Some advice for my starter collection

[Micro Treenus]

hey all, hope everyone’s having a great weekend

Im a total noob but quite obsessed already and have finished collecting my starter collection for this year (I’ve actually banned myself because I can’t afford anymore trees rn )

Current trees:
- acer
- olive tree
- cotoneaster
- cedar
- ilex
- pyracantha
- ilex crenata

My main questions are:
- are these a good selection for a noob? If not what would you add
- I guess I just practice keeping them alive til spring?
- would you put any in bonsai pots or leave them in nursery?
- can I wire the pyracantha/cedar now as they’re both quite straight/boring atm
- if I do a big chop to the olive will it branch out from where I cut it?
- general advice on what you would do if you were me

I plan to forget about the acer for a few years and let it grow out and air layer the olive tree at the top and chop it down to just above the elbow at the bottom to get two trees

I’ve attached some photos of said trees for a better look!

Thanks again and glad I found this forum there’s so much valuable info

 

[BrightsideB]

Add your location please. It’s necessary to help with the overall care.

Have a goal in mind. How big do you want them to be as bonsai. It is about restricting growth so once that starts growth slows.

And take it a tree at a time. You kind of did a tree dump and like now what lol! It’s all good though. I started the same way. Getting comfortable working with the material is a good goal. See if you can find some cheap discount material for a couple bucks and just experiment. Practice wiring and making clean cuts before working on your more pricy material.

 

[BrightsideB]

Not much work to do going into winter so the main goal is to keep them alive through it.

 

[Micro Treenus]

Add your location please. It’s necessary to help with the overall care.

Have a goal in mind. How big do you want them to be as bonsai. It is about restricting growth so once that starts growth slows.

And take it a tree at a time. You kind of did a tree dump and like now what lol! It’s all good though. I started the same way. Getting comfortable working with the material is a good goal. See if you can find some cheap discount material for a couple bucks and just experiment. Practice wiring and making clean cuts before working on your more pricy material.

awesome, thanks for all the info! And apologies I am in the UK (midlands specifically)

Tbh most of these trees were cheap, under £20 each so I will be using them for experimenting etc and was told to get a few at the start to stop the urge of doing too much in one go to a tree haha

After looking at some professional bonsai I feel like most of these trees may be too small and like my acer I may have to grow them for a while?

My issue is all the bigger trunk trees I found are boring/no branches anywhere near the bottom

 

[darzuo]

awesome, thanks for all the info! And apologies I am in the UK (midlands specifically)

Tbh most of these trees were cheap, under £20 each so I will be using them for experimenting etc and was told to get a few at the start to stop the urge of doing too much in one go to a tree haha

After looking at some professional bonsai I feel like most of these trees may be too small and like my acer I may have to grow them for a while?

My issue is all the bigger trunk trees I found are boring/no branches anywhere near the bottom

You should add your location and zone to your profile so you won't have to repeat every time you make a post! I think you have a reasonable selection. As far as bonsai pots, the quickest way to develop nice trees is to only reduce roots once you are satisfied with the size of the main trunk line and maybe the main structural branches. This varies depending on your goals. You can look into "shohin" size trees if you are interested in keeping them quite small. Generally these trees are no larger than 8 inches or so, and can be developed relatively quickly compared to the very large and impressive professional bonsai. Here is a very long shohin thread on this forum with a ton of examples.