Hello everyone!

I am a beginner bonsai fan, I have already purchased a few bonsais, like chinese elm and japanese elm and maple.

After I looked up a few websites and read the forum articles here, I realised I am not a bonsai owner. I have only a few young trees in pots they should not be in yet.

I know it takes a lot of patience and decades for a real bonsai and I really start to like this art by the looks so I might give it a try and go for some collected, more mature trees so I may be able to shape and train them into bonsais in the long run.

But I have one question in my mind. I have already purchased these little trees and I am curious if they can be a bonsai material anytime in the future. They are thin and young so I am aware that they need to be planted in the ground and let it grow for years and get a thick trunk first.

I read about the grown and cut method and trunk chop in general. So I chop the tree when it reaches the desired thickness and if its a healthy and proper species for its technique its going to backbud and I choose a new leader.

What I don't know is if it thickens anymore after the chop? Im asking it because all my trees I bought is very thin, 2-3cms in diameter and they have been already chopped. There are some thin shoots growing around the cut and thats it. Thats the tree.
Is it possible to thicken this trunk? My understanding is that it reached a certain thickness and been chopped so it will not thicken anymore.

Can you do a bonsai tree out of a thin tree that has been chopped too early?

Yeah, if you put it in a larger pot, oor in the ground and just let one branch escape, the trunk will thicken up fast. That it was cut before does not make a difference.

leatherback wrote:

Yeah, if you put it in a larger pot...

But how big will this pot be?
If it is too big (or deep), will it be harmful for the roots?

Yeah I killed a tree due to oversized pot. Even though it was well draining, it could not dry out properly.

Thank you for the reply.

What do you mean by letting one branch escape? Do I cut back other shoots that emerges from the same area and let just one grow?

You could try a sacrifice branch (letting a large branch grow out and supply the tree with more energy) to let the tree grow more vigorously.

Its hard to say without a picture.