Bonsai Tree Basics

Huntn

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Anyone delve? Suddenly I’m interested! Questions to follow...while I’m reading online.

1. These plants use regular seeds from trees 30’ or higher. What makes them grow slow? I assume pruning and keeping them in small pots has a lot to do with it.
 

Alli

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Anyone delve? Suddenly I’m interested! Questions to follow...while I’m reading online.

1. These plants use regular seeds from trees 30’ or higher. What makes them grow slow? I assume pruning and keeping them in small pots has a lot to do with it.
They’ve always fascinated me, but I prefer just to look at them. I’m afraid I’d destroy it.

That said, it’s as much the shallow container as the constant pruning.
 

Scepticalscribe

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Anyone delve? Suddenly I’m interested! Questions to follow...while I’m reading online.

1. These plants use regular seeds from trees 30’ or higher. What makes them grow slow? I assume pruning and keeping them in small pots has a lot to do with it.

They’ve always fascinated me, but I prefer just to look at them. I’m afraid I’d destroy it.

That said, it’s as much the shallow container as the constant pruning.
Bonsai trees fascinate me.

And I do dislike (detest) winter, and some of the old Yuletide stuff, as did my mother.

Anyway, I do recall, shortly after my father had died, how my mother and I - snorting and chortling with shared laughter - debated & discussed whether we could (or should) have a bonsai Christmas tree, a heretical thought that was viewed with disbelief, appalled horror, and mute distress by my brothers and sister-in-law.
 
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Huntn

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This maybe just a passing fancy. I found a used copy of a popular Bonsai How-to book for $15 that is in the mail to me.

For anyone interested in inexpensive bonsai check out.
 

Huntn

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They’ve always fascinated me, but I prefer just to look at them. I’m afraid I’d destroy it.

That said, it’s as much the shallow container as the constant pruning.
If I have a concern it is how much attention they need. I don’t want a plant that will roll over and die at the slightest provocation. At the other place someone said miss one watering and it’s all over. Maybe an evergreen like a juniper might be a better way to go as my impression is an evergreen might be more drought tolerant? :unsure:
 

fooferdoggie

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lots of work and daily watering. the roots are shallow enough that the tree is slow growing. there are nice dwarf trees now you can have a tree stay small with normal work.
this guy grows maybe 1/2" a year. I have found a several really small guys that will stay small. I lost a few as they dried out too fast. a dwarf ginkgo.
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Huntn

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lots of work and daily watering. the roots are shallow enough that the tree is slow growing. there are nice dwarf trees now you can have a tree stay small with normal work.
this guy grows maybe 1/2" a year. I have found a several really small guys that will stay small. I lost a few as they dried out too fast. a dwarf ginkgo.
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Daily watering, you are turning me off. :) I would imagine that an evergreen or even your ginkgo would not require daily watering. Isn’t that a large pot for something designated as a bonsai? Not being critical, just curious. This is making me think, that an indoor bonsai would be better for 90F climate. And btw, I am not sold on this as a hobby yet, still gathering info.
 

fooferdoggie

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Daily watering, you are turning me off. :) I would imagine that an evergreen or even your ginkgo would not require daily watering. Isn’t that a large pot for something designated as a bonsai? Not being critical, just curious. This is making me think, that an indoor bonsai would be better for 90F climate. And btw, I am not sold on this as a hobby yet, still gathering info.
I meant bonsai need daily watering. these guys take normal watering. you have the smallness of bonsai without all the work. we have one great nursery with a lot of dwarf trees.
 

Huntn

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The other day I was walking through Kroger's and saw this cute little Juniper bonsai and purchased it ($14.95). The first thing I noticed that the nursery in Florida who had created this had glued a layer of gravel across the surface of the soil. So I went home did some research and have gotten interested in growing this and maybe others.


Kroger Juniper Bonsai 0321.jpg


Now I did join the forum at Bonsai Empire and posted some questions there. If anyone here is interested in fielding them. Have at it! :)
* Would this Juniper be considered a good starter bonsai? Or was it sold as the "final product"? Any potential here?
* Is this the right kind of pot for training a bonsai? I am assuming no. It had no drain hole, so I drilled one in it. I removed the "glued-on" rocks and replaced them with pea gravel.
* This pot seems kind of deep as compared to what I've seen online, for training. Unless I hear otherwise, I'll assume it's not a good training pot.
* How important is a moisture tray, that this pot did not come with?
* What kind of plants are considered good starter bonsai?
* I have a weeping cedar tree (full size about 12' tall, out back that I took some cuttings from and if I get them growing might try to do a bonsai with them, but have no idea if they would be good or bad candidates.
* I live in Houston, Texas. It's lovely in the winter, but gets freaking hot here in the summer. I'm assuming with watering requirements, It would not be a good idea to keep some types of bonsai outside in the sun to bake, although Junipers like full sun I think. Comments?
 

fooferdoggie

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Here is a dwarf grape vine I think it’s a Chardonnay The grapes are almost full-size I think the plant is about 10 years old now. This is my idea of bonsai easy to care for plants that stay small on their own.



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Pumbaa

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You might eat that... ;)
I for one would rather eat a bonsai tree!

Victim of socialist school meals. Got handed a plate full of broccoli (in addition to the warm food) and was not allowed to leave until I’d eaten it all. Didn’t mind broccoli before, haven’t been able to eat it since.

The ladies working there probably dreamt of getting recruited as enforcers for Stasi or something.
 
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