Need advice on bonsai trees

Hello everybody,

first post, immediately question, hehe. So, my girlfriend has bonsai trees (I know, they shouldn't be called bonsai because it's not a finished "product" yet, ah..) which are, um, how to describe it, two bloom, two are dying off (?). Pictures below. She and her fam have had this trees for little more than a year. They were only watered, and were placed in ordinary pots filled with soil. I'd like to help them because they recently tasked me to maintain them. For now I have no bonsai pots in which I would put the two that began to bloom, nor do I have proper soil to put them in (I have to find where to buy it). What about the two that are "dying(?)"? Remove them from vase, clean them, cut some roots, trim branches, connect the branches, put a new soil(not the bonsai but the ordinary soil), give them food(fertilizer)? Leave them in the same vase and soil and just give them food?

So, if anyone has some kind of advice before I go with it, I'd be grateful!

thank you,

Best regards!

P.S. -  sorry for bad language

requests for better pictures in:

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2....

Well, I have no idea what your weather is like in Croatia this time of year.  On the first picture, if you scratch the bark of the tree, do you see any green underneath?  If you do, it is alive.  If not, you might as well dispose of it.

The other two look like Chinese elms, which are very tough trees.  They look relatively healthy.  

All of them should be repotted into a granular, fast-draining soil.  I cannot advise what is available for you or where you might find it.  

At this point, I would NOT cut any more root than you can help.  Just wash off the old soil and replace, being certain to work the soil grains well into the rootball.  

Fertilize with any houseplant fertilizer.  

Others will have to advise you about conditions in Croatia, local bonsai clubs, and where to get materials.

Good luck -- and welcome.

Sory for bad pictures, but it was night and phone couldn't focus.

Here in Croatia is spring currently. I'll see if it's green or not. Will repot it soon and won't cut any roots.

Thank you for advice!

toorop wrote:Sory for bad pictures, but it was night and phone couldn't focus.

i was only joking...

JimLewis wrote:On the first picture, if you scratch the bark of the tree, do you see any green underneath?  If you do, it is alive.  If not, you might as well dispose of it.

Okay, so, i scratched it. This is how it looks. http://prntscr.com/6ukbkl http://prntscr.com/6ukbp7 As soon as I scratched it, it was green and after little more of it it was coming white. As far as I know about the trees and plants ect. this means that it's alive?! Because the guy that gave them trees said that this tree is dead and dried, but it doesn't seem dried.. I don't want to give up on this one, especially because I bond very fast and bonsai is something that I loved as kid and watched videos of people trimming theirs, and now I have a chance to do it myself. So, the plan here is to; repot this tree in some basic nursery pot(that has drainage holes) with some nice soil(for plants) until it recovers and feed it, and then when it's time, repot it to bonsai pot w bonsai soil? Or something else?

Thank you!

Looks alive. Perhaps wait until you see the swelling of new buds, then repot just once with bonsai mix. If you're satisfied with how it is, it could go into a bonsai pot. If you want to thicken the trunk up, it would do better in a large training pot or even better in the ground for a few years. It depends on your goals.

Precarious wrote:Looks alive.  Perhaps wait until you see the swelling of new buds, then repot just once with bonsai mix.  If you're satisfied with how it is, it could go into a bonsai pot.  If you want to thicken the trunk up, it would do better in a large training pot or even better in the ground for a few years.  It depends on your goals.

Problem is that other threes bloomed and this one isn't
I thought about larger one, yes! Little bit of feeding with fertilizer to "boost" the growth and than repoting into bonsai pot.

Problem is that other three bloomed and this one isn't

This one looks like a different species of tree. Not all trees leaf out all at once -- especially in pots.

JimLewis wrote:

Problem is that other three bloomed and this one isn't

This one looks like a different species of tree.  Not all trees leaf out all at once -- especially in pots.

And that bugs me. Because, I don't know. Tree looks fine but no leafs. Haha. So, I can repot it in bigger nursery pot and feed it and hope?

The first thing you need to do is establish what species of trees you have. Once you know that, then you can get far better advice and information - on here or by doing a web search.

Where do you keep these trees? Indoors or outdoors?

Girlfriend keeps them outdoors. Above is said that bloomed two look like Chinese Elm(?), but this one, I don't know..

I don't have time to dig any deeper, but somehere in Sandev's blog there is info about a Croatian Bonsai Association. If there is one, you might look for help there.

http://sandevbonsai.blogspot.com/#uds-search-results

Thank you. I'll ask the guy here that knows avout bonsai more than me!

Thank you

Hello again! I've got another question...

So, this dried tree, we gave him some liquid fertilizer and new leaves started popping out from the roots. Then I scratched some branches and it was green underneath. So, does this mean that the tree is done and I can throw it away because it's not popping flowers on actual tree but it is on the roots? or I'm missing something?

Btw, more pictures, better quality!

P.S. Sory for being tiring, just want to see what you people think!

contact Marija Hajdic, the queen of Croatian bonsai.
Uskocka 4
Kastel Novi 21217
+385-21-230602
marija@animabonsai.com
Iris

Waiting for reply, thank you!