Bonsai Tree progression

[Bonsai Si]

Due to the fact I see my trees so much, I rarely if ever notice how much they change.
Then comes a day when I do notice and I fall off my chair, one of the reasons I love Bonsai so much really.

This is a Mountain Pine, Pinus Mugo.

To say it's grown a bit since I took over ownership of it, well judge for yourself. It's still a few Decades away from being worthy of the name Bonsai; but it's getting there.



One of my favourite trees.

[Bonsai Si]

20 years away?

[Bill HH]

Well its on its way, and good luck with it.

[Lumpy]

They are stunning - I love bonsai and have tried with one unwilling victim but with no success.

I have abject admiration for anybody that can grow and nurture such a force of nature - I suppose that means YOU then.

[donksey]

Definitely not a hobby to leave for when you retire.

[JanieB]

I was given a bonsai kit as a present several years ago. I did everything it suggested but one thing was to put the tree seed into the fridge in damp paper for 2 days. My OH didn't know what it was and didn't ask and chucked it out. So I still have a bonsai kit minus a bonsai.

[Bill HH]

I was given a bonsai kit as a present several years ago. I did everything it suggested but one thing was to put the tree seed into the fridge in damp paper for 2 days. My OH didn't know what it was and didn't ask and chucked it out. So I still have a bonsai kit minus a bonsai.

The seeds are just ordinary tree seeds, I have grown many from acorns and sycamore seeds. There is no such thing as bonsai seeds. The trick however is to grow them in pots untill they have substantial trunks and are perhaps two or three feet tall, then begin to prune them down.

[Bonsai Si]

They are stunning - I love bonsai and have tried with one unwilling victim but with no success.

I have abject admiration for anybody that can grow and nurture such a force of nature - I suppose that means YOU then.

Bonsai is a game of trial and error as well as patience. I'd pretty much lay odds everyone kills their first tree or attempt, more often than not by over watering (If you bought a tree in a pot called Bonsai) or by faffing around too much with anything else. Give it another go, and learn from your first attempt, then keep learning with each successive attempt and eventually you know what, they stay alive!

Most importantly though, do some research, read up on species, growing medium and how to care for the species you have, you'd be utterly amazed by how much you can learn and how easy they are to grow and keep based on 30 - 60 minutes of Google reading + Youtube viewing, honestly!

I do thank you for the high compliment you just paid me though, you have no idea how much it means to me coming from anyone from this site with the wealth of experience and skills it takes to get here, let alone have any results from doing what we do. *bows and salutes*

[Bonsai Si]

Definitely not a hobby to leave for when you retire.

I with all respect wholeheartedly disagree, and I mean that sincerely. I do what I do with regards Bonsai knowing full well my main toil and decades of effort with regards Bonsai ahead will not benefit me, but the generations after I have passed.

Bonsai is truly something you pass on to those that carry on from you. While you may gain immense pleasure and joy from the trees you work on today, tomorrow and till you die; they will more often than not only really come into their own 10 years or more after you have passed.

I'll never paint a picture that will hang in the national gallery, nor create something that will last more than 10 years on the Internet, but I do stand a chance of sowing a seed and growing from that seed a Bonsai tree that in time will eventually become a masterpiece; but not by my hands.

It may take a decade to grow from seed, spend it's infancy in a plastic pot then a grow bed and eventually make it to the "Pre-Bonsai" stage. By the time I hit 70 (30 years time) it may just be coming into the area "by definition" to be considered actual Bonsai, my chances of leaving a legacy behind are far more in this pursuit than anything else I enjoy or consider myself good at.

The Mugo I bought 2-3 years ago, as you can see, looked pretty sparse, unloved and only a keen eye or someone with a passion and desire could see potential. The "After picture" was taken today, and this was honestly a shocking moment for me as I saw a picture of that exact tree not long after it came into my hands 2 years or so ago. It's taken a mere 2 years or so to come that far, all I did was water it, feed it and pull some needles + pinch some candles to get it to develop in the way it has.

