Hi everyone new to here and new to Bonsai here in the UK.
Recently purchased these crabapple bonsai seedlings (pic attached) and I want to repot them into a classic bonsai pot. Just not sure what size pots I should buy for them? Any recommendations size wise?

Thanks in advance
Sal

If you want to grown bonsai out of these, plant them in succesively larger pots. You first need to grow a trunk and roots. Only the you look at branches. Once that is done, you look at pots. So just wire them to shapr, en let them.grow for a few years. I bought similar plants which are in the ground for growing a trunk now for 5 years

Thanks for the advice. Would you just use a normal garden pot slightly larger and use bonsai soil?

Bonsai soil is good to avoid over watering. It is not always ideal for growing out. It does not hold a lot of water, nutrients flush out easily etc . Professional nurseries use potting soil to grow trees for a reason. So.. What is optimal.. Deends on your care I suppose. I use my regular soil mix that I use for all my bonsai, or I put them in the ground. I am however convinced potting soild is perfectly fine too, as long as you can avoid it being soaked for long periods of time.

Plant in a larger pot and allow to grow. Where in the UK are you? Some of our members use an alpine mix which is free draining. To get growth try chicken manure pellets quite cheap and will make them grow. then in September stop and use a tomato fertiliser. I would just let it grow this year without pruning, then prune back in autumn and do the smae next year. It will be several years before you have flowers or fruit as they are very young plants.

Hey thanks for the advice i'm in North London, Enfield.

I planted one in a larger pot yesterday with a bonsai mix I recently bought.

Don't know if this was correct but layered with akadama soil first then filled with bonsai soil and planted one of the crab apples into the middle of it.

I have both chicken manure pellets and tomato fetiliser so will happily try them out.

I got some one year old bare rooted flowering crab apples. I got a stack of 6" plastic azalea pots, a potting mix with sand , peat, and perlite, pH 6.5. I cut the tap roots to fit, no saucers, morning full sun, mid-day they get more broken up shade /part shade.. Have to pinch the tops that want too much. They vary from 2" to 5" tall trunks. and the weather has been cool and wet, too wet really, but these trees are loving life.
-William