(Part 3) Top products from r/Bonsai

I have really wanted to get into Bonsai for a long time. I am going to receive this starter pack this Christmas, which seems to look great. It looks like it just comes with everything to start you out okay.

Is there anything else I should pick up immediately? Any kind of special fertilizers to buy? A pruning compound?

I am also concerned about sunlight and indoor/outdoor growing. Right now it is winter in the Midwest US. Am I fine to just leave these in by the window inside? Is there a kind of special light I can buy for more optimal growth?

Alright, I just read the wiki and that was humbling..

I'll still end up getting this starter pack as a gift, even though now I know that it is kind of a silly thing for a person to try to grow bonsai from seed (especially a beginner). But, oh well, I guess I'll give it my best shot anyway.

So I guess the real questions I should be asking is:

Will the following trees

• pinus aristata
  
  
• picea mariana
  
  
• delonix regia
  
  
• jacaranda mimosifolia
  
  even have a chance at growing in Illinois, USA, Zone 5b? If any do, should I begin germinating them when I get them, or hold off until Spring? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

The larger pot is good given you want the base of the trunk to beef up. Trunks are grown by having a lot of foliage and foliage needs lots of roots and lots of roots needs lots of soil. You should water it when the soil becomes dry. In the summer this will be pretty much every day it doesn't rain.

What you do next depends on how aggressive you want to be. I'm guessing you used regular potting soil in the repot and didn't reduce the existing soil from the original pot, just slip potted it? If so you should get some actual bonsai soil, get rid of all the soil on the outside of the original root ball, but not all of the soil, leave the core root ball with soild and put it back in your large pot using only the bonsai soil. This soil will promote good drainage and make it easy for the plant to quickly build a big root system. Then fertilize heavily until July at which point back off a bit until fall.

There isn't much to style until it grows a lot and develops a lot more branches. You can direct the growth to what you want but since you like the horizontal nature it has now it will be a while before you have additional branches to style. Also, I see you have it outside, but be sure to keep it outside year round. Given you have it on a balcony you might want to provide it some wind protection for a while after repotting and during the coldest days of the year.

The Bonsai Workshop by Herb Gustafson is pretty good. It's currently $7.84 on Amazon, which is a steal. I paid $20 for my copy, and would again.

Also, Bonsai Techniques I by John Naka is an out-of-print classic that is pretty expensive for a physical copy, but it can be found online with a simple google search. It's more in-depth, but really covers all the bases.

Bonsai Life Histories is another one I like. It isn't so much a basic technique book, but it shows a bunch of trees that have progressed over many years, which I have always found inspiring. I pull that one out about once a year and glean something new from it each time. Also pretty cheap on Amazon right now.

Heh, well welcome to the hobby. I must say that its been my experience that there are two... groups? in the hobby at the moment. Alot of the knowledgeable, experienced people tend to be a bit older, and hence not as computer savy. This can probably explain the lack of polished web pages devoted to bonsai.

If there is a bonsai club in your area, I'd suggest joining them and attending their meetings. There are two equi distant from where I live, and both of them have monthly meetings, demonstrations, etc. that are very informative. Both have many people who have been doing bonsai for longer than I've been alive.

If you are looking for a book, many of them will go over the same information (repotting, the basic styles, basic propagation methods, etc.) and then something else. This book is fairly decent in that it shows pictures of 50 trees at various points in their lives:

http://www.amazon.com/Bonsai-Life-Histories-Lives-Photos/dp/1552096157

Its very interesting to see the progression of a tree over a decade.

The last bit of adivce I can give is to subscribe to Bonsai Focus (http://www.bonsaifocus.com/) a bi monthly magazine devoted (obviously) to bonsai. Each issue contains a gallery of very nice bonsai, a tree critique (send a picture of a pre bonsai and getting different suggestions with drawings of how to style it), a "master class" where they demonstrate an advance technique, and a couple of styling demonstrations with explanations of why the artist chose to do it the way it was done. Plus a few other minor features... All in all, its very informative, and again, inspiring.

For working with jade, you really just need a decent pair of shears. I like this style. I don't spend a lot of time wiring my jades, but it's good to have some on hand for when you occasionally do. If you want to get some wire, maybe some small roles of 2.0mm and 3.0mm aluminum wire. Probably no need for a bigger kit than that to start.

Go find a jade at a greenhouse or garden center in the tropical section. If you get a big bushy one and let it grow, you'll have a whole bunch of little experiment trees to play around with after you prune it.

Mini-jade (p. afra) is a little more bonsai tree scale that crasula ovata if you happen to see one of those.

EDIT: btw, looks like you have a decent bonsai shop in your town.

So... stratification... I've been dreading this topic. (cue the ominous music)...

Warm, cold, hot, moist all terms of art when dealing with stratification. Some seed need one type, some need another. Some seeds actually need both. The Source for this type of information is the books of Dr. Michael Dirr.

Manual of Woody Landscape Plants: Their Identification, Ornamental Characteristics, Culture, Propogation and Uses

The Reference Manual of Woody Plant Propagation: From Seed to Tissue Culture, Second Edition

You can pick of the later and more important book on Amazon for $31 plus shipping - which is a ridiculously good price.

