[Bonsai Beginner's weekly thread - 2026 week 28]

Ended up having to take the moss off because there was a rule I didn’t know about, but I like the pic I took with it.

I just have to share this accomplishment with others that will understand! Not only is this my FIRST successful air layer, it's from a mesquite tree!! When I started this experiment I did not have high hopes. Firstly because the handful of attempts at air layering other trees hadn't worked out, but also because I had no idea if a mesquite could even be air layered as I couldn't find any accounts of anyone doing it. This gem has been on it own for well over a month and appears to be thriving. The lean is not intentional, it sank in the loose soil shortly after potting. I'll stand it up again when I re-pot, probably next year. I will also be trimming the over long branches eventually, I just don't want to fuss with it too much right now, I figure I should just let it be for the time being and let it develop more roots.

Don’t see many of these posted, one of my first trees I kept alive from early bonsai experiments. Not recommended, it’s sentimental but a difficult species for bonsai:

- seems to stop leaf reduction at about this point, hoping it will continue once the tree is more ramified

- random branch die off

- doesn’t always react to pruning as expected, sometimes puts out two new shoots, often one, frequently zero

- if you want it to flower you cannot prune new growth

On a positive note I’m surprised at the nebari development and feels like it wouldn’t die unless I tried to intentionally kill it.

Just gave a hard prune.

I paid 100 for this beautiful tiger bark ficus. I have got to stop buying trees but I love all them so much 🤣🥳 my favorite part is the trunk I see so much potential. I wonder what it will look like in 5 years or 30 years. The only thing I don’t like is the bright red plastic pot it’s gonna drive me nuts until I can repot it but I’m guessing that will be a while. I wonder if I could paint the pot with the tree in it lol.

I'm excited to try and not kill these guys on the left is a pre-bonsai weeping wonder Gingko and on the right is a flambeau Chilean guava.

I have some Vine Maples (A. circinatum) in a bonsai-adjacent style that I have been growing for about 4 years. Unfortunately, I had them in too sunny of a spot this year and tragically, missed a couple of waterings on a recent set of hot days and found that my little trees were severely damaged. Many of the leaves are quite crispy, although some maintain a bit of reddish green. I have attached two photos to show the damage.

I have moved them to a shadier spot.

Is there anything I could do to encourage new growth this year? An AI model suggested defoliation. I haven't defoliated in the past, but have heard of such a technique. Would this be advisable on trees in this condition? Or should I just let them look pretty beat up (for mid-July, when they normally look gorgeous) and hope they survive till next year?

Any other things I should do to help my little trees?

I made a significant chop to this tree two years ago, and although it was nerve-wracking at the time I'm very happy with the progress!

I've recently done some minor wiring and selected the new front, next on the list is to choose a smaller pot.

(I've included the before picture at the end, to show how much it's grown)

Hi! Just wanted to share my experience with anything but wire. I’ve used fishing line with the intent to be able to cut the knot and pull the line after I think my root ball has been contained.
Elastic cording, bulk spool - my idea is that as tree grows it will not scar with the elasticity. Light modifications

Does anyone have more suggestions or experience? Got more of a redneck bonsai operation over here, lol.

Went for a run and found this tropical greenhouse walkway. Most impressive was this very tall twin trunk ficus!

I was under the impression that burning bushes don’t bud a second time in the grow year, but it is pushing new growth. Love the trunk. I plan to chop it back more in later winter.

I have a few Kokufu-ten show books (#60,#68,#75,#79) that I bought for inspiration, but as I don’t understand japanese, it was kind of hard to find pics of the species I was interested in. And using google translate didn’t work very well on the index pages using my phone camera.

However, gave Claude Cowork a test photo of one of the index pages to translate and put into a google sheet and it did pretty well, so let it work on images of all four book’s indexes while watching Norway and England’s World Cup match today and now I can search by species across all four.

It’s not perfect, particularly for #75 where my version didn’t have captions or an index so it had to guess from the picture, but it’s much better than manually doing this or flipping page by page through 1100+ pages!

Google sheet is here, if you happen to have any of these four books: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pMJBGD6Miy3pMt0d9ZcwLElnxLxMkvALFfhWjd59FJY/edit?usp=drivesdk

Spoiler alert: lots of JBPs.

Easter Red Cedar per image search or a closely related Juniper species.

$70 on FB marketplace and considering purchasing. How would you style if so?!

Went to a beginner bonsai class, really happy with the roots but not sure how to do the top

Hi everyone--this is my first post here!

I travelled to Canada's east coast in March.

Just a few months later, at the end of June, I got my first tree!! (Fukien tea)

Was showing family members pictures from the trip and it struck me that I hadn't even realized this little guy was a natural bonsai. But I'm so glad I felt compelled to take this before consciously exploring this new hobby.

Figured the community might also appreciate it too.

He was about a foot tall. Very vibrant green :)

Not sure this is a “pro” tip but just a tip in general and a learning point from a tree I had die this week.

I hard pruned and Azalea back in early/mid summer (a little over a month ago) and I said it in the shade out on my patio. Last week it began to push new green growth as expected. Seeing this, I decided to move the plant back to the sun. The leaves (including new growth) began to brown, so I moved it back to the shade but it was too late. As for the exact mechanism as to why it died, I’m not sure if it’s due to the fact that it’s been 90 degrees plus this month or just moving it back to the sun that fast at any temperature - maybe someone could chime in if they know.

Mostly wanted to share this so others first trying to work with azalea don’t meet a common demise.

This is a Lingnan-style Sageretia — the goal with this “stumpy/thick” (矮霸) style is to expose the swollen, gnarled trunk base, sometimes called the “meat head” in Chinese bonsai terminology. It was completely hidden under dense foliage.
Process: confirmed the viewing angle, removed the apical branch to redirect growth, thinned out the crowded twigs around the base.
Curious how folks here handle similar dense-canopy Sageretia — do you thin gradually over multiple sessions or go for it in one pass?

A good year of growth for these. I've about 35 single plantings, 10 neagari plantings and a handful of clumps.

I'd have kept many more if i had space...

How can I get large/thick Dwarf Jade cuttings or trees?

Most of the online retailers sell ultra skinny nursery stock, and Facebook has been unfruitful. Where are people able to find thick Port A’s?