Things I've learned this year as a beginner.

[Dabbler]

I think the most impactful lesson that I learned this year is that I personally enjoy bonsai the most when I am only focusing on my most favorite trees.

This year I reduced my collection from probably 60+ trees to 19 of my favorite trees. I sold or gave away many trees that were very young, didn’t do well in my climate, or that I simply was not inspired by.

Now I have the time, energy, space, and inspiration for those 19 trees to really thrive. They are mostly Rocky Mountain natives that do well in our hot dry summers and extremely cold and snowy winters. Most are old trees, although I do have a few limber pine seedling projects since limbers are hard to come by. And all of these are trees that inspire me to sit down and do some bonsai!

I did the same thing - I reduced my collection by a lot and only kept some that I really like and were attached too. When I first started I was eyeing every trunk I could lay my hands on

 

[Brain Treez]

Having only started 9ish months ago, I haven't been able to make those important distinctions between correlation and causation when looking at my developing trees. I guess the actual lesson here is to (try to) pay close attention to your trees, and it really helps to keep a spreadsheet/journal of all the work you do and observations you make on each tree.

If I document the When and What, hopefully the Why comes later!

Oh, and also: try to limit your different species when starting out. Learning bonsai is like trying to drink from a fire hose and you'll do yourself a favor by narrowing the scope of your initial ignorance.

 

[The Barber]

Also, a calendar works great for remembering when you did things. Beats me asking myself, "did I fertilize last week or 2 weeks ago".

 

[Shibui]

People like @Shibui / @River's Edge / @rockm will just always know more than i ever will

People like these have probably been making the same mistakes for a great many years more than most of you. Having many, many years of success and failure allows us to offer that experience in order to make it quicker and easier for you newbies to grow better bonsai. I certainly learned much from my mentors but still had to do the hard yards and make my own mistakes.
The time may come when you can offer personal experience for those that come after.

 

[moriel]

People like these have probably been making the same mistakes for a great many years more than most of you. Having many, many years of success and failure allows us to offer that experience in order to make it quicker and easier for you newbies to grow better bonsai. I certainly learned much from my mentors but still had to do the hard yards and make my own mistakes.
The time may come when you can offer personal experience for those that come after.

Nah. People like Shibui have special powers, they just won't admit it

 

[eugenev2]

People like these have probably been making the same mistakes for a great many years more than most of you. Having many, many years of success and failure allows us to offer that experience in order to make it quicker and easier for you newbies to grow better bonsai. I certainly learned much from my mentors but still had to do the hard yards and make my own mistakes.
The time may come when you can offer personal experience for those that come after.

Oddly my motto this year be harder on my trees...probably going to make more mistake...so i hope i learn from them