labeled "Bonsai Soil" at the nursery. I don't know it's specific mix but I know it's got bark and lava rocks in there... I forgot what else. It hasn't been too hot yet (40s at night, 65-70 in the day), but in the summer I expect it'll be over 100 for at least a week straight, if not more.

Thanks for the advice!