This book will pay for itself the first time you do not make a catastrophic mistake because you followed Professor Dirr's advice!

Really, nothing I can add to his books would help: Just invest the forty bucks, I promise, you will not be sorry. But I will try to answer yout question...

See if this link from from Bonner & Karrfalt The Woody Plant Seed Manual comes up for you. It pretty much will tell you everything you need to know about Ulmus propagation via seed.

The blades came just in time! I used to use a short box saw (seen here) to both harvest the tree and trim the roots. I now use an 18" Corona pruning saw which lasts for a while if I treat it with camellia oil. Last year I brought my reciprocating saw with a wood blade into the swamp and root pruning was a damned sight easier. My friend, Mitch, put me on to pruning blades and I ordered a 5-pack of Bosch blades.

Next year, I want the 21" Corona saw. So, anyone who wants to know what to get me for Christmas, that's it right there.

Tomorrow is SWAMP DAY! WHOO!

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Note: "Just in time" is defined here as "remembering on Monday that I forgot to order the blades and now I need to pay for 2-day shipping".

One of my friends gifted me a Bonsai Tree Seed Starter Kit, I’m new to bonsai and was wondering if anyone else had any advice for using these kits? Thanks!

Here’s the link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DRQ3382/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_E0QxDb6WDPYS5

Thank you! Would this soil be okay? It's in German but you can see what it looks like. http://www.amazon.de/Bonsai-Erde-Hausmischung-Bonsai-Fachgeschäft-ltr-Abpackung/dp/B009JCP05K/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1411758289&sr=8-3&keywords=bonsai+erde

I use black plastic plant trays filled with pea gravel. Works pretty well. (Maybe don't get them from Amazon, though.. That's waaay too expensive)

The only book I see by Walter is Bonsai: a beginners guide but I did find a post of his recommending Modern Bonsai Practice: 501 Principles of Good Bonsai Horticulture written by Larry W Morton, is that the one?

Here it is on Amazon for $8.44; not too bad. (http://www.amazon.com/Safer-Brand-Ounce-Garden-5460/dp/B000G9TXYE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1373291834&sr=8-2&keywords=safer+3-in-1) They also carry a bigger bottle for $10.99. I don't know your financial situation, but that's not too bad, so hopefully this might be cheaper than the price you've seen on it in other places. And it'll get sent right to your door!

It looks very much like a juniper plant.

Needs a lot of pruning and wiring to be a bonsai, though.

Buy a used book online or check your local library for instructional manuals.

Something tangentially related, maybe? Like this.

http://www.amazon.com/Step-By-Step-Guide-Growing-Displaying-Bonsai/dp/0831751622/ref=pd_sim_b_1

I have this one and I like it a lot, particularly the month-by-month breakdown of what you can and can't do with various types of trees.

Here's an earlier edition. That tree on the front cover! and the first sentence of the description says

'Don’t buy a scrawny, mass-produced bonsai tree from the shopping mall.'

http://www.amazon.com/Indoor-Bonsai-For-Beginners-Selection/dp/0706375831

Does anyone know anything about the author? I recently bought the book below, which I thought was quite good, but now I'm not sure. Maybe he just didn't choose the front cover.

http://www.amazon.com/Bonsai-Native-Werner-M-Busch/dp/0715303368

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000HHO110/ref=asc_df_B000HHO1105030310/?tag=hyprod-20&creative=394997&creativeASIN=B000HHO110&linkCode=df0&hvadid=167152075853&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=11301228868477394291&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9032155&hvtargid=pla-305977007403

Its this: https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B009JCP05K/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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Quite granular and water does not retain. Thus, in summer I have to water the plant twice, else its not enough.

Looking at my toolbox, here was something I bought so I could measure the trunks and keep a log over the years...https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000GSLKIW/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I have yet to start that log but I did use it to measure a drill bit size.

Are any of these more reputable than the other?

http://www.amazon.com/Ryuga-Ashinaga-Professional-Bonsai-Shear/dp/B00AB3WBXK/ref=sr_1_27?ie=UTF8&qid=1420746591&sr=8-27&keywords=bonsai+shear

http://www.amazon.com/Stanwood-Bonsai-Tool-Professional-Japanese/dp/B00CVUZZ2U/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1420745910&sr=8-5&keywords=bonsai+shear


http://www.amazon.com/JAPAN-Bonsai-Tool-TinyGreen-Professional/dp/B00MGESBMM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1420746745&sr=8-2&keywords=tinygreen+shear

https://www.amazon.ca/Bonsai-Beginners-Bible-Peter-Chan/dp/178472369X/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=peter+chan&qid=1570281843&sr=8-1

And


https://www.amazon.ca/Bonsai-DK/dp/1465419586/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?keywords=bonsai+books&qid=1570281874&sr=8-2

Dont know if you're in europe, but here it is: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bonsai-Workshop-Herb-Gustafson/dp/0806905565/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=8-1&qid=1419441507 this is even hardcover

Update:
I decided to take Jerry's advice and go with these tools and wire:

Pruners

Snips

and 1.5mm, 2.5mm, and 3.0mm wire

I also decided on holding off on the specialized bonsai tools as my pruner i used for herbs broke recently, so I've been stuck with rusty scissors, and thank you for the advice from all of you, now its just tree time!