It's best to have a lot of grit mixed into the soil, and try to find (maybe a local nursery) some peat-less soil with coarser particles, but your trees are so small and you'd be much better off to plant them straight into the ground for a couple of years to fatten up (the fastest way) and forget bonsai pots for now. After that, you could chop them back hard, grow new smaller branches, have achieved taper and have something real to work with. They're all much too young to do anything with yet. I am concerned about the birches and maple though, because both need cooler conditions than I think you have, and I mean even to grow in the spring thru fall, never mind that ALL will need below freezing temperatures for 2-3 mos. in winter to which they've been acclimatized gradually at both ends. Did you by chance order seed rather than buy them locally at a nursery?

Thay are all used for bonsai often. I live in Napa, Zone 9, which 'supposedly' is hotter than your 8b, but we have had 3 birch trees in our front yard, and Japanese Maples are very common here.

In any case, they do soung too young. How thick are the trunks? You best bet as Lucy said is to let them grow. I would suggest either sticking them into the ground or into large grow pots for at least 2 years. Selectively prune some branches and let others grow big to stimulate trunk and branch development.

You won't need fast draining soil until after they are transplanted to smaller pots and rootpruned.

What I would reccommend is to let them grow big, and in the meantime head to a plant nursery nearby to find some pre-bonsai specimens. Something that already has trunk developement. Something with character so you can get started now. Get several trees if you can to start off your collection!

The temperature actually hits the teens here once or twice per winter, and we routinely have at least two months of low 30's to upper 20's. We're right on the FL/AL state line. I have had two different kinds of Japanese maple in my yard for 5 or 6 years now and I see river birch in the some of the landscaping at the mall south of here. The Eastern red cedar is the biggest with about a pencil sized trunk and bushed out to about 8" thick. Still too small? How big should the trunk be before it's ready to work with? It's my husband that's interested in bonsai and I want to help him get started. Any and all information is appreciated, as I need a gardening partner! Also any beginner books or websites that you can recommend.

Oh, THAT panhandle :-)! Somehow I interpreted it be the south end of Fla. Anyhow, you should look at some books because you'll get a better idea what bonsai is really about (and the point of fat, tapered trunks, though J. maples tend not to get those relative to say, oaks, for decades). The thing is, a thin trunk, unless that particular tree is styled in 1-2 of the many styles possible, will just look like a young cutting stuck in a pot, and not a mature tree with character, which a fat and tapered trunk will. The majority of growers who've let their trees alone in the ground for a while don't just stick 'em in pots afterward, but chop them right down (often from 5-6' tall trees) in a stage or two over a few years, grow new smaller branches, and then work on styling the result - they don't work with the spindly branches the tree has when you first get it (or grow it). There are loads of books around, but find the Sunset one (Home Depot should have it) for a basic overview, but can I suggest something else before giving a random list of books here? Find a local bonsai club such as the.. NORTH FLORIDA BONSAI CLUB, Meeting Place -
Mandarin Demo Garden , 2892 Loretto Road , Jacksonville, FL on Loretto Rd west of the intersection of San Jose Blvd (RT. 13) and Loretto Rd. (Taco Bell and MacDonald on the corner). "A few doors down" on the left side, Next to the Masons Club. Starting at 7 p.m. the second Monday of the month.
We will meet each month of the year, all 12 months.
MAILING ADDRESS FOR NORTH FLORIDA BONSAI CLUB:
N.F.B.C.
5339 Pondue Lane, Jacksonville, FL
Yearly dues are $27.00 single or $32.00 family (Jan 1 to DEC 31)
Contact person - Virginia L Wager - 904-269-9663, jpdolls2000@aol.com
BOARD FOR 2007
President:- Virginia Wager----------904--269Â9663
Vice-President Mike Betts --------------904-673-1970
Secretary
Tristan Kincaid----------904--886Â7241
yodasworkshop@aol.com
Subjects we may cover: cuttings, grafting, airlayering, wireing, repotting, feeding, for each plant or all in general, etc. If you have a subject that you would like use to cover please let the board know then we can work it in at the right time of the season. For example repotting would be a spring job, so we would address this just before you need the information.
Each meeting feel free to bring a plant, to show, talk about, get help with, we always have ideas.
__________________________
Clubs are a terrific way to go for hands-on learning, and even if you aren't 'right there' (location), they can certainly help you find another one closer by if possible. Talk to them and see. They also have a book library you can use.