Indoor Beginner

[HorseloverFat]

I just read about cold stratification. Should I do that with the varieties I have - royal poinciana, rocky mountain pine, norway spruce, blue jacaranda, ficus and red maple. I found "yes" for red maple and "no" for ficus. What about the others?

Pines do alright with cold strat... and success has been had without.,

Spruces need cold strat...

Maples need cold strat..

Ficus from seed?... make SURE they’re fresh.. research seed distributors.. and STILL buy MANY..

This will help you understand what you’ll be expecting..

This is a 4 year-old spruce.

 

[The Ficus Guy]

Definitely agree with the above. Stick to Ficus indoors. The species you mentioned will die indoors. Heck, I wouldn't even try Chinese Elm or junipers indoors honestly.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

The box says lifetime guarantee. If they won't grow inside or out, I should be able to get more seeds for free and keep trying.

Ah yes, I know this one! You get a lifetime supply of free seeds, but the shipping costs are yours, see the fine print. And they'll be raised roughly 20 dollars or some kind of processing/service costs.
But to make sure the fault isn't on their end, they will need the damaged goods for inspection. So you can ship those to a place across the country out of your own wallet, and they'll get lost on their way or even better: blocked at the state border due to state plant safety & quarantine measures, and you'll get a fine for trying to send undocumented plants across those state borders without the paperwork.

There are no winners in that game except the sellers. I've seen these scams more than once.

 

[ShadyStump]

I just read about cold stratification. Should I do that with the varieties I have - royal poinciana, rocky mountain pine, norway spruce, blue jacaranda, ficus and red maple. I found "yes" for red maple and "no" for ficus. What about the others?

The spruce and pine, certainly. Ficus is generally a tropical/subtropical genus, so not necessary. Maple, most need it, or at least you'll get better germination rates. The others I have no experience of any sort with.
Best advice I have is research the native geography and climate of the species, and do what you can to replicate it within reason.

Full disclosure, I'm rather new to bonsai myself and NOT good at it, but not new to growing things in general.

 

[TinyArt]

This might help a bit --

680 Tree Fact Sheets: Trees by Scientific Name | Environmental Horticulture Department | College of Agricultural and Life Sciences | UF/IFAS

 

[Fuzzy]

10 days from initial sowing and 3 Royal Poinciana sprouts . Nothing else though . I know the RPs can't survive indoors forever. How long do I let them go before I move them outside and do I repot them when I do?

I have fig and red maple in the other pots.

 

[Forsoothe!]

Anything going from indoors to outdoors goes in several steps: bright shade, dappled sun, morning sun, more sun. A few days in each step works fine. Don't let little plants suffer drought which is a death sentence.