my up coming bonsai attempted

Main point is that a tree lives outside.
Just because it is small it is not an indoor plant.
Dependant on species of course, but stick with an outdoor species and leave it outside.

If you read a book on bonsai you will see that most good specimins are about 24-30 ins tall. Many bonsai that are sold in garden centres are smaller and difficult to keep alive.

I grow mine in quite sizeable teracotta pots. Probably called a half pot if I recall, not the bonsai dishes that you see. I find they develop well and being in a bigger container they do not dry out as fast. They do not seem to actually grow large even in these pots.

One of the best I have is a chinese elm. I bought it as a small 2" stick in a pot for about a pound. Now very nice but several years later.

If you visit garden centres you could hunt out a suitable maple that is a small starter tree then do some simple training - nothing fancy. Pick one that has some shape that appeals then develop it on.

Main point is that a tree lives outside.
Just because it is small it is not an indoor plant.
Dependant on species of course, but stick with an outdoor species and leave it outside.

If you read a book on bonsai you will see that most good specimins are about 24-30 ins tall. Many bonsai that are sold in garden centres are smaller and difficult to keep alive.

I grow mine in quite sizeable teracotta pots. Probably called a half pot if I recall, not the bonsai dishes that you see. I find they develop well and being in a bigger container they do not dry out as fast. They do not seem to actually grow large even in these pots.

One of the best I have is a chinese elm. I bought it as a small 2" stick in a pot for about a pound. Now very nice but several years later.

If you visit garden centres you could hunt out a suitable maple that is a small starter tree then do some simple training - nothing fancy. Pick one that has some shape that appeals then develop it on.

thanks for the info

Aunt Sally     
:
Are you just going to grow one for your own pleasure NP ?

We have a man on our allotment site who uses most of his plot to grow bonsai trees before he pots them up. They take many years to grow into a tree.

I think the small leaved trees look better than large leaved ones.

yes its just for fun some trees take years thats true but i have been looking at a technique that uses older trees to start of with

they look 100's of years old but in fact there not

I'm thinking about trying a bonsai tree, read up about it quite a bit recently. Try an elm (lots of dead wood makes it look old) or a quick growing pine (i would suggest scots).

Dooooon't get a fruiting one as they can be a lot of bother. Flowering ones are nice however... so it's a bit of a trade off. A bonsai technically is a tree trained to grow in a tray not a pot so you're best going with a tray and not a pot if you can pay attention to it daily.

Oh and throw a rock in the pot while you are growing it and train it around it for added affect.