Starting

[one_bonsai]

Hi I'm new to Bonsai and would like to know the best place to start. I don't want to get a ready made bonsai, I want to start one from scratch. What would be the best way to proceed?

 

[Fonz]

Welcome aboard!

That's a tough question. It depends on what yo want to achieve.
Do you want to start absolutely from scratch like sowing seeds and waiting 20 years before your bonsai is ready? Or do you want to start with "starter"-trees, trees with the potential to become bonsai trees, sold in special bonsai nurseries?
You can also collect your own material in a nearby forest but you should know what to look for ofcourse.
You can also go to a nursery and buy some nursery plants and start your journey there (learn how to take care of trees in pots, learn to wire, learn to…)

You can also do numerous other things….

 

[Deleted member 21616]

Hi I'm new to Bonsai and would like to know the best place to start. I don't want to get a ready made bonsai, I want to start one from scratch. What would be the best way to proceed?

welcome!

1 - it would be helpful if you added your location to your profile

2 - find a local club, or nursery. ask questions, especially regarding what species are suitable for your climate, space, the conditions you can provide, and least of all, your preferences.

3 - read as much as you can on this forum. the search function will be your best friend for the next year.

4 - if you haven't already, visit the nearest bonsai garden or museum

5 - your first tree won't be your last tree, nor your show tree. take a risk, have fun, learn.

6 - bonsai mirai has some free videos that i personally found VERY useful when it came to understanding plant physiology. a lot of questions on this forum are essentially questions about how trees in general, or a species in particular, functions physically/chemically in relation to certain practices, interventions, conditions or diseases

 

[one_bonsai]

I'd like to start from a nursery starter. I was planning on getting a starter, pruning it, wiring it and then cutting back the roots by about a third and then putting it into a bonsai pot, but I've told that you can't do this as the plant will die.

 

[Carol 83]

Welcome. Adding your location to your profile, would help in getting suggestions for trees best suited to your climate. As @derek7745 mentioned above.

 

[one_bonsai]

I was thinking a Juniper

 

[Hack Yeah!]

Welcome, mate!

 

[Bonsai Nut]

I was thinking a Juniper

Australia is a pretty big country The reason people are asking for your location is so they can recommend a tree that does well in your growing zone. We would recommend different things, for example, if you lived in Melbourne versus Brisbane.

 

[one_bonsai]

Melbourne

 

[Cosmos]

How about this for a start. Ryan Neil, in Australia, talking about the fundamentals of bonsai design while styling a nursery juniper.

Plus, you get to hear a lot of his apprenticeship stories that he tells all the time

 

[Bonsai Nut]

One piece of recommendation is that, aside from joining up with a local bonsai club, see if you can find a bonsai nursery or someone selling pre-bonsai (rough nursery stock styled to eventually become bonsai).

Yes, it is possible to make bonsai from standard nursery stock you find at a garden center, but often commercial growers value things in their tree (straight trunks, no low branches, etc) that are contrary to what we want with bonsai. A good bonsai nursery will be able to provide stock, which, even if it is completely rough, will have character and be several years (if not decades) further along than a comparably aged commercial nursery tree.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Maybe this will help.

https://www.anbg.gov.au/bonsai/index.html - Australian Plants as Bonsai