New to Bonsai and this board

[Desertfish]

Ive been very interested in bonsai for a while now. I've been gardening since I was kid. So I can grow things...Bonsai is taking it to another leave completely. I've watched hundreds of hours on you tube and researched it for a while now. I felt it was time to get my hands dirty so to speak. I have been collecting a few trees for staring...I dug up some from my yard too. All in new pots getting ready. My first attempt is at a box store juniper.
This is where I started. After a lot of trimming and bending this is where I ended up. Still a long ways to go I know.
After that first picture I knew I need to do some more work.
Here is a side view...

Wow I have to say its hard taking a good pic with a camera phone...To me at least it looks a lot better then what I can shoot an image of. Here is my last attempt of taking a good pic of the tree.

 

[Stickroot]

Ive been very interested in bonsai for a while now. I've been gardening since I was kid. So I can grow things...Bonsai is taking it to another leave completely. I've watched hundreds of hours on you tube and researched it for a while now. I felt it was time to get my hands dirty so to speak. I have been collecting a few trees for staring...I dug up some from my yard too. All in new pots getting ready. My first attempt is at a box store juniper.View attachment 81773
This is where I started. After a lot of trimming and bending this is where I ended up. Still a long ways to go I know. View attachment 81772
After that first picture I knew I need to do some more work. View attachment 81774
Here is a side view...

Wow I have to say its hard taking a good pic with a camera phone...To me at least it looks a lot better then what I can shoot an image of. Here is my last attempt of taking a good pic of the tree.View attachment 81775

That Gelato ice cream is SOOOO GOOD!
I get in trouble for eating all the berries right away.

 

[Geo]

Welcome! Wow, a windswept. You know how to choose the difficult ones right off the bat! Don't know about that ice cream bucket though. I use anything at hand, myself. But that thing is transparent. Might not be to good for the rootage. Anyway, I like what you started doing with the tree. Others will no doubt chime in shortly. Easy as she goes.

George.

 

[Stickroot]

Welcome! Wow, a windswept. You know how to choose the difficult ones right off the bat! Don't know about that ice cream bucket though. I use anything at hand, myself. But that thing is transparent. Might not be to good for the rootage. Anyway, I like what you started doing with the tree. Others will no doubt chime in shortly. Easy as she goes.

George.

I agree, transparent, roots don't like light. Got drain holes?
I like the styling.

 

[Desertfish]

YES I Hear you.. I'm going to paint it black just didn't do it yet. I wanted to get one started..(in training).... It has drain holes and a wire tie down. Still short on Bosnia equipment...pots, wire, and so on... soon to come...

 

[Desertfish]

And the Gelato is so so Good and it seems the perfect size for the starting of a Shohin...once I finish painting them black.

 

[sorce]

And the Gelato is so so Good and it seeligtms the perfect size for the starting of a Shohin...once I finish painting the
m black.

Jewel ham containers used to be my go to!

Paint em white. Or your roots will vary in temp too much.
You really gotta put a lot of holes too.
The "light" thing is a myth.

Welcome to Crazy.

Sorce

 

[Cypress187]

That container will kill the tree if the bottom isn't completely perforated with holes.

 

[Desertfish]

yep I got it....new to Bonsia not Trees and plants....Dries out in one day.....

 

[carp]

this board sucks. welcome.

 

[aml1014]

I agree the light thing is a myth I have mimosas that will grow roots straight out of the pot up into the air lol tripped me out the first time I saw it.

 

[Adair M]

Desertfish, I had to chuckle to myself when I read your post. A windswept! Most beginners do a windswept as one of their first bonsai. I don't know why that is. It just is. Yours is actually one of the better attempts! Not too sure about that pot, though.

And now for the constructive criticism: when you choose material to work with, here are some things to consider: the trunk, the nebari, the branches, and the tree's general growth habit.

What struck me with your raw tree is how open and loose the foliage is. Generally speaking, we want materiel that produces tight and dense foliage. So that variety of juniper is not as suitable for bonsai as another variety might be. Actually, your choice of style, windswept, is a good choice for it since most windswept are open and loose!

One of the toughest things to learn in bonsai is how to pick raw material. This will come with experience.

So, why do we choose trees with tight and dense foliage? It's because they make a lot of little branches. With short internodes. As opposed to long spindly growth with few branches spaced far apart. It's easy to thin out the tight and dense. Not so easy to compact the open and loose.

Welcome to the hobby!

 

[Vance Wood]

Very well worded but not quite so sure how much of it was understandable, it is on that point we will need a bit of feed back from the OP.

 

[Adair M]

Very well worded but not quite so sure how much of it was understandable, it is on that point we will need a bit of feed back from the OP.

Hey, Vance! We've missed you. I sent a message to Frary asking if anything was wrong. Glad to hear there wasn't.

 

[jquast]

yep I got it....new to Bonsia not Trees and plants....Dries out in one day.....

I noticed that you are in the Bay Area. You should consider coming to the Midori Bonsai show on October 10th in San Jose. It is a great opportunity to see some great trees and talk to some really nice people. I've been a Midori member for about eight years now and it is a great club to learn at.

 

[Vance Wood]

Hey, Vance! We've missed you. I sent a message to Frary asking if anything was wrong. Glad to hear there wasn't.

I attended a 11th Cavalry reunion this summer and then toured as many of the civil war sites and Revolutionary war sites as we could reach in two weeks. I was in your neck of the woods but I had no way to get in touch mostly because I don't like to let people know I am not home. I visited the bonsai arboretum there and in DC. both were very good and inspiring.

 

[Smoke]

mostly because I don't like to let people know I am not home.

Cool, now I know when you are away from the boards, your not home. oops...

 

[Vance Wood]

My son is always there. He is over six foot tall and 250#. He is one of these people that can go bear hunting with a stick. Of course there are the times when I have so many honey-do projects that I do not have time to post.

 

[Desertfish]

thanks for your input Adair M. that is exactly what I'm looking for. That is the toughest thing for me right now. Finding the raw material. I have a million ideas going off in my head right now. Ive' potted a few trees, bigger older ones that will be a year before i even start anything with them. I wanted something to work on so I picked up a few junipers from the box store. (Juniperus chinensis) maybe not the best choice. But looking at the raw material it looked like something i could work with. I have a few bigger trees available that I'm going to do some air layering on. Maple, 3 types of oak, Ceder, and I have a bunch of redwood starts and black oak starts from seed. a few pines too. I'm working on my second juniper now will post it later today....Looking forward to the input...

Jquast........ Thanks for the invite. I know exactly where that is. I will come down and check it out. I'm also goinmg to sit in on the Palo Alto meeting on the 18th and the San Mateo meeting on the last wed of the month. jumping into water with both feet.

 

[Desertfish]

OK here is number two. I didn't take it out of the pot...trimmed it up and got some basic structure for me to work with in the future. This is a baby tree wanting to grow into an old timer...we all have to start somewhere.
the over all....

a couple of close ups....

I have an idea of this and where I want to take it....now we need some time.....