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Hi,

I have been reading a lot about growing and making Bonsais. Looks great fun to me and I'll be getting my hands muddy once the spell of heat passes (It was 48C yesterday in Lahore ) I have been maintaining a small garden for many years. Wonder if anybody else here is into the hobby!

-Mughal

I have what we call here a 'money tree' that I am making into a bonsai. I've only had it since Christmas and am still a little unsure how to prune it properly.
We have a couple of bonsai farms nearby in the mountains, I went looking for them a few weeks ago and couldnt find them.

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Before you criticize someone walk a mile in their shoes. That way you're a mile away and you have their shoes.

I have a huge 'Ficus religiosa' beside my house. I have discovered a few saplings 8 to 12 inches in height, one of which has a surprisingly beautiful stem growth. I'm planning to try converting them to bonsais.
I've found these websites very interesting and helpful. Hopefully you'll find some good tips on pruning and repotting your money tree.

http://www.bonsai4me.com/Basics.html
http://www.bonsaiprimer.com/general/general.html

Thanks for the links, I havent seen those ones before.

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Before you criticize someone walk a mile in their shoes. That way you're a mile away and you have their shoes.

All I know is that all the best bonsais are old. Bonsai trees are freakish in that some of them are older than most people. Truly an amazing thing. I don't have that kind of patience with creating such a work of art, but I do like looking at them. I've always wanted to do a mangrove bonsai for a fish tank. That'd be pretty awesome.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

How does one "convert" a tree to a bonsai?

I am very interested, and my Ma in Law has a green touch. I should prolly involve her and try some. I did like to do an orange tree, I have seen some and the orange fruits add a nice contrast to the green. You cant eat them though, they are too concentrated and citrusy.

Bonsai is basically, well, the same idea as stunting a fish. Without the torture/pain/death that goes along with fish, of course. Trees and plants can easily adapt to a smaller container and if done right, will continue to flourish in a smaller state than they would in nature. A restrictive container makes the plant grow in a dwarf version of itself.

Take, for instance, the live catnip you can buy in most chain LPSs... the leaves are tiny, the container small. I replanted it into a larger container and the new shoots produce leaves double to triple the size of the original. I'll take a picture later if you like. *grins*

My cousin planted a maple tree in a small pot for some school project. He was supposed to plant it at home, but somehow it got pushed to the side and lived in the garage (don't ask how it survived without water and/or much light) for a year or more. When they finally did plant it, although it did grow, it will never be a "normal" tree. I planted the same type of tree in my parents' backyard several years after my cousin planted the stunted tree. My tree is easily three or more times the height, because my cousin's "tree" is more like a really tall maple bush.

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

Your cousin's maple, unless it's terribly root bound, probably isn't that bad off. Maples are notorious for being shade tolerant. In the forest, they grow to twig sizes in the shade of bigger trees. When one of the big trees that is shading it falls over, the maple shoots up into the sunny space it leaves. There are probably other factors for why yours is doing better.

As for how to grow a bonsai, I only know my mom, who is ordinarily good at growing plants, has killed a few. They seem pretty delicate.

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Not sure about other conditions. It spent at least a year without light or water, and though it's a few years older than my tree (which I think is about 10 years old), it's at the most ten feet tall while mine has soared to 25+. Both trees are in the same city, about a mile apart, but I have no idea what the soil conditions are, I assume pretty similar. However, his is bushy and low to the ground, mine looks like a normal tree, a smaller version of its "mother" in the same yard.

I suppose that's neither here nor there, as it's not a true bonsai, I just used it as an example... I wonder if you could keep something as big as a silver maple as a teeny tiny bonsai, though. Hmm...

My sister tried bonsais, but lord, she's got a black thumb for the most part. I'm actually surprising myself lately in proving to have a flourishing windowsill garden. If I had more room, I'd try bonsai, too... I love the delicacy of the plants.

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

I've been studting them a lot these days and have certainly fell in love with them. Growing them is pretty simple BUT it requires a lot of time... Most likely, i'll not be able to see the bonsais I plan to start with, as mature old trees in my life time Man is too short lived...
Caring for them isn't that difficult. After all, they are normal plants with small sizes. Watering them is a problem due to the very small mass of soil they're rooted in. It can store very little water and thus needs to be watered frequently.
The biggest reason ppl kill their bonsais is keeping them indoors. Nearly all bonsais are outdoor plants and love sun as much as their normal-sized brothers do. Plus, most of the bonsais sold on cheaper prices in chain stores particularly are not in good condition. They are not mature. They are not kept in improper soil, and worst of all, the soil is covered by glued decorative rocks! My friend has already killed three of them.
I have bought a juniper with a nice trunk. Its gonna be my first project!

-Mughal

Its not just the need of sunlight...there are a lot of trees that will grow just fine inside. The problem is, like with the juniper, that they need to go into their dormant stage in the winter. Most people do not offer this to their bonsai that need it and the trees end up dying. I use to be very into bonsai, and all in all they are not that difficult. For a beginner I would start with a Ficus as they are very tolerable to pruning and not being watered as often as they should be. My favorite tree that I had was a ficus and it was about 10 inches tall with a trunk base of about 2.5 inches in diameter at the base. When I bought the tree I was told that it was 37 years old and I paid a little over $300 for it. I kept it for 3 years and then started getting into fish so I sold it to a local nusery here that grows and sells bonsai for $480. Ill see if I can find a picture of it and post it

I have some excellent books on bonsai and recommend doing as much reading as you can. Ill dig for them and post the titles and authors as well