You still have your first bonsai?

Russell Coker wrote:

jrodriguez wrote:

Russell Coker wrote:

suburbia wrote:Do I have my first bonsai.... Are you kidding me, I don't have my 50th bonsai. I either killed or sold the last 50th tree.

But now I have downsized my collection enough to focus on quality and health of the trees... and hopefully they will last longer.

- S

But you kept that incredible ficus in your avitar, right??

Russell,

That tree does not belong to Suburbia. It is a Taiwanese ficus, trained by Mr. Lo (not Lo Min Hsuan) from Taiwan. It won some awards at the 12th TBCA exhibition.

Kind regards,

Jose Luis

Yes, Jose Luis, I'm aware of that. I was messing with Suburbia. Thanks for the background info though.

And not only do I NOT have my first bonsai, I don't even remember it - I was 10. Not sure I'd want to. But I still have the pot!

So that is the reason for this-------

As for mine, I'll look around, I am sure it is still in my garden somewhere. But I clearly remember I planted most of my first batch of trees back in the ground and never get them back again. They are probably bigger than all of my trees now. Some are really terrible, I have no plan of ever digging them up again.

regards,
jun

My first go at bonsai was with a bougainvillea


That was some months after I bought it in early 2009


later evolutions

late 2009

then late 2010



But now its dying out on me =(
The trunk is all spongy and falling apart at the slightest touch =(
I've placed it back in the ground

wow..stunnig ficus dorothy
that s my one chinese ulmus neagari
something like 13 or 14 years ago
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and last winter


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my first tree was still alive - but planted in ex wifes garden now so may not remain alive !

i have my 3rd or 4th tree still - also a chinese elm - this picture must be over 15 years ago, at least


this was a few months ago - slow progression as I left it much the same for many years - now i have a plan


regards Marcus

Very nice tree..Dorothy.

Here was one of my very first bonsai I started around 1980, it's a Carmona (Fukian tea); then it won the BCI Logo contest (closest to resemble BCI old logo), but I forgot which year it was...and it is R.I.P now....

I still have my first bonsai that I started sometime around 1975 as 3 trees in 2 inch pots planted on a piece of lava rock. Finally after almost 40 years I think it's finally done.

Front view


Rear view


I'm glad to see so many still have their very first trees! A testiment to the care and responsibility exhibitted by all.

...and this was my first "Widswept"..don't ask me when it was done..



(How you like it, Jun ?..can you feel the wind..?)

No, I no longer have my first bonsai. If you can call a skinny "stick" with a few crudely wired branches a "bonsai". But, there is a story.

Back around 1975, I started fooling around with some nursery stock, trying to make something that had a "bonsai look" about it. Thinking back, it was junk, but it was a start. A good friend took pity on me and signed me up for a bonsai class in the rec center near his home. There i met my first master, Bob Kato of Belmont California, and began a life changing process.

After a couple of sessions of very basic instruction, each student was handed a one gallon nursery stock juniper, and put to work trimming and wiring. When I finished, I was so proud, I could hardly wait to go home and show my wife my "masterpiece". I'll never forget her first words. "Whats that thing? Charlie Brown's Christmas tree? Then and there I vowed to show her. And I did.

A recent photo of my first bonsai [in fall color] .... Acer Palmatum Kotohime



I hope to really define the image more in the coming years but she is a slow grower

We just found this Thread while lazing about on a couch in the LOUNGE, can you believe it!

We agreed that there is not enough participation in it, being such a promising Thread.

So common guys bare all!!

Here is mine, but most of you know it already as we discussed it recently..... but please feel free to chip in.



Love and light

My first tree. Dwarf Pomegranate, I started it while I was still in high school, 1971, from a tiny cutting. It is still with me today, some 42 years later. No early pictures. As you can see, it still doesn't look like much. It is about 1.25 inches in diameter an inch or two above the nebari. Not much base spread at the nebari though it does have a nice flat root pad. There is no reverse taper, in spite of the photo. The angle of the photo makes the upper trunk appear thicker than it is. This summer I am letting all branches extend out, to help revitalize the tree. In 2014 or later I will prune back to reshape it.

