Hello!

My wife purchased me a bonsai starter kit with seeds and pots and soil for Christmas. A few weeks ago I planted the Pinus Aristata seeds and I currently have a five day old sprout. I'm wondering: did I make a mistake planting the seed in the winter? I plan to keep the tree inside for now so I didn't think it mattered, but now I'm wondering if I've somehow confused the plant or interfered with it's natural rhythms by causing it to germinate out of season. I have the plant in a window, but it honestly doesn't get much sun there so I also have a small LED grow light that I've been keeping on for 8 hours a day that the tree seems to really like so far.

I'm completely new to this, so any advice on what to do now / next to care for my tree would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for your time and assistance.

Where are you and what is the climate like where you live?

There are no such thing as bonsai seeds. Bonsai is made from mature plants. Growing from seeds in smalll pots Will take 20 plus years before you can make bonsai our of it.

Thank you, yes, I do realize there is no such thing as "Bonsai seeds" and that the process of growing a tree from a seed to produce a Bonsai is a long one. Never the less, the seeds were sold in a "Bonsai starter kit" box.

I live in West Virginia, in climate zone 4. Temperatures drop below freezing often this time of year, but I was thinking once the tree gets established more I could move it outside? I'm just not sure when, or how best to care for it in the mean time.

Grimpond wrote:

I live in West Virginia, in climate zone 4. Temperatures drop below freezing often this time of year, but I was thinking once the tree gets established more I could move it outside? I'm just not sure when, or how best to care for it in the mean time.

I think you can get away with this, provided you manage to keep them alive till spring.

Grimpond wrote:

Thank you, yes, I do realize there is no such thing as "Bonsai seeds" and that the process of growing a tree from a seed to produce a Bonsai is a long one. Never the less, the seeds were sold in a "Bonsai starter kit" box.

Growing trees from seeds is fun. And yes it is a long process to get them to become a bonsai. Growing from seeds in a shallow pot is a whole different thing. You need to double the time it needs compared to growing in a bigger pot and tripple the time compared to growing it in the ground.

Theese bonsai starter kits are more or less a scam. No serious bonsai Company would sell them.

Tropfrog wrote:

Theese bonsai starter kits are more or less a scam. No serious bonsai Company would sell them.

Bona Empire sells bonsai starter kits... Guess you were referring to Bonsai seed.

Auk wrote:

Tropfrog wrote:

Theese bonsai starter kits are more or less a scam. No serious bonsai Company would sell them.

Bona Empire sells bonsai starter kits... Guess you were referring to Bonsai seed.

I guess bonsai starter kits can include different things. I refere to the kits with seeds and shallow pots to grows them in.

Grimpond wrote:

Thank you, yes, I do realize there is no such thing as "Bonsai seeds" and that the process of growing a tree from a seed to produce a Bonsai is a long one. Never the less, the seeds were sold in a "Bonsai starter kit" box.

I live in West Virginia, in climate zone 4. Temperatures drop below freezing often this time of year, but I was thinking once the tree gets established more I could move it outside? I'm just not sure when, or how best to care for it in the mean time.

Hi there! Sorry for not commenting on the topic, I just wanted to say hi, from one mountaineer to another. I am also new to bonsai, which is why i'm here. What part of WV are you from? I'm in the northern panhandle.

Hello! I'm quite a ways away from you - I live near Charleston, WV. Good luck with your Bonsai endeavors!

I've never met anyone whose successfully grown a bonsai from a seed kit on their first time. I'll be honest, Bonsai is pretty difficult, and there are a lot of skills you learn when working with trees when trying to make a Bonsai, patience being one of them. If you manage to grow the pine from seed, then you'll have to wait for over 20 years to start making the Bonsai. All of those 20 years you'll have to make sure the tree grows in the shape you will eventually want it to be, and you will get zero practice in everything else. You'll either get bored, kill the tree along the way, or kill it decades from now.

Why don't you just go to a regular nursery and buy a more mature tree and try to make a Shohin from it? That's kind of where my journey took me since I could find boxwood for cheap that had trunk thick enough for Shohin but not Bonsai. Or you can also make a Bonsai with a thin trunk that won't really look like an old tree but it is good practice. Either way, you'll end up much better than with a seed starter . Give it a shot. You can still keep to try to grow your pine on the side! then 20 years from now you'll be experienced.