New to Bonsai

[HorseloverFat]

Groovy Groovy! That foliage is super tight!

And also...Just keep out of direct sunlight for a bit after repotting.. seedlings are pretty tough, though.

About the helicopters...

If those JUST fell this season.. they had probably sat “high and dry” all winter...

Spring Samara collection is moist, but worth it.. dig down.. find some that dropped in the fall, and spent the winter in wet conditions...

Samaras from Fall will be already somewhat developed by now..

Here are the ones I paid the boys 5 cents a piece to find for me in our “backyard”.... look for little guys that look like this.. they’ll be all over!

 

[flamestepper]

So the helicopters just fell this year. I have thousands in my front yard. I searched and found 12 that were green. I planted two in each pot and you can see the first two I planed, about 6 days ago have started to sprout. The other ten were just planted this weekend. Most of the ones that fall either hit out driveway or if they landed in out front yard got chopped by the lawn mower. So I don't think I can find any that grew from over the winter but I will look today. I really want to grow a tree from a seed. My first seeds were from a Bonsai kit and I started them inside in the late summer and kept them inside all winter. They did not do too well and have all died, live and learn. I like how yours are coming along, very cool.

 

[HorseloverFat]

So the helicopters just fell this year. I have thousands in my front yard. I searched and found 12 that were green. I planted two in each pot and you can see the first two I planed, about 6 days ago have started to sprout. The other ten were just planted this weekend. Most of the ones that fall either hit out driveway or if they landed in out front yard got chopped by the lawn mower. So I don't think I can find any that grew from over the winter but I will look today. I really want to grow a tree from a seed. My first seeds were from a Bonsai kit and I started them inside in the late summer and kept them inside all winter. They did not do too well and have all died, live and learn. I like how yours are coming along, very cool.

Thank you!

That’s awesome that some of the more recent ones That fell by you are still green!

 

[Forsoothe!]

Undocumented helicopters bad. Too many bad species of Maple for bonsai are local and you need special. The trees in landscaping surrounding parking lots of commercial buildings have smaller, newer varieties and a good type of place to look for interesting species. Have a watchful eye this summer and look for trees that have leaves and habit that you like, and collect seeds from them in late summer and early autumn. The world is lousy with Japanese Maples and in a good year you can collect a few from many individuals. Zelcova are new to the US as a landscaping tree, but there are some out there, learn to be able to recognize them from your car. Some Crabapples are resistant to the several diseases that defoliate them by the end of summer. Pick some of the fruit from the one or two you find still looking good in September. Ditto for Hawthorne. Oaks are good, I like them all, but there is a new variety of English Oak that has a dwarf leaf that is newly available in the trade. Look for acorns beginning in August, you have to beat the squirrels and bugs to them. Many seeds and acorns look good but if they have a tiny hole, then they are occupied, so you have to look at the whole surface of everything. Later in the season they are all infested. There will be dominate native species in every area. Whatever that is in your area you will find saplings by the hundreds, or groves of trees that spread by runners, like Aspen. These are ready made for forests. There are a million opportunities wherever anyone lives, and the volume is good for learning the bonsai game. You will kill lots of trees while learning what not to do, might as do it with free trees!

 

[HorseloverFat]

Undocumented helicopters bad.

...but if the “helicopter hunter” lived in Asia, It’d be cool, right?

 

[flamestepper]

Undocumented helicopters bad. Too many bad species of Maple for bonsai are local and you need special. The trees in landscaping surrounding parking lots of commercial buildings have smaller, newer varieties and a good type of place to look for interesting species. Have a watchful eye this summer and look for trees that have leaves and habit that you like, and collect seeds from them in late summer and early autumn. The world is lousy with Japanese Maples and in a good year you can collect a few from many individuals. Zelcova are new to the US as a landscaping tree, but there are some out there, learn to be able to recognize them from your car. Some Crabapples are resistant to the several diseases that defoliate them by the end of summer. Pick some of the fruit from the one or two you find still looking good in September. Ditto for Hawthorne. Oaks are good, I like them all, but there is a new variety of English Oak that has a dwarf leaf that is newly available in the trade. Look for acorns beginning in August, you have to beat the squirrels and bugs to them. Many seeds and acorns look good but if they have a tiny hole, then they are occupied, so you have to look at the whole surface of everything. Later in the season they are all infested. There will be dominate native species in every area. Whatever that is in your area you will find saplings by the hundreds, or groves of trees that spread by runners, like Aspen. These are ready made for forests. There are a million opportunities wherever anyone lives, and the volume is good for learning the bonsai game. You will kill lots of trees while learning what not to do, might as do it with free trees!

Very good advice. The reason I choose the very close Maple seeds is that I spent 8 months on a Bonsai kit not knowing what I was doing and killed them. So using the free seeds in my yard to learn how to grow something seems like a good chance to learn.

 

[Forsoothe!]

An addition to the above: I like to plant seeds in flats of soil when gathered and leave them outdoors all winter in a caged area. Starting inside greatly limits volume and indoor square footage is too valuable to duplicate the footprint of a bunch of flats at the expense of over-wintering real, live plants. Only the tough survive, but that's fine with me.