For the first 20 years I thought I could learn everything I need to learn from books, and later, the internet. (yes, I started this tree before the internet was invented). About 8 years ago I finally joined a club, started taking lessons and my bonsai education truly began. The tree has not grown out of my mistakes yet, but I am working on it. Its an old friend, even if it doesn't look like much. So all you newcomwers to bonsai - join a club, get in person, hands on instruction, there is no substitute for real life. The biggest problem with learning from the books and internet is that they are full of techniques that really should only be used on stock that is within a few years of being ready for exhibition. Not enough emphasis on growing the basic trunk and nebari. When starting from seed or cutting, you really need to spend 10+ years building the basics. I did not appreciate this fact, so this tree has spent the bulk of its 42 years in a bonsai pot. In fairness, most authors do adequately discuss the basic initial trunk & nebari building phase, but because it is mostly "put it in the ground or a very large pot and forget about it for some years" I, and I assume many others have a habit of ignoring this and moving ahead and doing 'finished tree' activities on raw stock that really needs to grow first. Growing out phase is relatively boring, and I did not appreaciate this phase of bonsai until the last decade. Many of my trees are now back in the ground or very large nursery pots for growing out.

Leo,

what was the soil mix through the years [ from 71 to now ] if you don't mind me asking?
Khaimraj

Mine is an Acacia Black Monkey Thorn (still can't bring myself to calling it a Vachellia Iris ). I had one or two trees before this one, but with two international moves, this is the one that really started my passion going again when I moved away from the delightful English weather for Cape Town.



Here it is 5 years later. These little porkers don't bulk up too quickly and ramification is difficult, but I think it's on it's way. It was a birthday gift from my mother so it has probably gotten better care than my average tree!



Cheers,

Andrew

First tree, a small boxwood from a workshop about 3 years ago. Nothing great, probably never will be - but it has sentimental value and I'm enjoying working with it.

Photo as of June 2012 (no current image available, besides it's a mess as I'm letting it grow out a bit after a repotting):


Photo after the initial workshop in June 2010:


Chris

Chris,

I like it, and after some 3 or so years, of my growing a few, it is better than my efforts -

If it were possible, summers in a colander in the ground for say 5 years and keep the branch arrangement, should be stunning.

You can probably plant it, colander and all in a larger bonsai pot [ say 1" soil all around ] for indoor growing and showing, if your winters are too harsh/cold.
Later.
Khaimraj

* there are flat bottomed colanders out there as well as rounded bottoms.

Here's one you don't see every day--a pignut hickory collected in southwest Missouri 24 years ago:



Photo was taken in April and now the space between the branches is filled with large compound leaves. Oh well I pass on material like this now but at the time it was exciting in some way to me. And here's another one that has been with me from the start; a bird's foot violet from the same geographic area 24 years in a bonsai pot:

Hi All,

What a great thread, I am still fortunate enough to have my first bonsai. It's nothing fancy, but it certainly has a special place in my collection. I got this in late 1987, not long after my 12th birthday, from a local nursery as a $3.00 starter, it went into a pot and has lived its life in one thus far and only now am I slowly going to try to make something of it. The tree is a Port Jackson Fig (Ficus rubiginosa).


*as at 21 Feb this year.

I thought I would also post this photo of it up where I have my first bonsai alongside my first cutting, which came from it many years ago. One day I might do something with the cutting too



Hopefully others who have their first bonsai will share as well, even if you don't have it, you could share of the story of when got it and what was it etc.

Cheers

David

Guys,

to make this a helpful topic, could you please state the soil mix, if you changed it as the years went by, and perhaps the growing conditions.
The idea is to see which soil mixes, fertiliser routines and other conditions really work.
Yes, I know some are in the tropics, sub-tropics and temperate zones, but the information would then help others within those zones.

This is a Malpighia glabra - also called the West Indian Cherry or Barbados Cherry.
It was found as seedling under my backyard shrub, around 1982 or 1983, Just before I headed off to Florence Italy, I grew it as a mame' and left it in the care of a friend. Who grew it into a 15" [ 38 cm ] monster and I continued on.
Apologies, my dates are not day/month exact as I didn't think to write it down back then.

