I potted up a large cutting today. Hopefully it roots and who knows. It could be a bonsai or a propagation donor plant.

TL/DR: What if you use many fishing weights to increase the "weight" of the whole branch instead of applying point pressure?

I recently came to the idea of using something akin to fishing weights ( minus the lead) instead of guy or bending wire, to create more subtle curves in the tree.

Specifically i would add smaller weights at multiple points along the branch using soft fixtures like leather, and continuously add weights to the end, as the branch grows.

In my idea this should imitate the natural load increase that trees experience as the branches grow, and create a more natural bend/ positioning.

Any experience doing that? Thoughts on the process?

If you live in Edmonton or northern Alberta, this show will be of interest. Check out the amazing bonsai produced right here in the Edmonton area! $5/person, $10/ family, Aug. 8-9, Edmonton Japanese Community Association, 6750 88 St NW, Edmonton. Lots of free parking. Presented by the Bonsai Society of Edmonton. See poster for more details.

The humidity box setup I have for the Fukien Tea I got from the "these are all going to die if they stay here" shelf of "bonsais" at Lowe's two weeks back. The top will remain open for airflow. A bit of an experiment to see if I can hit the sweet spot between a terrarium and a plain humidity tray to grow this one in my room with Plant Child, my "ginseng" Ficus microcarpa.

The table sits about two feet directly below the grow light I have supplementing the window area.

What are everyone’s thoughts on the “Bonsai Care App”? I am new to bonsai, but I’m hoping this question is more general and will not irritate the MODs. If so, send me directly to jail, and my bad. I watched some videos and saw the app was free so thought I would give it a shot. It’s seems pretty cool, but maybe it’s not. Any feedback is appreciated

Never had an Azalea and don’t really have any flowering trees, so I grabbed it bc I wanted to play around with it. Trunk is okay, waiting for the back bud after the cut back.

Plan to cut back further in late winter.

(US Only)
Greetings all!

Thank you all for the strong reception with JBPs last week. Over 100 trees shipped out to you all yesterday. (By the way, we still have availability on JBPs and Hinokis).

Ume (prunus mume) is Japanese flowering apricot and it can create gorgeous bonsai because it flowers in winter time, and as it tolerates deadwood well for a deciduous, you can really establish a convincing appearance of age.

However, the species is extremely hard to come by ungrafted in the US. Even seedlings are hard to find. So I’m very excited to be able to offer ungrafted specimens of the Kobai cultivar. Also, these flowered this year, so you won’t have to wait for them to mature!

I have ume in two sizes: 2G and 5G. Pics #3 and #4 represent the 2G size and pic #5 shows a chopped 5G. Their calipers correspond roughly to about 3/4” to 1”.

Pricing:
- 2 gallon - $45
- 5 gallon - $80

As ususal, you can DM me here, or drop me an email at [email protected]. If you’d like references, feel free to ask.

Thanks for looking!

Endemic to Southern Africa. They have smaller leaves than the Portulacaria Afra. Even smaller than Portulacaria Afra 'Lilliput'.

I finally got a simple water test for my well water that I use for my bonsai and some garden plants. I have no idea if the hardness/alkaline is a problem.

I know a bit about nitrates from a previous deep dive into salt-water aquariums. Basically free feed, but not too much as to burn the roots.

No lead is also good.

I honestly expected more iron, and with the carbonates give me a hint why some of my trees have grown very yellow/white-ish leaves: some minerals are leeched out by the carbonates.

Is there something I am missing that could affect the long-term health of my trees?

It started with 1. A week later I have 3. My wallet has grown legs and is trying to hid from me 🥸

I’ve been doing bonsai for a while now, but trident maple is actually a species I’ve never touched until now. I live in Guangdong, China, and I’ve heard the climate here is particularly well-suited for tridents, so I figured it was finally time to give it a shot.

Picked up a few “mystery box” stock trees (a common way to buy raw material here — you don’t know exactly what you’re getting until it arrives) and unboxed them to compare root spread, trunk taper, and branch placement side by side.

As a complete beginner to this species, I’d love to hear what you all look for first when evaluating trident maple stock specifically — is the priority list different from other maples?

I want to take a 1/144 scale Gundam kit (about 13cm tall) and grow a tree next to and into it. I like the idea getting roots to grow around and through it.

I know it’s silly but it’s something I’d enjoy. I like the idea of a mobile suit losing a battle and slowly being taken into nature.

What’s are some trees that are good for air roots and hearty enough it won’t mind having obstacles in its growing?

I think a forest style would be cool but I think that’s a bit too ambitious right now.

Absolutely in love with my newly acquired Penjing piece I got a few days ago!

Finally got a proper outdoor base under it and what a difference that has made.

If you look closely, some wildlife has also moved in! Haha

Hope you all enjoy!

