Can anyone remotely tutor me in making some bonsai trees? Is there any limitation to what varieties of plant you can grow?

I tried looking things up on google but just got lots of confusing advertisers trying to sell me various products but didn't find any useful beginners guidance. Does anyone have a few mins to explain it all to me?

cheers

On Jan 8, 4:43*am, nelly wrote:
Can anyone remotely tutor me in making some bonsai trees? Is there any
limitation to what varieties of plant you can grow?

I tried looking things up on google but just got lots of confusing
advertisers trying to sell me various products but didn't find any
useful beginners guidance. Does anyone have a few mins to explain it
all to me?

cheers

--
nelly

Nelly,

I understand your woes. It wasn't that long ago that I had the same
problems. Now it's a bit impossible to explain it all to you, but I
can explain a few of the basics.

First of all, many species of regular trees can be raised and trained
as bonsai, by no means does the tree have to be a genetically dwarfed
specimen. In fact some people may say that using a dwarf tree is a
bit like cheating.

Second, when choosing a tree that you would like to create as a bonsai
it is important to figure out if the tree would do better indoors or
outdoors. Don't assume that any tree you grow can be an indoor
plant. By no means is this true. If you grab a species of tree that
can typically be found in your own climate zone than it would most
likely do best outdoors. If you are using a species of tree from a
tropical climate zone, than it may do better indoors where the
temperature and humidity are more stable.

Once you pick a species than you can choose whether you want to start
with a sapling only a couple inches tall and train it from there, or
if you want to pick a slightly bigger / older tree and trim it down to
the basic style you want and than train it from there.

This is where it gets a little harder to sum things up but basically
you have several techniques that you use to keep the tree small at the
same time shaping it. They are Root Trimming, Wiring, Pruning,
Repotting, etc...

The end result of what you are trying to achieve is categorized into
several styles. Their are 5 basic styles (more exist, but these are
the basics) Formal Upright, Informal Upright, Slanting, Semi-Cascade
and Cascade.

I know that this is a lot to swallow and probably doesn't answer your
questions completely. I do have an ebook that I am giving away to
people who sign up for my website. The book is titled "Bonsai: A
Beginner's Guide" I wrote it to answer all the questions that I had
as a beginner. My website membership is all about teaching the
beginner about bonsai. Yes I do sell things from time to time but
both the book and the website membership are free. Check it out if
you like. Copy and paste this in your browser

http://www.howtobonsai.org/free_ebook.htm

Good Luck,
Travis

On Thu, 8 Jan 2009 12:43:32 +0000, nelly
wrote:


Can anyone remotely tutor me in making some bonsai trees? Is there any
limitation to what varieties of plant you can grow?

I tried looking things up on google but just got lots of confusing
advertisers trying to sell me various products but didn't find any
useful beginners guidance. Does anyone have a few mins to explain it
all to me?

cheers



Sure, I have time and it's time to give back - what little I can (I'm just a
hobbyist not a teacher or anything)

I'll start with a bunch of questions which are basically expansions of "what do
you want to do?

1) what kind of trees are you interested in?
2) where do you live? (climatewise I don't want your address g)
3) what kind of space for the trees do you have?
4) how good are you with plants in general?

and to answer my own questions: Oaks, redwoods, maples & other decidious
hardwoods; a moderate climate near sea level (annual temp range is just below
freezing in winter to low 90's in summer); in my back yard nearly full sun to
nearly full shade; not bad - I've grown my own veggies & flowers/shrubs but now
I just do trees.

so I'll repeat: what do you want to do?

your friend