I have a question , and that is , is it better (from what I seem
to understand from topics here) to take a tree and leave it in a
normal nursery pots, shape it and work with it for a number of
years and then in due course place them in to Bonsai pots?
=============
Yes. However, "for a number of years" is open to your
personal decision, depanding on how large a tree you have. It
ALSO depends on how rootbound the nursery tree is when you get
it. So you have to look at the roots. If it IS badly rootbround
(the roots circle the edges of the rootball several times), you
should unwind some of them and plant it back in the next size
larger pot.

Generally, you don't want to do too drastic pruning of roots
in the same year as you do top work. (You will read, however,
that if you take off X amount of root you also will want to take
off X amount of top for "balance." That's not _necessarily_
true. You can do quite a bit more top work (on most species)
than root work. Usually, you should leave SOME amount of
greenery on top when you cut roots back, but it does not need to
be "balanced." And if you are moving the plant into the ground,
you don't need to do anything to the top.

=============
If this is so, could you please explain to me why you can not
take a seedling or a cutting that has been propagated and place
immediately into a Bonsai pot once they have taken and are
showing new growth?
==============

Once a tree gets into a restrictive bonsai pot its days of
significant growth are over. It WILL continue to grow but at a
much slower rate. Threfore, if you want to get a fatter trunk,
better branching, and a spreading base, you need to give the
roots room to grow. A large, shallow (cut-down nursery pot) is
necessary. Planing in the ground is better (and faster).

Of course, to a seedling or a cutting, a bonsai pot may
seem to be a large pot and you might get soem growth first. It
all depends on what size tree you want to grow. However, the
bonsai you get is likely to be tall and skinny. Because the
major part of bonsai is developing a tree that gives an
impression of great age, you usually need a large, tapering
trunk. So giving the tree root room in its formative years is
the quicket way to do that.

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Our life is
frittered away by detail . . . . Simplify! Simplify. -- Henry
David Thoreau - Walden

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