Cheers!

Went out of town for a week. I thought it'd be fine since it wasn't in an overly restrictive pot. It's been a couple of weeks now, I don't think it's coming back

I pulled this Magnolia virginiana out of the ground at a landscaping job where it had broken in half. It has since recovered in a #7 pot and I pruned it up a bit. It has a nice thick trunk already but not much flexibility so Formal Upright may be my only option right now?
I’m definitely a bit of a beginner, though I have a half dozen other bonsai and a dozen more pre-bonsai in containers.
I’m just wondering if anyone thinks it has any bonsai potential or if anyone can see any inspiration. I don’t often see Magnolias on this sub so maybe they’re not very popular?
Any feedback welcome.
I live in Central Delaware, USA - Zone 7

Sharing an update on a tree with an interesting history. Collected as yamadori in June 2021, trained as semi-cascade. After it established, growth gradually receded until the entire original trunk dried out and died — normally I’d write that section off completely.

Instead of dying outright, it pushed new growth from the top of the dead trunk and survived. Fast forward a few years and there’s now a completely new trunk, roughly chopstick-thick, growing from the base independently of the old dead wood.

This session I went in planning to practice jin/deadwood carving on that old trunk since it had been dead for years. Turned out the wood had decayed so much it was soft enough to tear apart by hand — nowhere near solid enough to work as jin. Scrapped that idea entirely.

Ended up focusing on the new trunk instead — selecting and pruning branches, and settling on a simple weeping structure as a starting point.

Anyone else had a trunk die out completely like this and get a full replacement from the base? Curious how others handle removing the old dead wood in cases like this — I ended up just clearing it away since it wasn’t structurally useful for jin.

Deshojo layer with plenty of roots and too much foliage

The UV has been extreme so I cut off an old piece of greenhouse tarp for the roof

Hey everyone, need some styling advice for this juniper.

I was walking through my neighborhood and met Greg (75?) a long time bonsai enthusiast. He’s not online, so I thought I would give his two 40yr old Swiss pines their due diligence. Super cool dude.

Anyways, after meeting him I picked up this Juniper from Home Depot for $11 (!!) and brought it back for an hour chat and style. We decided it already had a great natural windswept look so repotted (no root trim), cleaned about 4 inches up the trunks and thought to leave it through the summer. What are yalls critiques for next major trimming?
Chosen front it first pic, but now that I’m posting this, I like pic 2 almost more.

Bonjour à tous,

Je viens chercher vos conseils concernant mes deux bonsaïs.

Je ne suis plus totalement débutant : j’ai déjà effectué quelques tailles et essayé le ligaturage, mais je manque encore d’expérience pour imaginer le meilleur avenir de mes arbres.

Le plus grand est avec moi depuis environ 5 ans. J’aimerais maintenant aller plus loin et leur donner un style plus abouti.

J’aimerais avoir votre avis sur plusieurs points :

- Quel style choisiriez-vous pour chacun de ces bonsaïs ?
- Voyez-vous des défauts importants à corriger ?
- Que feriez-vous à ma place pour les prochaines étapes (taille, ligature, rempotage, etc.) ?
- Y a-t-il des erreurs que j’ai déjà commises ou des choses à éviter ?

Je suis ouvert à toutes les critiques et tous les conseils. Si certains souhaitent faire un montage ou un croquis pour illustrer leurs idées, ce serait avec grand plaisir.

Merci d’avance pour votre aide !

I find it more useful to have as many examples in the same field of view as possible while styling a tree, instead of having to flip over individual pictures, so I curated this collection for myself. Hope you find it useful. Open on computer for better resolution - mobile app seems to over-compress

Edit: like a member pointed out, some in the formal upright box is actual informal, and some cascade is technically semi cascade. I can't edit the photo of the post.

Updating my photos as my larches are probably done with pinching this year. In autumn once the leaves have dropped ill be thinning out the ramification ive been built and then wiring.

1. Today.

2. Today with sacrifice branch

3. December 2025, second wiring

4. March 2025, first wiring

5. November 2024.

I've been keeping a progression thread of this larch and two others over on bonsainut.com

July 6 - July 20 photo

Name: Face Of Boe

Age: 3 month and 2 days

Height: 4.5 inch

Girth: 5.56mm [7/32in]

Angle: 33°

I'm doing an modified Escape root (Double pot) method and will be adding an 3 tier when the roots peek out from tier 2 boom. I'm using hoop pins and DIY weight to make my bends without hard wiring, as she too young for that. I wanted movement in her truck, so after googling and taking some notes from my book Bonsai: their growth and care by C. Beauchamp, I went to work carefully.

I'm going go by ear and see where the tree take me

Don't mind my little mountain theme; it was looking a bit boring so I spiced it up