West wrote:

I’m going to post a 5 second video about bonsai training on YouTube. It will be me and my dying tree, my script will read “Get off of YouTube, get on a bonsai forum...Thank you.”

there are actually alot of good videos you can learn from on youtube you just need to know which ones for example a video by Bonsai Mirai called spring fundamentals. lots of good information in that video. you should probably learn how to care for and keep a tree alive before you even think about doing any type of training or repotting. i made the same mistake you did, buy a tree and try to do everything at once.
here are some book recommendations that you might find useful.
www.bonsaiempire.com/forum/general/10956-book-recommendations

THANK YOU!!!!

West wrote:

I’m new to bonsai and styling, please don’t take my head off lol

You do pretty well for a newbie, man. Keep it up.

Watch all the YouTube you want but just take away nuggets of info .
Study the horticultural side of trees in general. I killed all my first trees over 20 years ago before I had internet. Long story short I quit for many years and wish I would of kept learning. If you get an itch to do more than you think you should to any tree it’s time to start looking for another. Patients Is going to help you make progress.

Watch all the YouTube you want but just take away nuggets of info .
Study the horticultural side of trees in general. I killed all my first trees over 20 years ago before I had internet. Long story short I quit for many years and wish I would of kept learning. If you get an itch to do more than you think you should to any tree it’s time to start looking for another. Patients Is going to help you make progress.

YouTube and google got me interested, and also steered me wrong! I’m over YouTube EXCEPT for the BSOP series which I’ve just discovered yesterday thanks to this forum. I have a couple books to read now to hopefully take me to the next level of beginner.

I kind of feel bad. I have a group of friends that are going to this big annual flower/plant show tomorrow to search for material because I convinced them to get into bonsai under false pretense:lol: They’re all expecting to get a tree, shape it and throw it in a pot. The good news is, once they find out about the waiting game, they’ll give me their material for free lol