It's had a small amount of wire put onto it over a full season to get the branches going roughly where I want for now to spread them. Other than that it's been sat on a bench giving me "viewing pleasure" for the few years I have had it while also gaining me experience of keeping a Mugo Pine.

The tree has taught me more in the last 2 years than I taught it, sounds odd but it's true.

OK, that got deep very quickly, sorry. It is however very true.

My point being, don't believe you cannot do something today or tomorrow with this and not benefit from it, because you will.

Thank you for taking the time to reply, it really is appreciated.

[Bonsai Si]

I was given a bonsai kit as a present several years ago. I did everything it suggested but one thing was to put the tree seed into the fridge in damp paper for 2 days. My OH didn't know what it was and didn't ask and chucked it out. So I still have a bonsai kit minus a bonsai.

The seeds are just ordinary tree seeds, I have grown many from acorns and sycamore seeds. There is no such thing as bonsai seeds. The trick however is to grow them in pots until they have substantial trunks and are perhaps two or three feet tall, then begin to prune them down.

Bill HH is right on the initial response with the post.

However, there is an element that is incorrect and I feel it needs correcting, sorry Bill.

It is true that there is no such thing as Bonsai Tree seeds. Certain Species, or subspecies lend themselves far better to Bonsai than others. The general aim of Bonsai is to create a Small tree in a Tray (Bon Sai) or pot that defies perspective or scale when viewed with a blank background. In other words, a tree or shrub that given a blank background defies scale or perspective. So those tree species that offer small leaves and easy ramification will always make better Bonsai like Chinese Elm than say Oak trees with larger leaves which resist "dwarfing" by many means including defoliation and pruning.

A tree or shrub that you cannot depict it's age nor maturity given the fact there is no scale to judge it on in a small pot or tray is the most desirable type of Tree for Bonsai. This is by the traditional definition of Bonsai, so open to interpretation by all means.

Any tree seed grown to be Bonsai, can be claimed as Bonsai, though if only ever grown in a pot or tray will pretty much always look like a seedling or sapling. It will always lack that look of maturity because the trunk and branch structure will always be slender, slim and juvenile.

Much as any Carrot grown in a 7 cm plastic pot will only ever grow into that pot but never beyond it can be called a Carrot, it never will reach it's full potential and become anything other than a 7cm potted carrot. Great for small salads but never a champion ribbon winning Carrot at show, nor become that delicious Sunday Roast Carrot that fed half a family!

Bonsai is only in essence separated from Topiary by the fact root pruning is required to keep a tree healthy and growing. You should eliminate the thicker roots that are mature for the thinner, more fibrous roots that feed the tree.

To do so eventually; you should grow the tree on in the ground or a growing box/container that allows the tree to push onwards to a more mature status allowing it to thicken up in trunk and branch structure so it can reach the appearance of maturity that defies perspective when as I said before it is placed with a blank background so you honestly cannot tell if if it 5 years old or 500.

Without waffling more than I probably have already and risk boring you if not already, many of the trees I own & I call Bonsai for ease of understanding are only realistically "Pre-Bonsai", are long overdue 3-4 years in the ground to thicken up, grow and encourage them into a more mature state.

Then and only then will they require several years of root pruning and training (Wiring/branch training and leaf size reduction/ramification) to go into a training pot, for more annual root pruning and training before they go into a final glazed pot as a mature tree ready to be made into Bonsai that is considered true Bonsai, another 5 - 10 years and they "might" be ready for show and maybe another 10 years or so after that can they be considered Specimen Bonsai and award winning trees???

This all of course depends on if you buy into the whole traditional Bonsai culture. I started by being bought a "Bonsai Tree" that cost just under a Fiver from Morrisons because I watched Karate Kid (80's version, Mr Miyagi, "Ahh Daniel San!" if you don't get the reference) and really liked the idea of keeping and training Bonsai. It led to me owning around a 100 Bonsai in pots and around 350 seedlings/saplings grown from seed to become potential-Bonsai (Potensai).

If you started with that growing kit, with a few seeds in a packet, a small ceramic pot, a little bag of compost and some instructions but never got the seeds to germinate for whatever reason, skip a few steps, buy a cheap 3-4 year old mass grown tree from Aldi/Lidl/Tesco/Morrisons/where ever when they have them for £5-6 quid, watch few YouTube videos to show you how to remove the compost they come in so they can actually survive all year round, and then learn the basics of caring for it properly and I PROMISE you, it's a fun, relaxing hobby that you can enjoy with only a few hours if that of commitment per month.

Be warned though, it can be highly addictive because it is such fun and you must be patient. If you enjoy your lottie, then Bonsai is like top end Class A drugs and can come at twice the price but take 10 times as long to see the rewards, don't let that put you off growing from seed though, the rush is there, it's just a slower pace than most other things you might have tried to grow so far.

[donksey]

Do you have any photos of cheap supermarket trees you have worked on?
Also have you worked on any yew trees?

[Bonsai Si]

Do you have any photos of cheap supermarket trees you have worked on?
Also have you worked on any yew trees?

The “Aldi specials” | onemanandhisbonsai.co.uk

I'll have to have a dig around for pictures of when I started working on them.

I did have 2 Yew trees, a small one in a pot and I bought a larger one from a nursery that I intended to turn into Bonsai. I'll see if I can find the pictures and post them up.

[donksey]

Thanks, I have seen them and been very tempted. Next time I see them I will buy one or two and try my hand and growing. I have always been very interested in them, much like ornamental goldfish, I find moulding something living into a different form really fascinating.
Having a tree that should be 10ft tall but miniaturised to 10" tall and looking just as worn and weathered looking is beautiful.

[Bonsai Si]

The trees they offer are usually 3 or 4 years old, mass produced and to be honest as a starting point for under a tenner you can't go wrong. Check through the trees and look for those that have decent growth and shape and show signs of buds, if you are not sure about a tree, give it a little scratch on the trunk and make sure it's green underneath the bark. Watch out for trees that have been shaped/bent for wire markings in the bark where the wire has been left on to long.

I would advise though to repot them as soon as you get them home and get rid of the soil they come in as it is only good for shipping them and the journey they have to go through can be weeks in containers. It's not fast draining and it's usually very compacted, and the trees usually need a bit of root pruning.

So get some John Innes 3, sand, horticultural grit and I use recycled glass and Tesco low dust or Sophisticat Cat Litter. Make up a free draining mix and carefully get the tree out of the pot, remove the old soil and see if you need to trim the big fat long roots and be careful with the fibrous feeder roots as those are the ones you want. Adding some Mycorrhizal fungi at this point is a good idea if you have some.

Then wire the tree into the pot and backfill, I use a chopstick (I got some awesome metal ones dirt cheap from China after I got fed up breaking wooden/plastic ones) to wiggle the fresh soil into the roots and fill the nooks and crannies. Then give it a massive but gentle soaking, place in shade for a few days to let it recover and when it seems to be doing ok start giving it more sunlight.

As for species commonly on offer, Chinese Elm or Privet are probably the best to start with as both are fairly forgiving and tough enough to take a bit of abuse as well as cope with the UK climate.

Sageretia & Carmona (Fukien Tea tree) are a little more involved as they are more tender and require more work.

For some basics and good tips, this guy was a really great teacher, he sadly passed away the other year. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0I...YiphgG6lFV8CcA He has a very calming manner and you can pick up a lot from him.

If you want to see what happens when you get more advanced, then the guy you want to watch is Mr Potter from Kaizen Bonsai, he does some mind blowing things with stunning trees, and also turns some dogs dinner trees into work of art. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPb...5fz-oSPYDva9tQ

Any tree you get, if not familiar with the species or to see how best to care for it as Bonsai: Bonsai Species Guides

I find working on my trees very relaxing and therapeutic, it's a nice way to spend some me time.

[donksey]

Hello Bonsai Si,
Many thanks for all the info, that's a fantastic base to start from.
I loved the Graham W Potter video 'Bonsai for Less than the Price of a Shirt' I will be stopping random unpopular looking nurseries on my travels now in the hope of finding some unwanted,neglected tree/bush tucked away somewhere. It looked brilliant when he finished with it!