= Beginner! Advice needed for next steps with my trees. =

Hello all,
Last year i obtained some trees from some private land, two English oaks and one other smaller tree that needs identifying (cannot be done yet as it has no leafs). And the other tree is a Japanese Maple. The maple was bought as a "starter" tree which i assume means its ready to be potted for Bonsai? What i need to know is the next steps for each of my trees?.. What size pots? Any cutting required? etc...

The maple is approx 15" tall. The Oaks are approx 6" and the other tree is around 4-6".


This is my Japanese maple.


This is my "other" unidentified tree.


This is one of the English Oaks.

Any help and advice would be appreciated!

Thanks
Ryan.

Although I would defer to someone in the UK, I think they need time to grow, years in fact.
They can be planted in the ground or in a succession of larger pots, but it is recommended to only go up one inch at a time since too much soil without roots can lead to root rot.

I thought the smaller trees would need to grow longer but i was under he impression the "starter tree" had been grown long enough to Bonsai it? or is it a starter tree that needs another 10 years..

As I said you are in the UK, "Starter Tree" may mean different things to different people. We can "start" anywhere, but how long it will take a starter to become a potential for bonsai depends upon a lot of things. When we buy or collect trees, we are buying or collecting time. There is no substitute for time.

The amount growth you would like to give the plants depends on what you want to reach. For a massive-trunked species, all of them are too small. For a slender, smaller sized speciment you might be able to do something now to your acer. I think it would be best if you can find a local club, to discuss. Or at least read a little on bonsai.

As for your unidentified plant, it is 99,9% certain a european ash, or Fraxinus excelsior.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraxinus_excelsior

Thanks for your quick replys.

I have one question, hopefully i can explain what i mean: if i let the trees grow they become taller.. so when it comes to start the bonsai surely it will be massivly too tall? and if you chop the top off there will be no branches? and the tree will die?..

Ryan

A while ago I wrote a little about this, as I was trying to figure out which methods one could use. I came to some 4 basic routes to take, and added it to an article for a website:

http://www.bonsaiempire.com/articles/advanced/bonsai-trunk-creation

Your "mystery tree" is an Ash (Fraxinus excelsior).

fiona wrote:Your "mystery tree" is an Ash (Fraxinus excelsior).

Thx for confirming my 99.9% to 100%

leatherback wrote:A while ago I wrote a little about this, as I was trying to figure out which methods one could use. I came to some 4 basic routes to take, and added it to an article for a website:

http://www.bonsaiempire.com/articles/advanced/bonsai-trunk-creation

Looks like some solid information on trunk development. I second that your trunks are pretty thin. One of the biggest challenges for a new bonsai artist is trying to find affordable stock to work on that will also look decent without waiting 50 years.

What you really need to do is decide if you want a small tree you can develop in a few years, or a large tree in more years. If you want a small tree fairly soon, follow the trunk development advice, pick a decent height, and have at it. There are lots of guidelines about trunk width to tree height, somewhere from 1:6 to 1:10 seems to be most common. If you want a bigger tree, then planting in the ground and pruning is advisable.

Good luck!

I'd also recommend planting them in the ground and getting a reasonably-priced Chinese Elm if you want a small potted tree now.

That Ash will thicken up nicely in just a few years and they cope well with heavy trunk chops, so they are excellent material for learning those techniques. However, they need to be quite large bonsai as their compound leaves tend to make them look like palm trees if there's just a few on a small trunk.

You could pot and train the Acer at its current height but the result will be a skinny tree with nice foliage. It would be better to do some research on how you could be developing those very bottom branches and getting rid of the top.

to leatherback: great article man...my only problem is the use of the phrase "desired thickness" because the desired thickness is always "thicker than it is right now" hahahahaha...

Just Mike wrote:to leatherback: great article man...my only problem is the use of the phrase "desired thickness" because the desired thickness is always "thicker than it is right now" hahahahaha...

Hahaha; true

& thanks! Writing that article made me realize there are very few step-by-step how to's that are clear for beginners. I am now developing a website dedicated to primers. Once online I will post the link to my growing bonsai website.