Shun wrote:

You CAN keep it in a pot, you CANNOT keep it indoors, you CAN keep it small and IT IS not suitable for bonsai.

Admitted that I had the wrong species in mind, looking at the sample I'd say it is not really that great material for bonsai.
However, considering this is an experienced bonsai grower, growing the tree in its natural environment, vs. a Complete Newb growing it in the wrong climate, I'm still going to say it's not suitable.

Update: Last spring / summer I pruned the top of the pine. 4 shoots started growing and I pruned 3 and just left the weakest. It has survived the winter but there's not been a huge amount of growth since it was pruned.

There were also 3 other pines planted at the same time as this one. Originally the plan was to re-plant them somewhere but we've not found a suitable location so will start pruning them this spring. These 3 were always more vigorous than the one that was pruned last summer.

Shun wrote:

From Renato Hoenig, again:

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I think it almost impossible.
But seeing what Renato achieved, patience and good training can do miracles!
As a brazilian I am very fond of araucárias, they are typical of the state of Paraná (as said before)and in danger of extinction.

Hello All,

I just read this article, and I have started myself the journey to make 3 Araucária bonsai, I visited my parent in laws in Brazil and they had a couple of seedlings.

So I will follow the recommendation in this post. Any of you has some news/pictures of your Araucária bonsai?

Thank you and best regards,

Hello, the original plant that I planted is now about 4 years old. It is still alive and has some new shoots (it is nearly springtime in the UK). Last year I pruned it as per the instructions given by Shun in post #27791. This is quite a strange plant, though - the stem (trunk) is still very thin and it looks quite weak and I can't say it looks very healthy even though it is growing. There were a couple of others planted at the same time as this one - they always looked more healthy than this one (which was always the smallest and weakest, hence the decision to try grow it as a bonsai). The others are still in fairly small pots (have never found anywhere suitable to plant them) and look healthy - they have not been pruned but probably should be, I'll try and take pics next time I'm at their location (in a friend's garden which I won't be visiting for a few weeks). Good luck! I think the important thing is to follow Shun's advice in this thread!

Cool that it's alive, looking forward the pics form the other to have an idea, of they look like after couple of years.
As soon as the weather become better, I will report the individually, at the moment they are all in one pot.
Cheers

Hello all,

Quick news, I lost one of the seedling during summer time, the 2 others have been growing and sprouting new shoots. Now it's winter here in Switzerland and I let them outside, hopefully they will survive the winter.

Good night

Hello,

So we are on the 24th of May, the 2 seedlings survive the winter, which was mild this year here in Switzerland.

One of the seedlings, is having 3 new shoots (2 laterals and one vertical) and the other one just one vertical.

I hope during the summer I will have the 4 shoots in order to prune 3 like it was describe in the other posts.

And yours, how are they going?

Cheers

Quite strange you should post today as I re-potted mine today (24 May) and was also going to post. My original seedling is now 5 years old, still looking frail & spindly but still alive. I pruned the growth area again last year but thought I'd pruned too much as no new growth appeared afterwards - however this year there is a new shoot at the top so it is alive and growing (slowly).

I attach pics of my original plant in the pot it had been in until today and the new one it has been potted into today (the blue one which I think will be its final pot). The third pic is one of the pines that were planted at the same time - as you can see this one is much larger than the small one. It was repotted into the larger black container today and has not been pruned at all.

Hello,

Almost 2 years that I did not post anything about my 2 auracarias, they survived well the winters and the pandemic.

They grow at a slow pace, this years I have plenty of laterals sprout, therefore I will soon prune the leader.

I watched new videos of Renato and his bonsai continues to go well.

Best regards,