The soil mix has always been a blend of - crushed earthenware red brick, silica based sharp sand and home made compost - all sifted.
This mix has never failed me.

Placement is full sun, 6 to 6. It has flowered and fruited, many times. I have never exhibited it.

Simple 1/3 strength fertilizer [ lawn or miracle gro or phostrogen ] into moist soil and when the rains are falling an osmocote type fertiliser from Israel.
Later.
Khaimraj

I have also

Before and after....

Michal, that's great work! The thinning of the trunk is very well done and a clever design.

Best,
Dorothy

This scots pine is one of my first trees. I dont know why I have collected this pine; the nebari was and is awful, no taper and movement in the trunk, only the bark was rough. The first pic is from 1999, about three years after collecting and the try of bending the trunk with an iron pole. The last pic is from summer last year.

Regards,
Marco

I have an Eastern Red Cedar, Juniperus virginiana that has survived not only my own pretty lame attempts at first keeping Bonsai, but the circumstances of it's initial collection. Found as a tiny little seedling, I discovered this tree after it had just been squished and ground pretty flat under the wheels of a passing military convoy of trucks. It looked pretty sad, and it seemed obvious that its future prospects out on that dirt road were decidely limited.... So, with a rag and a quick scoop of the sand it was growing in, I basically collected my first 'Yamadori' and bonsai tree, back in April of 2008.

Say what you will about this species of juniper, and I will most likely agree with you on most of the negative comments. But, these humble trees at least have a quite admirable quality of being: Very Hard To Kill!

Here it is now,


Size with pot included in all measurements is approximately 2' feet long by 1' foot high. Oh, and to provide Master Khaimraj with the soil data he has so earnestly asked for earlier in this thread.... this tree is developing in a cut down 'Root-Maker Pro' pot. Soil amendments include 1/4 pine bark, 1/4 Turface MVP, 1/4 Permatil and 1/4 'Developer Layer' sized chicken feed granite grit. Top coat of pea gravel. All fines and dust were sifted and rinsed out of the soil before use as potting media. Hopefully in 4 to 5 years this little native Juniper may become a fairly decent bonsai tree.

Ulmus parvifolia, I've had it 5 years now I think, this is the tree that started it all.

Not the first but one of a batch started in nov 1986 when I discovered a name for what I had been playing at 2-3yrs. Dug as a 1yr old self sown seedling under a mature Jacaranda mimosifolia in my parents garden, always kept in pots by 97 it looked like this.

In 2007 it flowered for the first time & the decision made to plant in the ground, dug last september for regular rootwork & moved to a better spot in the garden to keep growing. This is how it looked nov 2012
Another 20yrs & it might be ready for a nice pot.

Khaimraj Seepersad wrote:Leo,

what was the soil mix through the years [ from 71 to now ] if you don't mind me asking?
Khaimraj

The pomegranate is in a somewhat large pot to allow the tree to be able to grow out without having to get into twice a day watering. It was repotted 2 years ago, and at the time the roots seemed to need a more coarse mix than my usual mix, it seemed I had some rot. I made a mistake, and included too wide a range of particle size in the mix I made. The coarse pieces floated up over the last couple years, the lower layers are much finer that the 'gravel' on top. The mix is 90% inorganic, granite turkey grit, akadama, Dry Stall brand of pumice, horticultural charcol, fir bark, Turface, and maybe a little perlite. The mix is not a 'formula' it was a blend of what was laying around on the day I put it together. The main components are pumice, akadama and granite turkey grit.

Over the years it has been in all manner of soils. From nothing but 'dirt' dug from the parents garden when I was a teenager to a year or two in pure Akadama. It survived them all, and grows pretty well in most. That is the great thing about pomegranate, they are tough survivors. And they come back from being dried out too hard too! Quite a few times over the 42 years this tree got forgotten about, dried so hard all leaves were crisp, complete defoliation. Each time just resumed watering and a few weeks later I had leaves. I suspect the pomegranate would not survive repeated dehydration events in the same growing season, they are not cactus.

Each time the potting mix is changed the watering pattern has to change. Other than that, it has been problem free. I recommend this species for beginners because it is so resilient.