My first bonsai!

[Perverockstar]

Hello everybody!

This is my first post. I was guided here by a Reditor.

I live in Sweden (Zone 7) and I do have some experience growing plants. Right now, besides some veggies, herbs and common house plants, I also grow different carnivorous plants as well as many different Orchids genera.

I’m buying myself my first trees, a couple of Acea palmatum (Arakawa and Katja).

I’m also considering a Picea pungens and a Pinus thunbergii. Thoughts on these?

I’ll have them on a south facing balcony.

What are the first tips you have for me? I guess the best time for potting them up as bonsai is in Spring. Maybe I only bonsai one or two before the other trees so I get the hang of it for the first year.

Opinions and suggestions?

I thank you all beforehand for all your help.

 

[darzuo]

Welcome! Great choices for trees, and it sounds like you have a good start for plant care in general. Bonsai has it's own learning curve, but this site is great for information. South facing balcony should be fine, I would suggest posting some photos of the trees when you get them and people can provide more suggestions. Spring would be the time to repot, but it may not be necessary, and in some cases, leaving them to grow in a larger pot could be beneficial depending on the stage of the trees.

 

[Perverockstar]

Welcome! Great choices for trees, and it sounds like you have a good start for plant care in general. Bonsai has it's own learning curve, but this site is great for information. South facing balcony should be fine, I would suggest posting some photos of the trees when you get them and people can provide more suggestions. Spring would be the time to repot, but it may not be necessary, and in some cases, leaving them to grow in a larger pot could be beneficial depending on the stage of the trees.

I will do that.

Thank you so much!

 

[minkes]

Welcome! Bonsai hobby is the best part of my life. “Finished” trees are beautiful, but for me the most exciting is to see the trees journey from humble, raw, bushy material and discover what is possible to achieve. I suggest you to search for bonsai before / after photos to get inspired what is possible. On this forum are many great examples and guys ready to help and show the right direction. Look for progression threads on this forum, some of the are worth gold. My favorite place to get inspired with progression series of trees becoming top quality bonsai when I started was also bonsai4me.com and Harry has great posts and books about it. There are also many great youtube channels about bonsai you could learn from.

Things I would start to learn in winter time:
When and how to repot
Modern bonsai substrates
Watering
Study progression threads
How to fertilize bonsai
Bonsai wiring and trimming
Sacrifice branches

 

[Perverockstar]

Welcome! Bonsai hobby is the best part of my life. “Finished” trees are beautiful, but for me the most exciting is to see the trees journey from humble, raw, bushy material and discover what is possible to achieve. I suggest you to search for bonsai before / after photos to get inspired what is possible. On this forum are many great examples and guys ready to help and show the right direction. Look for progression threads on this forum, some of the are worth gold. My favorite place to get inspired with progression series of trees becoming top quality bonsai when I started was also bonsai4me.com and Harry has great posts and books about it. There are also many great youtube channels about bonsai you could learn from.

Things I would start to learn in winter time:
When and how to repot
Modern bonsai substrates
Watering
Study progression threads
How to fertilize bonsai
Bonsai wiring and trimming
Sacrifice branches

Excellent!

Yes, I love plants for the journey and how constantly rewarding they are.

Thank you so much!

BTW, any of you have input on Hinoki Cypress? I read that requires some extra pruning so sunlight can reach inner/lower parts. Or maybe Balsam Fir. I have always loved conifers.

 

[Jrmcmich]

Hinoki are a cool tree. I picked up 1 and styled it this past August. Plan to repot in spring. There are some threads here (Hinoki madness) with some info. You have to work foliage back as they don’t back bud or at least not reliably so you are in right track for ensuring light gets into interior. Still learning myself on these so looking at thread is probably best.

Thread 'Hinoki maddness'

Jul 5, 2019

Lately there has been some interest in the Hinoki Cypress expressed in a number of threads. Personally I would like to see how many of us actually have these wonderful trees and what we have learned about them and what we are doing with them. If you all would be so kind as to post pictures and or videos I would be over-joyed to look at them.

Here are three examples of the tree I have been working with over the last three years.

• Vance Wood
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• Forum: General Discussion

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