Anyone into bonsai?

[Chris3King]

Wouldn't mind starting one from nothing, had one as a kid and my mother threw away when it lost its leaves and iv never forgiven her haha

[Bombadil]

Never tried it meself, but used to do an annual hedge trim at a garden full of bonsai trees in various stages of development. The bloke there was very forthcoming with tips and judging by his own results, he knew his stuff.

 

He started his off from ready-grown saplings found in woodlands, hedgerows or wherever. He worked on the stem and branches for the first couple of years, bending and shaping them by winding wire coat-hangers around to get the windswept look. After that the roots need to be gradually reduced to fit into ever decreasing sized pots. His final specimens were in really shallow bowls.

 

The oldest he had done himself were about 10 and were starting to look pretty good. No quick fixes, I'm afraid. Patience, Grasshopper.

[treesrus]

check with the books or online, also there are bonsai clubs around (where in wales are you?). i have about 10 bonsai going on for 10yrs. you'll need lots of patience and be able to give them daily attention sometimes, (regular watering when we have dry weather.) start off with Jap acers, or hawthorn, both quite forgiving.

[Two Acres]

I have about ten that came with the cottage that I bought five years ago. My wife and I also had twins five years ago so what with all the nappy changing and bottle feeds I've not had a lot of time for the bonsai. They've kept going strong with minimal attention - weekly feeds in the spring, summer and autumn, yearly root trimming, pruning and thats been about it. I've not had the time to play around with bending the little bits of wire but most of that was in place when I got them.

 

Shame you're not closer - I'd like to sell them :big grin:

 

The garden birds love them I've found - that makes me want to keep them