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

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. 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.

I collected this Lonicera in Feb 25 thinking it was one very thick shrub. After having time to look at it properly once collected I'm pretty sure it's a bunch of separate Lonicera fussed together, likely due to the fact it was collected from an estate which prioritised speed over cars for this type of bush.

That leads me to my question. Some of these separate plants are long dead and started to rot. I have carved away much of the pithy wood leaving the "live veins" uncarved. These are pretty deep already and still have a bit more pithy wood to go and I don't want them to be wells for rain etc. Do I need to clear absolutely all of it to prevent spread? TIA

Pic 1: Jan 25 when I decided I wanted it Vs today

Pic 2: before and after carving at the rear. The middle notch is very solid just ugly.

Pic 3: Another dead section that is very deep so I had to add the split following natural lines.

Pic 4: top down view of another deep hollow at the front section of the tree.

(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'.

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.

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 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?

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