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Taking the plunge with Bonsai 10 years 8 months ago #9260

  • Boater
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I have a Larch bonsai tree which is about 13 years old now, it came ready trained so I just look after it.

However, I have an oak tree and two stone pines that I would like to bonsai, the oak is about 5 years old and the pines 3 years. At the moment they are in ordinary flower pots, what would be my first step. Should I root prune or branch prune first and is there a good time of year to do this.

The pines are quite large and have quite long needles, does anyone have an experience with these as I understand they are a bit unusual.

I need to do something with them as I keep getting questioned about why I'm growing them, even though they look after themselves all year round.

Any advice would be appreciated.

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Taking the plunge with Bonsai 10 years 8 months ago #9264

  • m5eaygeoff
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All three are too young to do any work on. The best course of action is to plant in the ground for 3 to 5 years, and let them grow. You could use large pots if no ground. If the pines are only 3 years old they can't be very large,

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Taking the plunge with Bonsai 10 years 8 months ago #9274

  • manofthetrees
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oak leaves tend to be very large and a need a large trunk to pull off as a bonsai,this one i would plant in the ground if possible and let grow for 3 to 5 years with heavy fertalizing to maximize growth. after good trunk width is aquired the tru nk is chopped and this cycle will continue. this is the best time to put some bends in the trunk to give some charactor in the future.

as for the pines the size of the final composition must be determined now...small tree or large tree . trunk shaping is best done when young they are more flexible. needle plucking and bud selection are needed to reduce needle size

remember 1 major action(insult) a year. if these have been repotted this year no work should be done till next year exept minor pruning and wiring

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