Hi Guys,

My name is Niko and I'm writting this post from the South Spain. I'm 45 years old (probably older than some of your bonsais!) and very excited about joining this community. I've gone through a lot of videos and different articles and books about the bonsai world and my head is big mess right now! I hope I can ge some enlightening from this great community and, with time, support with my (very little) knowledge.

I've planted tree seeds a few months a go and would like to see them grow as bonsais, and I curently have the ugliest Ficus Ginseng bonsai ever . I must say the satisfaction of seeing a new life comming along in my small terrace is inspiring.

Hello and welcome to this highly addictive hobby.
Your ficus ginseng isn’t considered a bonsai to be honest, it’s the branches of one type of ficus grafted on the very ugly roots of another type of ficus. Treat it as any other houseplant..’
Your seeds.. will take a very very long time to become bonsai - at least a decade or more to become something remotely looking like one. You do know that out of these seeds will grow normal trees, not bonsai trees, and that they need to be out side?
I am not quite sure if you already have specific questions but if so, this is the place to ask!

Hey Niko.

Many people don't consider Ginseng Ficus a Bonsai... But it always has to start somehow right!
My first tree was a Ulmus Parvifolia "Mallsai", so as a Serissa I bought a few months after that Elm, which both died for my little knowlodge of horticulture, and zero on bonsai, info wasan't easy to find back in the day, but I learned some lessons. And I noticed that the "finished trees" that were sold by that store, didn't have much quality, most trees didn't even have movements, so I started to raise my own trees to make them as I wanted to be...

Are they the way I imagined them 14 years ago? Well, no, actually only my Ficus survived this whole time, it was on that tree that I learned most of what I know, specially how to keep them healthy and alive, It was the first tree I've shaped, the first I've done root pruning, the first plant I fertilized and so on...

So by 2017 I moved from a appartment to a house with a garden, and I started to gather some new trees and materials (still doing it), and now I feel like I'm much better on careing them, Youtube plays an important role on this of course, but you can learn a lot from this forum too just by reading other persons' experiences and progressions...

Here in Brazil we have some nice channels that teach some tricks to help you raising bonsai from seedlings, like for example cutting the taproot while they are young, to achieve a proper nebari earlier, moment you should start to fert. it, how to proper start training it, techniques, etc... Some nice infos I wish I had before.

For seeds, try to raise native trees, as the seeds (and even saplings) are easily available, and they'll be a lot easier to take care of, as they are evolved to your enviroment, see what others in your area are raising...

Thanks lucR,

I know my babies will take long to grow and have no special bonsai caring for at least the first year, thanks for your comments. I have a few questions about an almond tree I've bought (pre-bonsai) that I will like to start working on, I will open a new post for it. I did notice that there is no prebonsai folder. Where do you suggest I should expose my doubts in this matter?
Thanks again for your welcome!

Thanks for your kind welcome Albas!

The main reason I have joined this forum is my overloaded brain, I think I've watched too many youtube videos, lol.
I've got six apple trees that have been rising for a few months and have already seen how I should cut the taproot next year, thank you very much for bringing this matter and for using the word "taproot", I still need to learn how to use all my new vocabulary in English.

All of my seeds are from my area, I'm actually trying to germinate every seed I find nere home (I feel a bit like Mendel). I've bought a prebonsai (funny way of saying I've bought a youg tree) and will bring questions about this soon,

niko_kyushu wrote: Thanks lucR,

I know my babies will take long to grow and have no special bonsai caring for at least the first year, thanks for your comments. I have a few questions about an almond tree I've bought (pre-bonsai) that I will like to start working on, I will open a new post for it. I did notice that there is no prebonsai folder. Where do you suggest I should expose my doubts in this matter?
Thanks again for your welcome!

Well, it depends a bit of the question you have: is the tree sick ( pests and diseases section),dont know which direction to go with it ( general),dont know how to prune ( pruning and wiring),and so on.It could also be you dont have a question at all and just want to show your tree and its progression ( .... you guessed it, progression section ).
My question about the seeds might seem strange but you have no idea how many people buy "bonsai starter kits, grow a bonsai kit,,." that think a bonsai will grow out of these seeds ( and even be angry when told otherwise...). But collecting seeds from your neighbourhood and working from there is the right way to do it! It does take a while, but most of us have a collection of seedlings, saplings, trees growing in the garden, pre-bonsai in al stages of development and bonsai. This gives us the opportunity to work with one four trees year round.