[Bonsai Beginner's weekly thread - 2026 week 43]

Found this on a Lowe's discount rack today. Love the shape of the trunk!

I grew this maple from a seed I had bought online at the beginning of my journey. About a year or two ago I decided I wanted to remove it from the small pot I was keeping it in to grow radial roots in and transplant it into a forest pot with some seiryu and other stones I had for what I'd hoped would turn into a root over rock/ landscape type planting. Originally it had a ton of spagnum and dirt covering the trees roots. I have slowly removed it, via watering and actually picking at it.

I hope you all like my progress so far. I am still a novice so it's not perfect. Hope you all are doing well.

While I was away a drunk person fell on my almost 20 years old crataegus. The roots were damaged and the leader was snapped. I'm sorry this is a wordy post but my emotions are getting the better of me. I'll appreciate all forms of advice or sources of information.

It was wrenched from the soil so that it was lying completely flat in the pot. Someone lifted it back up and staked it while I was away. The roots appear somewhat intact but I haven't probed too deep.

The leader was snapped and seems approximately 50% girdled. It's a little wobbly but the remaining wood seems strong enough to support itself.
Roughly 50% of the foliage is growing from above the break.

l've tried to provide a 360 degree view of the break.
There is an open fracture with some splinters poking out and a section of cambium which has peeled and died.

I'm asking for advice regarding procedures, materials and timelines needed to give the leader the best chance at repair. I will probably avoid touching the roots however any advice is welcome.

Would you remove the splintered wood where it pokes out of the wound? Would you cut the peeled cambium back as in bark tracing? Which sealant, if any would you apply and where? Would any wrappings such as raffia be appropriate? We're going into autumn here, how does this affect its chances? Is any pruning recommended?

I've had this tree since childhood but it was neglected in a shady spot under a tree. I recently started taking bonsai more seriously and lifted it from the ground this spring. It lost a lot of roots but recovered in a greenhouse and put out good roots and extensions through summer. It's in a homemade mix of molar, zeolite, crushed leca, shredded bark and sphagnum.

Visited the Longwood Garden with some friends this weekend, and to my surprise they had a wonderful little courtyard with an attached workshop demonstrating some tanuki techniques with pre bloom chrysanthemums, later on we stumbled across some that were actually trained and had already bloomed.

I would highly recommend this place to anywhere around or visiting the area!

might be slight off topic, and unpopular, and maybe against the vbonsai concepts, but why not ask.

With the help of AI, I did a list of some trees from some IPs I like and try to think of trees that could be trained to become similar/inspired bonsais.

would like to hear from the community about:

• If they agree with the type of tree or have another suggestion
• Another suggestion of famous trees that are not in the list
• If someone tried something similar
• What do you think about the idea

As you can see, the roots have becme thick and woody. It is no longer possible to fix these roots. But foliage color of the leaf is exceptional. I will use its branch for grafting.

I last posted this medium sized JBP about 10 months ago at the time of the winter needle thinning.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Bonsai/s/6fRiK9pQOE

It has grown very strongly over the year since, I will have to thin it even more aggressively this winter.

This tree is about 20 years from landscape nursery stock, has been in a bonsai pot for about 5-6 years.

I've included a pic from about 5 years ago.

Winter is near and everything unhardy is moving inside. First time setting up growing lights. Ppfc measures 150 at pot-hight.

The heating stays off because of the plants.

I don’t quite like the top half of this tree. My plan A is to chop it back to below the first branch, there is a small bud that I can build a new tree from. However, figured that I should try and see if I can make something I like from it. I’m going for some literati style. It’s a prunus (padus) and has nice white flowers in clusters and small black berries.

Lost a lot of leafs today after a stormy night. Unfortunately because it would get even more red but it lost a lot of leafes in the front view. So this is the backside. Just to catch its beatiful fall colours quick. Picture does not show how good the nebari is. Check my previous pics of last years if you wonder how it looks.

Kishu juniper shohin restyling,

Tonight's work

Cheers

Please read the tag

Thinking this juniper has too much foliage for the size of the trunk—it’s looking bushy. Considering taking off most of the top foliage, leaving the lower foliage so the apex is much lower and closer to the front of the pot.

Hello there, this video contains the start of the journey of one of my Ulmus Parvifolia "Seiju" trees, from cutting to future Shohin tree. In this video you can see the progress of the tree from January 2026 (when I took the cutting) to Late October 2026.

I stopped by Bonsai Master in Apopka fl. to help Mr.Kim pull out a hand full of good material to take photos and help him start a labeling process with dog tags I made him.

Reddit saved the day and has helped get his address updated, for that he is extremely grateful. However me posting his number online may have set him up to receive an endless amount of spam calls so please text him, his number is on the previous post(I don't want to post it again if its contributing to more and more spam calls)

These photos are some examples of trees he has for sale, I have a lot more photos upon request. If it takes me a little while to respond please keep in mind I have a very demanding career and a young family and I am doing my best.

I also have a little better understanding on his prices of his bigger bonsai Quince and some of his other stuff, although those would have to be a local pickup.

My intention is to help him get back on his feet and bring his motivation up as his pride and joy (previous farm and home) was stripped from him and I can tell he is exhausted by the physical and mental stress of the whole situation. He thrives on sharing his work with others and he hasn't had anyone besides me come around since the move 6ish months ago.

If the local community can come together to help me out on this one, I am slightly over extended here. I will continue to help out the best that I can however my work is going to pick back up again and I don't want to leave him hanging and lose the momentum this has gained. I wouldn't be doing this if he didn't deserve it.

I received a new shipment full of Lilliput Portulacaria Afra. Here I compare the Lilliput and regular Portulacaria Afra. It's really awesome to see the size difference.

P.S.: I sell them.

It was an air layer from a much older plant.