Growing bonsai combines art, patience and care, but understanding the proper timing and techniques is critical to long-term success. Establishing a strong human-plant connection early on ensures healthy growth and future bonsai potential.

Acquisition

Yamadori. The seeming simplicity of digging up and planting natural material in a pot usually turns out to be nothing more than a benefit myth. The process of finding a worthy wild seedling, time costs, fuel costs, digging process and preparation for transportation are an order of magnitude greater than the cost of buying a ready-made 3-4 year old pedigree seedling from a nursery or garden center.
The survival rate of yamadori for novice gardeners without experience is close to zero.

Shopping centers. Mass-produced molsai from the Netherlands are good for short-term contemplation and poor for serious further cultivation.

Nurseries and horticulturists. The right way to search.

Orders with shipping from overseas. Unlimited possibilities with great risks. The process is serious and depends on the age of the tree, time of year, experience and reliability of the courier. Makes sense when buying only expensive trees so that shipping costs are not many times more expensive than the plant. Insurance is mandatory.

Growing from seed. Interesting, useful and exciting occupation. Good for those who have their whole life ahead of them.
Experiments with grafting and cuttings. Makes sense with a proper understanding of all the life processes of the plant and horticultural experience, preferably successful.

Pre-bonsai

Seedlings up to 6-8 years of age do not have a sufficiently developed root system and safety margin to withstand the rigors of bonsai life. During this period, cardinal active actions on the part of the host, associated with transplanting, pruning and other extras drive the plant into stress. And he can not get out of it alive without your help. There are many techniques, but only one is good - you just need to leave the future tree alone for a few years, creating acceptable conditions for growth and providing care. A spacious pot, proper drainage and soil, watering, feeding and lighting give good results. And what is especially valuable - during this period the connection between man and plant is established, which is the main and wise meaning of the art of bonsai.

Containers

Transplanting a purchased young seedling into a flat bonsai container will definitely lead to its death. The reason is an underdeveloped root system that does not allow it to maintain the necessary level of humidity, retain and transport nutrients. Simply put, an unprepared plant will not survive in a beautiful but harsh plate. Need a margin of safety, for this purpose, the first 5-6 years the plant is grown in a spacious box (pot, vase or container) where the mass of roots and training (that's how the container is called - training) before new deprivations. Transplanting once every 1-3 years.
The rest of the cases (shaping and pruning) are secondary.

Plant care

Before making any new operations with the tree - study the topic and try on yourself the planned actions. The main thing is not to do harm, if you consider much is done by you for the first time. Imagine the treatment of a small child - with seedlings is about the same.

Conditions

The most difficult task is to create and constantly maintain a familiar environment for a particular plant. A tree won't wait to be given a drink to eat, light, water and heat or cold. It will just quietly go away. There is no good reason to skip something even for a day or two.

How to make life easier for yourself and the plant

Only by understanding what we do and what should happen as a result. If something went wrong, go to the mirror and say the right words to the culprit.
Master the literature, visit forums, google, consult with brothers and sisters in mind, observe, draw conclusions and find the right solution.

Economy

If you are told that it can be replaced by this, dig this, aim another and get everything for free - do not give in. Such a concept as economy is on a par with the words overfill, dry, burn, rot and throw away. Just as a chainsaw will never replace a nail file, an Akadama will never replace super-duper crushed stone.

Learning

Learning from other people's mistakes is definitely about bonsai growers. It takes a year or two to see a blunder in shaping a plant, it takes several years and a lifetime to correct it. Not watered today - tomorrow there will be nothing to water. And so on. The Japanese, by the way, learn the art of watering for 15 years and receive a certificate, and without it to work with bonsai plants is not allowed.

Costs and prices

An ordinary person usually does not understand and does not delve into why a small 8 - 10 year old tree costs three-digit figures. Very simple - the cost of materials, soil, fertilizers, tools, lighting - about 100 - 150 euros a year, time costs (daily care, watering, ventilation, heating, etc.) - about an hour a day or about 200 hours a year. Multiply by the cost of an average salary and you get a three-digit figure per year again.
The higher in rank (variety, species, exclusivity, prestige) the plant, the higher the costs.

Automation

Hydroponics, air conditioners, phytolamps, calorifiers, humidifiers and dehumidifiers bring us further away from nature rather than closer.

YouTube

Numerous videos, especially from distant southeastern neighbors, showing how simple and easy and fast pruning, grafting and transplanting of trees is a common myth for a person with no experience. Try something simple and see for yourself.

Dreams and plans

Growing a decent tree that you are not ashamed to show to the public is a common dream. If you need a tree only for this purpose or to decorate the interior, it is better to buy an adult bonsai or stabilized (the second option has a number of advantages).
If you want to devote yourself and your free time to creating a piece of nature - welcome to the world of bonsai. Through decades of experience and labor, you will go from a simple man to a connoisseur and creator.
Not everyone can pass these tests.

Want to, but can't

What to do if you have a great desire to get closer to the eastern art of bonsai, but there are no opportunities (no country plot, sufficient time, conditions, etc.). The thread of solution leads to professionals: consultations, advice, care of the plant during business trips or vacations, winterization, pruning and transplanting - all this is possible with the participation of competent and experienced bonsai growers and gardeners.
This system is really developed and works, though not with us.

Diseases and pests

As in our human or animal world, plants have many pests and diseases. Fight them on the same principle - in time to notice, recognize and take action. Then there is a chance.

Expectation and reality

Beautiful art for the chosen few in fact turns out to be a routine - day after day as on the schedule of a fast train - stop, run. And you do not understand when and what you should start to admire: whether in the process of work, or in the mode of rest from it. And so it goes on year after year.

Presentation

Demonstration of your work is an exciting moment. Uninitiated people may not understand all the subtleties of high art in a wire-wrapped tree. It is good if praised for the beautiful pot (if it is present). Therefore, if the public's knowledge is at the level of “Banzai”, it is better not to show anything and make a joke.

Bonsai alternatives

What to do if the art of bonsai attracts, but the conditions and opportunities are absent.
There are few options, but they are there.
Artificial pseudo-trees made of rhinestones, amber, Swarovski crystals, plastic and silk are not taken into account - this tastelessness has nothing to do with this topic
The most interesting option: replicas of trees from stratified (canned) natural materials: needles, branches, snags. Their difference from the real tree to the eye is almost imperceptible. The advantages are many:

• you don't have to worry about how to save it so it doesn't blow away or overheat
• watering, feeding, lighting and other sorrows and worries are absent.
• unlike real ones, placement inside the house is just as welcome.

Gift

If you want your gift to be remembered for a long time, give a growing bonsai, and to be thanked for it for a lifetime - stabilized.

Popularity and value

In the world of bonsai, these concepts are at different poles.
Most often, plants with a “zest” that have a certain idea and philosophical spirit are the ones that attract interest at exhibitions.
Honorable trees grown within the strict framework of bonsai art arouse respect, but no more than that. Exotic and rare varieties can surprise, but no special emotions are born.