I currently live in switzerland and were planning to raise there these 4 bonsais: Rocky Mountain Bristlecone Pine, Black Poui, Norway Spruce, Flame Tree. I was wondering what I should do because of the climate and if its a good idea to get a grow light because although i face towards the sun it is mostly cloudy and shady. Do I need artificail lighting or something to support the humidity and temparature?

www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XH2ZDTM/ref...A25UVQ9KXPS81A&psc=1

This kind of starter kit is in my opinion a total scam. There are no such thing as bonsai seeds.

Bonsai is developed from mature material of locally hardy species outdoors.

The first 10 years or so you are just growing normal trees. The best way to do that is sow right now outdoors for natural stratification. 2 out of your 4 species will proboably do fine. The Jakaranda and flame tree for sure not.

SO what begginner bonsai would you reccomend for a setup in switzerland? Also is it optimal or this setup to have artificial lighting as my room is prety shady and humidity tray as It is very dry here

What Tropfrog was saying is that trees do not survive inside!

Pflodin wrote:

SO what begginner bonsai would you reccomend for a setup in switzerland? Also is it optimal or this setup to have artificial lighting as my room is prety shady and humidity tray as It is very dry here

The best thing to do is find a local bonsai group, go to some meetings, see what trees they have most success with, and start from there.

There are people in our club who plant a hundred seeds, 50 sprout, they keep 5 and give away 45. (I am being very inaccurate with numbers here.)

This is a very good time of year to begin like this. There is practically nothing to do for several months, and the local guys can get you started. You can get very good advice for winter care there since every person you meet lives in your climate area, while practically nobody on the site here knows your area.

Pflodin wrote:

SO what begginner bonsai would you reccomend for a setup in switzerland? Also is it optimal or this setup to have artificial lighting as my room is prety shady and humidity tray as It is very dry here

My recomendation for beginners is not a setup and it is not indoors. My recommendation is to grow mature, locally hardy trees outdoors. The only setup I recomend is a large bonsai bench that can fit more trees. Bonsai done right is so adictive so we always buy more trees and always need more and bigger benches. Beginners that come here and ask for indoor growing tends to hang around for maximum a year. Then they quit the hobby due to several failures.

If you still want to grow these 4 species from seeds in indoor setup. Make a Google search for species name + distribution. When you know where the trees are native to make a search for the place plus climate. Now you know what conditions you need to provide. I think you need to have 2 or 3 different setups to grow theese species and it involves both heating and cooling depending on season as well as humidity equipmen, fans and lights. That is quite an undertaking.

Pines, larches, juniper should do fine in Switzerland.
For decidious carpinus, hawtorn and maybe beech.

Check for Pius Notter, best know bonsai master in Switserland

Proboably chinese elm as well. One of the best beginner trees awailable in most garden centers as pretrained mallsais. Off corse all species growing in the Woods around you as well as most species sold at your local garden centers as garden trees.

Selecting the right species is the first choise and most important for beginners. It is a gateway. If you shoose the right species for your climate you will discover a fantastic hobby. If you fail, you will quitthe hobby.

Reaching out to experienced people in your surroundings and check what they are doing is the very best advice. Hint: most likelly none of them is growing trees indoors. If someone actually doing it, it is most likelly jades and ficus.