Like you guys all said, the tree is turning orange fast. Here is a wild idea that might not work, if I put it in a fridge to trick it into thinking it is winter will it have a better chance of survival? then just put it back outside over actual winter?

Nop, as predicted, it will not survive/ is dead.
Lesson to be learned: think/ask first, act second …..

Ok, just thought I would ask. Yes definitely a lesson I have learned. I will still keep it till all of the leaves have fallen off just to be sure, because it is such a nice plant. I also took a few spruce cutting that will hopefully grow up to be Bonsai in many many years to come.

I kind of went inactive on this forum, but I have spent lots of time learning about bonsai, and intend to have lots of trees in then next decade or so.

Some of you may remember the little tree I dug up and made this topic about. a lot of the tree's needles have now turned red, but no more are changing colour now. I am thinking that against all odds it has survived. Should I cut off the branches with dead needles or leave them? I will add some photographs.

I also took lots of cuttings of other conifers (some of them are in the photo) this fall and am trying to get them to grow. I have had a pretty good success rate only having a few fail to root. When should I take these little guys, and the bigger trees inside for the winter? should I do it at the first frost?

I also found a few small conifers that I will dig up this winter. I was wondering, should I put them right into bonsai soil? or give them some organic potting mix first?

I have been collecting seeds from all sorts of trees including cherry, apple, and Hawthorne that I would like to make bonsai out of. I put 10 cherry pits in the fridge a few months ago to trick them into thinking it was winter like it said online, and was wondering if I can plant these now. Will this mess up there understanding of the seasons? Maybe I should just wait for spring? I did take one of these out of the fridge just to see if it would germinate.

Sorry for all of the questions, I have had a lot of them lately and have been looking forward to learning from people who know a bit more about this stuff.

Cheers,
Si Guy

Hello Si Guy,

I also recently started my journey of learning the art of Bonsai.

It seems that my plant has almost the same foliage as yours. Not 100% sure though.

I want to wish you best of luck on your journey. Hope we both learn this wonderful art nicely.

I have attached my tree which I purchased from local garden nursery.

My thread where I had asked questions : www.bonsaiempire.com/forum/general/18973...selection-for-bonsai

Regards,
Sunny

Welcome back.

You do NOT bring these inside. They stay outside.

I advocate NOT putting seeds in the fridge. Plant them. Protect them from critters and leave outside for winter. When spring hits, the seeds come out.

Collected plants go into pumice at my place.

All small trees, cuttings, seedgrown etc are in pure organic compost and oversized pots here. Some pumice can help for trees that want additional drainage.

I use high amounts of inorganic in shallow bonsai pots only.

Tropfrog wrote:

All small trees, cuttings, seedgrown etc are in pure organic compost and oversized pots here. Some pumice can help for trees that want additional drainage.

I use high amounts of inorganic in shallow bonsai pots only.

Yes, that is one big problem I have sort of been avoiding for a while.

I really have not researched soils yet, and do not have any kind of non organic soil (only what I use for agricultural plants.)

What do you recommend for beginning? I am really on a budget for bonsai and would like to save as much as I can whilst not paying for awful product. Is there like a "most common" one soil fits all mix you can recommend?

I am having lots of trouble with jade and rot in organic soil.

Do you suggest switching these plants into different soil now?

I don't really have smaller pots, I could definitely source some out, or maybe trim my existing ones mental cringe.

There are not really any perfect soil that fits everyone. It all depends on species, care and climate.

Your crassula as an example. You think it was to heavy soil and it can surelly be one conclusion. Another could be that you were watering too much and a third that you kept it too cold.

For my trees (not crassulas) in training I just use leaf compost mixed up with bark mulch. Thats quite budget friendly. Sometimes for some species I mix it up with pumice or mini leca clay balls. I started with pumice two years ago and mini leca just this year. Trees repotted before that have 2-5mm crushed granite in the mix instead. Depending on where you live that might be a budget friendly option.

In any way, you dont have any tree that needs repotting this spring, so you have at least 1,5 year before you need to wory about that.

Si... What I use for the non organic part is rough sand...

Sometimes, when the sand is not too rough, I sieve it (to get bigger grains), we call here "pedrisco" it would literally translate to pebbles, but it's not that rounded ones, so idk how you would call it...

I always mix it, too much organics can get too compacted, and the soil will not drain propperly.
(For jades I use at least 50/50 soil/rough sand)

And it's really on a budget, didn't pay a single cent, this was leftovers of a pavement construction nearby...
However it's pretty cheap if you don't find it near...
Sometimes you can get it for free from constructors/sand sellers, as they don't want this bigger grains on their sand.

Here's a picture I took, this one is sieved (bigger grains)...