I have found two seedlings in my garden this year, and with the identification by kind members on the forum, one is an Oak and the other a Sycamore Maple, I've just transfered then to a pot of their own, in a mixture of general compost and my normal soil. I would like to try keeping these two trees as bonsai, but not sure where to start with them, do I leave them for so long to start etc, I've watched quite a few videos on YouTube on general work on bonsai, but have never tried it, I have a number of small to large Japanese maples, which I enjoy looking after with pruning and shaping, so any tips and advice would be much appreciated, thankyou, Keith
It depends on what size bonsai you want to grow. . Generally in bonsai you want to create the illusion of age so you need taper. Taper is achieved by letting the tree grow until the trunk gets about 2/3 your desire size, so if you want a 4 inch trunk on your finished bonsai, you would let the tree grow until it got about two inches in caliper and then cut it back. After it back buds from the chop, you will train a new leader to continue growing the trunk. Long story short you need to let them grow for now to gain trunk size. imo Bonsainut.com is a good forum for bonsai. Regards Keith
I really liked this book. It's very informative. He covers working with maples of all stages of development. Bonsai with Japanese Maples: Peter Adams: 9780881928099: Amazon.com: Books
Sorry for late response, thankyou Labreapltp (Keith) for some great starter advice, very interesting, I will leave seedlings now until they get some good trunk growth as you advise. I will read the link in depth when I get more time, I've seen the cover of the book before, I will keep an eye out in future to add to my want list. Much appreciated, thankyou for taking the time to help me, kindest regards, Keith
Glad to help. I cleaned up the typos so my post makes more sense now...I hope. The book is good, but you can get a lot of info from the forums
Thankyou very much my friend, your post is a lot easier to undersdtand now, your right, the forum is a great source of learning, again my kindest regards, Keith
Most maples will grow much faster than most oaks but the oak might live longer if you plan to create an heirloom. Oaks around here take decades to reach 5 inches. Maples might do it in 7 years. Take care of yourself and leave detailed instructions/training for the next generation.
Thankyou Robert for the info, I will remember to keep progress, that's a good attitude for leaving info for the future generation, that's something I agree on and why I'm learning on this forum, kind regards.