New to Bonsai and with 2 Oaks and a White Pine.

[ferrangel]

Well... i have been trying to enter into the bonsái since i had 22 that was 7 years ago. I had some "bonsái" but they were those made out of garden small plants that are not themselves trees.
Now i was able to find 2 oaks and and a mexican White pine. i transplanted them with success and now i want some help.

there is so much to do with these that i dont know where to begging.
the pine first.

its a mexican White pine or a pinus ayacahuitle.

it is showing some roots, thing that i want to take advantage of.
need to take the small grass out... i thought it would survive the sun exposure but i was mistaken.
the questions around the pine are:



1.- do i cut out all the small branches in the base? (i think i must)
2.- what would you suggest to style this pine... its curve since i havent put any wires on it.



about the oaks. i have 2. they are Quercus Potosina as far as i have been able to research.




they are some kind of native oak here in mexico...

the questions are:
1.- what style and modeling do you suggest.
2.-what branches do you suggest to cut out of them..

since i am beggining i'll take all opinions into consideration.

fer Rangel

 

[bonsai barry]

Welcome Furrangel to Bonsainut, I hope you gain a lot of information here.

I'm not too sure about the specific species you've selected since I have never grown them, but I have worked with quite a few pines and oaks.

There trees could have a lot of potential. They are still young looking (they need thicker trunks and mature branches). If you want the best results you could plant them in the ground and let them grow thicker that way. If you're unwilling to do that, keep them in a larger put and they will grow but slower than if they were in the ground.

The Pine: You asked about the lower branches. If they can be developed they could be a good thing. I would allow them to grow, one of them might even become the new trunk which means you would cut the current trunk just above the branch that is to become the new trunk. If you do this then you will have a much thicker base compared to rest of the tree, which is a good thing. If you want to keep the current trunk, they I would wire it to create even more bends and curves.

Oaks: The oak branches need to develop, I would suggest allowing they to grow a year and then consider wiring them.

Good luck and have fun.

 

[iant]

Welcome to the forum!
Do you have a photo of the base of the pine? Good roots are really important in choosing good starting material. You want to avoid starting with large crossing or underturned roots if you can avoid it.
I think the most important thing to decide from the beginning is whether or not you want to grow the tree out to get a thicker trunk at the base. The oaks will back bud nicely. So if you want a tree with a 2-3 inch base you'd want to grow it out and leave ALL the branches and just get the base thick and the roots in nice shape and then cut it back to 3-4 inches off the ground and grow the next segment. In that case you don't need to think about wiring branches or curves in the trunk.
If you'd rather get right to it and enter refinement stage then it's a much different story. You'll have a small trunk that will take a very long time to get thicker but you'll be able to do more style work now. Then you could wire, choose branches, etc. I'd just go with what looks good to you. If you want branch type advice here you're better off giving a more up close photo and asking people if they prefer A B or C. Oaks don't bend that well once the branches are a little thick. If you don't like the angle it's coming off the trunk you might consider cutting it back to a stub and letting it sprout at the base and using the new thinner shoot as your new branch.
That's a start anyway...
Ian

 

[ferrangel]

Roots and Oaks.

Hi there...

thanks a lot for the welcoming!!!
i hope to learn a lot, and hopefully i'll be able to make my bonsáis get amazing... even though right now they are just too far away.

by the way these 3 have been out already for at least 2 years and i havent seen so much growth.

The oaks are speccially hard to transplant these were my 4th try and they have survived... last time the oaks i took from the nature took 2 days to dry out. well at least here where i live that is just in the center part of Mexico... San Luis Potosi, its kind of desertic around and the Oaks are like 40 cm tall but the root goes for more than a meter down and in rocky ground. so taking them back to plant them i think i may do it but with other pre bonsáis... here are some closer photos of the trunks. by the way when i did the transplant form these oaks i cut the main root. so... this may help???

Oak1



Oak2


about the pine here are the roots...
i hope this are not the "large crossing or underturned roots" well... maybe they are... if they are... please advice me in how to manage them.




the grass stuff is gonna go soon, and the other many small branches i must decide...

thanks and i'll really appreciate your opinions, please continue!

fer