Hi.
Well, last month I went out and bought a tree on a whim. Didn't do any research regarding bonsai trees before I bought it, just kind of decided I wanted a tree... in a pot. So here I am, and here we are.
The tree I purchased is a little Elderberry (sambucus nigra)... came in one of those crappy plastic 1gal(?) tranaplant pots, had two canes, each with a couple pairs of leaves.
When I got it home, I flipped it over, used a screwdriver to get rid of the dirt and about half the roots, and stuffed it in a clay pot about half the size of the original. I also chopped the taller of the two canes down even with the shorter of the two (removing about 5").
Not knowing anything about proper root pruning or repotting techniques, I was not as gentle or careful as I probably should have been. The leaves all fell off shortly thereafter, to the point I thought I might have killed it. But I had done some reading, and Elderberry are hardy plants. Almost invasive-type hardy... it will be back.
So I just kept watering with bong water (I hope that's good for plants, because that's what it has been getting), rearranged my room to get it more sunlight, and it is alive! She sprouted two more canes from the base, and a number of strong leaf bud things are sprouting what I can only imagine will turn into branches.
This is the phase where I am supposed to leave it alone and let it grow for a year... but I am impatient. I grabbed some polyester ribbon from my daughters' craft drawer and tied the two original canes together. Eventually I will tape and wire the canes in an effort to fuse them into a singular trunk, but right now I alone don't have enough hands to bind them fusing tight (and I didn't have or feel like buying tip-ties or wire ties). I also started to weave the new growth between, under, and around the original canes... maybe the new canes will be more willing to start fusing as they twist and intertwine with the old growth?
Either way, everything I have read says that Elderberry is less than optimal for a bonsai tree, but I am going to give it a try. Right now, I have about 11 more months of shaping and downsizing before I repot it into its final bonsai pot/tray. Outside of using ribbon and chopsticks to guide the shape, all I can really do is keep it from apexing(?) by trimming the tallest growth back down.
Next year, assuming it survives that long, I will transplant it into a brass/copper cauldron, on a bed/tray of onyx. I will make sure there is proper drainage and that the inside of the cauldron is coated (to avoid metal poisoning my plant). Here it is: