Has anyone bonsai one of these Fothergilla Major trees? Witch Alder

This particular one is 20 euros with nice movement. I haven’t bought it because I’ll be going to the Bonsai Trophy 2025 event very soon, but it is tempting!!

TL;DR: Worked in my first tree today, learned a ton, gotta tell someone about it. Link to pictures at the bottom of the post.

I am new to the hobby (have really only been lurking around here and learning about bonsai for about 2 months) and today I worked on my first tree (I only have 2 as of now). It is a ficus that my fiancé picked up as a gift for me at Costco last week.I decided that today was the day and I gave it my best shot at repotting, as the soil it was in was normal potting soil and there was no drainage holes in the pot.

I gotta say, I was very interested to begin with, and now I am hooked. I haven’t a clue if I did anything “right” but I feel as though I learned quite a lot.

Right off the bat, drilling the holes was easier than I expected, I really thought I was going to find a way to shatter the pot. Once I had that sorted I saw to getting the dirt off the roots, and it was here I discovered that quite a bit of the thicker parts of the roots were rotting. I can only assume this is from it being watered in the store without the drainage holes (I did not water the plant until I got it repotted today, but had been misting it daily and will continue to do so). I got to work cutting away at the roots as much as I dared, but I got the majority of the dead roots out I believe.

I then turned to the actual repotting. I have spent the better part of the last 3 weeks reading about soils and making your own as the “science” behind bonsai and gardening in general is very interesting to me. I said what the hell and gave a try at making my own: one part perlite, one part DE, one part pine bark. I cut some of the pine bark down to smaller sizes but I personally like the look of some larger pieces mixed in (no clue the effects of larger vs smaller pieces in the soil admittedly). Hopefully I made the right choice over buying premix off the internet.

After the repotting was done, I decided I should prune the tree to make up for the roots I took away. I just went till I was happy with what I had. I found this to be the most challenging part because as you know once it’s cut, it’s cut.

With that done I thought why not, I’ll try and wire this bad boy up. If it survives everything that I did to it today, I plan to repot it next year or the year after at a more drastic angle. In my head I like the idea of this one big root going one direction and the limbs going the opposite angle so that is what I tried to accomplish with the wiring.

All in all, regardless what happens to the tree I am satisfied with it and I learned a ton. I must say that I really appreciate all the knowledge floating around this sub. From the wiki to the beginner threads and beyond, this sub has helped make much more sense of this hobby as a whole, and for that I must say thanks! If you read this whole thing and would like to see pictures of the process here is the link. I welcome any and all comments/criticisms, it’s the only way to get better!

https://imgur.com/a/iAx64Nm

I want to buy a pot from Greg Ceramics, but he won't ship to the US.

So I'm wondering if anyone in the EU would be willing to act as a middle-man, buy the pot for me then send it on to me for a small fee?

DM if interested.

A small film about the Spanish national bonsai exhibition, UBE VI 2025.

Filmed during 3 days in the end January 2025.

https://youtu.be/cb4d3x7WHIA

One one side I'm happy beacuse I bought this tree from a friend who was part of the local club for a very cheap price (in my opinion at least 😅)

One the other I'm sad because he is leaving the hobby, not sure why (he didnt tell) but could tell he wasnt happy about it...one more reason to take good care of it!

Anyway just wanted to share ir with you guys, have a good weekend 😀

New to this subreddit, thought I’d get some advice on moving forward with this lopsided Elm. A friend suggested air layering the top off but I’m not sure if that’s the way to go. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

It seems like they have a great reputation. I'm curious what to expect with their 1g trees because I know size is vastly different depending on where you order.

On the top right you can see a bead of bright red sap coming out as well… How do you combat burrowing insects?

Hi All!

One of my trees was chosen to be a part of my club's display at the Philadelphia Flower Show. It is a Procumbens nana and has been wintering outside so far this year. This is the first time I have ever displayed a tree, so here is my question. What do you all do to acclimate your tree when you are displaying indoors coming out of winter storage? It will be on display for a week and club members will be caring for the tree. I have gotten a tip or two but looking to broaden my knowledge. I have moved it from outdoors to an unheated garage as the first part of acclimating.

Thanks!