Failure to Launch-please help.

Hello all: New to this forum, new to Bonsai growing . I have what I believe to be a Japanese Black Pine that I've been trying to get to thrive for about 1 year. Some notes about my premie: Lives indoors, adequate sunlight, no fertilizer as of yet. I felt I germinated/planted it in a too large pot to begin with (pictured) and was fearful to try to move it..It is my hope that my pictures will help you to help me. Thanks so much.

Most trees from temperate and colder regions such as pines need some downtime during the year to get ready for the next growth flush. Since I doubt that you chill the inside to near freezing for a month or two during the winter that is my guess as to why it is not doing well. I have heard of folks in tropical areas storing their temperate trees in a freezer or refrigerator, but it is a lot of work and they rarely thrive. The same argument applies to those of us in temperate climates that insist on growing tropicals - we can bring them inside for the winter, but they will survive and not thrive.

If you keep it indoors, it will die.

Try Chinese elm, they will survive a bit longer if you can keep it in an unheated room.

It needs simply to go outside and stay there. Make sure it does not dry out. But you will wait 30 years before that becomes a "bonsai".

I recommend buying something from a nursery that you can actively work on to create a bonsai. More fun, and much more rewarding.

Alain and Brendan are spot on with their advice. I enjoy growing stuff from seed, but the long slow process is enough to deter most newcomers, unless they have enough other plants to keep them interested.

Thank you, everyone, for your informative and gracious replies. It is now October 2017 in the Philadelphia PA area and I am going to start placing my pine outside. I shall explore other Bonsai options as suggested, but the equity I have in my pine urges me to at least try to get it to thrive albeit not as a Bonsai