Hi everyone!
I would like to tell you a few things about me, so we can get to know each other better. I have been living in Greece, on the island of Antiparos. I have studied landscape architecture at the Agricultural University of Athens and I work in the gardens(construction and caretaking) and in the care and cultivation of fruit trees fields. Planting, transplanting, grafting have been done on several thousand plants , but in the field of bonsai I am "seedling".
I hope through this space, I will get the knowledge i need so that I can create my own bonsai.

Thank you very much everyone !!!
Vasilis

Welcome to.the forum vhulio! Please feel free to join the discussions and post some of your trees.

Br
Magnus

...and since I never really introduced myself from scratch in my copious 18 posts, let’s do it now.
Emanuele here (he/him, before you ask), Northern East Italy.
Been amazed by bonsai for a long time but been “practicing” only for the past 6-7 years or so, obviously killing many of my experimental plants.
I’m abroad for work about 1/4 of the year in 1 or 2 weeks periods, and have nobody who could take care of my plants while I’m away, so my hardest duty is to let them survive through automatic irrigation systems
But I mostly like junipers, that can be very forgiving, so it looks like I’m managing somehow...

Learned through self-study and the amazing online courses here on BE, and that’s how I ended up here years ago, although rarely looked at the forum session and never participated to it until recently

Ah, north East italy. That was my goto place in spring several years. So beautiful area. Lucky you!

I am curious about your auto watering setup. Could you start a thread showing it?

Br
Magnus

Tropfrog wrote: Ah, north East italy. That was my goto place in spring several years. So beautiful area. Lucky you!

I am curious about your auto watering setup. Could you start a thread showing it?

Pretty sure it's not worth it: it's simple off-the-shelf stuff, not much to say about it.
The tricky part is not the system itself, but rather give each plant the mount it needs in each season, regulating each irrigator. That -like everything- requires experience.
And luck, as obviously a sudden change in weather condition (particularly sudden heat) is hard to react on for an automated system; but being away for 1-2 weeks at a time I'm usually able to compensate quickly enough.

In my dreams I can see myself building the automation needed to monitor and feed each plant according to its individual needs. That would be huge. But if I had that type of time I'd be simply maintaining the plants by myself

I have a little mechanical devise that regulates water amount according to temperature. It is ment for greenhouse and not yet tested. Once I have a system set up, I will post on it.

Br
Magnus

Hi all,

I'm brand new to the site and forum and excited about joining the community! I've had an interest in Bonsai for quite a while, but have just recently moved to a place with more agreeable climate (California) and space ( I now have a balcony and windowsills!).I've joined local bonsai clubs and am always looking to broaden my contacts and skills!

All the best
-B

Hello everyone,
my name is Moritz and I'm from Germany, but I've also lived in California and might move back there soon.

About a year ago, I stumbled upon this book called "Arbosculpture: Solutions for a Small Planet" and I found the idea really beautiful to bring trees into custom forms and integrate them more into our lives. And then I also read "Der Ruf der Rose", which is about what plants feel and how they communicate. Anyway, I am not a big gardener at all, but I was fascinated by those books.

Recently, I have had a personal problem of easily feeling overwhelmed/nervous when working, among other things. I researched and found out that plants at the workplace can reduce stress. I've always been this person, when I feel overwhelmed I sometimes have the fantasy of just running into a forest and hugging a tree.

Therefore I want to make the room where I work from really green. And I would just love to have at least one tree in there with a strong trunk that I could touch to feel more grounded.

I thought that a bonsai might be a good idea and I thought about getting a bonsai that is already grown-up somewhat, for some money. But now that I have read through this website and forum, I'm getting a little afraid. Bonsais seem really hard to handle. And if I spend a lot of money on one, I don't want him to die.

So I'll see what I will do.

In any case,
great to meet all of you!

Moritz

mowmoh wrote: Therefore I want to make the room where I work from really green

But now that I have read through this website and forum, I'm getting a little afraid. Bonsais seem really hard to handle.

You write you want to make your room green, so I assume you want to grow bonsai indoors? There are trees that survive indoors (subtropicals/tropicals) but keeping them healthy indoors is much harder than growing a tree where it belongs: outdoors.

mowmoh wrote: Bonsais seem really hard to handle. And if I spend a lot of money on one, I don't want him to die.

Hello Moritz, welcome to this forum.
It is not impossible, but hard to keep bonsai inside.
In Germany is worse (colder, longer winters, wetter) than in California, but as Auk said some tropicals can be grown indoors.
I am lucky, I live in Brazil so I can keep some Ficus, Elms, Jabuticabas and Barbados Cherries inside (by an open window full of sunlight).
Let us know what you decided to do.