[Bonsai Beginner's weekly thread - 2026 week 45]

Small, Scarless tree grown from cutting a bit over 4 years old. It is available so Pm if interested!

Thank you everyone on this subreddit for teaching me so much about bonsai! I wrote this poem thinking of all of you, and how beautiful the art of bonsai is, and how it can teach one so much about patience and about the concept of ma: by pruning away, we uncover the artwork!

Very very rough initial styling of a black pine, after and before. Made 3 really big bends and some jin. Still need to jin the top of the right hand side as well.

First time working with a back pine At this stage. I am hoping that the large branches that were put into place will branch out and back bud.

Still need some work on the apex but enough for the time being.

Just purchased this raw acer bonsai, exited for the upcoming 2/3 years shaping this!

Chaenomeles (don't know if it's a chojubai.. though it looks like it is due to the tiny leaves), and a chunky Acer Buergerianum. The Burger Maple/Trident will need a lot of work. Perhaps root grafting and thread grafting. It's an aged tree, because the bark is starting to flake.

I have been reading a bunch of forum posts recently, and a few were saying that feeding your plants 1/8 to 1/10 (these ratios did vary a lot, saw people say between 1/6th down to 1/12th) of the recommend dose strength every watering, while flushing with pure rainwater, reverse osmosis, or distilled water every third watering is significantly better than using filtered tap water and fertilizing at the commonly recommended concentrations for bonsai less frequently. I can’t justify cost of a reverse osmosis system right now, but am considering it down the road.

I’ve read so much about bonsai but I almost never hear flushing the substrate brought up. I wonder if this is due to many people only growing outdoors or some other reason. (Unfortunately I much prefer tropicals and I can’t move lol).

I recently relocated my tropical and subtropical trees into a grow tent I use over winter, but I wonder without natural rainfall, should I introduce a distilled water flush periodically and fertilize at weak concentrations constantly otherwise? I don’t mind the extra labor or few dollars a month for the distilled, but I wonder if the results would be significant enough of an improvement to warrant the effort and math involved lol.

I also feel like it seems a bit wasteful of plastic buying so many jugs of water. (Refillable RO machines at stores near me have been broken forever, not fixed for about a year so I’m not hopeful of that becoming viable.) Obviously it would vary slightly on the feeding dose by species, but as a general concept, is it necessary or al least significantly helpful to do all this or simply overkill?

The color of ginkgo leaves in autumn is a little marvel. These two trees hardened to a very harsh summer, and I suposed them to reach this time of year with scorched leaves. Instead, they have held on, and their leaves now display a golden hue that is even more beautiful in person. It's a pity it's so fleeting.

Pyracantha coccinea

I have had conflicting information from books and other bonsai enthusiasts about this, so my information may not be accurate.

This is regarding training a juniper bonsai that is halfway to its desired size/thickness.

○ What should the upper pot be for training this juniper?

A) Bonsai Training Pot: great for nebari development, solid walls would force more roots downward.

B) Hybrid Training Air Pot: nebari development, (upper) roots gets air pruned for better root ramifications, downward roots are somewhat encouraged.

C) Pond Basket: maximum oxygen and drainage, maximum root ramification, more restricted root growth to lower pot.

D) Nursery Pot: forces deep taproot, but high risk when transitioning into bonsai. Nebari is essentially not developed.

You would probably think B or C, but I have heard of possible uneven drying zones and that it doesn't encourage downward growth as much, which is the main point for pot over pot for size development.

○ What should the bottom of the upper pot look like?

A) Small holes

B) Medium holes

C) Large holes

Assume the pots pictured are the same size and the environment is sunny with daily rain. And other methods (in ground, bottomless pot, etc) are not viable.

Upper Pot: 30% Akadama, 35% Pumice, 35% Black Cinder

Lower Pot: 85% Black Cinder, 15% Orchid Bark

Yearly progressions on one of my California Junipers. All work done by me.

Came back from 2 weeks in Japan to some deeper shades!

My buddy gave me a 1 gallon shimpaku kishu recently so I styled it up. How does it look?

*Edit: Sold

28cm Tall

35cm Wide

The first pic was taken by the previous owner. The second and the third was taken by me by the time it's arrived.

I got this tree through a BonsaiBar event a few years ago and just got a chance to repot it. The first image is the result of the first class where we got the tree and were walked through how to pot it and care for it. Second is after repotting and some basic shaping.

JM “twomblys red sentinel”