Hi, and welcome. Someone suggested I use this para. in similar situations, so here you are - I would first advise you to do some reading, so you get an idea what it's all about, and don't end up getting something home with no idea how to keep it alive - bonsai are not house plants and in fact, the majority are grown outdoors, where they do better, but if you have no outdoor place to grow things, then you can grow tropicals, which are often grown with supplementary lighting, humidity, etc. Bonsai is a lifelong learning 'hobby' (to most of us, it becomes an obsession very quickly), but as you need to know at least the basic horticultural requirements, and how to choose appropriate trees for your environment, it's important to start by reading (many books available, plus www.bonsai4me.com, www.bonsaihunk.us/cultural.html (for tropicals), and www.evergreengardenworks.com), all of which give good overviews on bonsai in general, and info. on growing specific trees. A really good intro for you would be a local club/assoc., so you get to see hands-on what it's about (there is a lot involved re pruning roots, various ways to shape the tree, why it's important to know in which season to do what work for which tree, how to 'compose' various soil mixes, and maybe most important - how to water (sounds silly til you understand what it entails and how important it is to get it right). Every tree has diff. requirements and every environment is different in various aspects, so find out first if in fact you really would want to get started on the journey, but stay far away from little pots in big stores sold as 'Bonsai' - most of which are just cuttings of larger trees stuffed into little pots with one-size-fits-all care tags [useless!] stuck on them, and imported from overseas in huge truckloads, with pebbles glued(!) to the soil that then need removal, and sold in bad soil destined to discourage you after the trees die of root rot if not repotted into the right stuff. Patience is the first thing you need and if you don't have it, you won't get far, but if you do, you can have an awful lot of rewarding time learning to take care of your little trees (did you know bonsai can be as large as 4' tall and wide?). PS - the trees only end up being 'miniature', but start out as 'regular' trees, not some odd 'special' type of plants. They're more often cut down from larger ones, rather than grown up into 'bonsai', so as to keep the illusion of age with a fat (and well tapered) trunk, but new batches of smaller branches and leaves, and bonsai pots are often not used until the trees are ready for display, sometimes being 'grown out' in the ground for years - the fastest way to achieve good trunk girth. To (finally!) answer your question - every tree grows at a different rate, but you'll learn which are which along the way, but you'll also find that a good place to start is a local nursery (if not supermkt for tropicals) rather than a place that sells 'Bonsai'.

Hey, welcome!

I'm glad you'll be going with outdoor species.
You're in a zone similar to mine, I can see - so this is what I have growing:

Japanese maple
Japanese "cedar" - cryptomeria 'tansu'
California oak
Osage Orange
Pacific willow
Weeping willow
Camphor (just took cuttings)
Olive

Purchasing a pre-trained bonsai of any size or character will probably cost a pretty penny - if you have money to spend, this isn't an issue of course. That said, I'd suggest you buy a starter bonsai ($4 - $20) with good potential. Put it into a training pot or training box for a couple years to develop the trunk.

Also, you can use Jade plants for bonsai, if that suits your fancy.

Josh

How do I get "starter trees" that aren't just "mallsai?"

I don't even know where to start and how to prune!

How do I get "starter trees" that aren't just "mallsai?"

Well, you could go to a regular nursery and buy a containerized tree that already has a thick trunk, and work from there. To repeat (in my own words) what Lucy said above, bonsai don't start as "little bonsai" with skinny trunks, only to eventually grow a thicker trunk. Bonsai start as larger tree with thick trunks already, then we "miniaturize" the tree using bonsai techniques.

First off, stop thinking about "pruning", like it's some magical thing... it's just a very mundane chore that is done when a plant needs it, even if it's also done to help shape trees - at the right time for the right tree in the right place with the right tools and the 'right' knowledge of what to cut and why. You can start with 1 gal. 3-5 yr old starter trees from any local nursery, bu if you don't know what to do with them when you get them home, they won't last long, which is why I suggested learning more before spending, finding a local club before pruning (anything), etc. etc. One step at a time...

OK - I understand the idea of "chopping" and wiring to start a bonsai, but I haven't yet found much info on how to reduce the root mass to fit in a bonsai pot, when most nursery stock with the "right" trunk is going to be in a 5-gallon pot, isn't it?

. . . of course, Lucy is correct; learning is key, so start reading right now before you plunge into a project that may be over your head. Go to the websites she mentions; they are good ones.

But, I'm a rebellious, impetuous, self-starting git, so I took the plunge anyway (and you can too, if you do it the right way!), and made tons of mistakes. Shortly after I would make a serious mistake, I would read somewhere should absolutely NOT do what I just did. But, I learn by doing, in a hands-on manner, and therefore mistakes are necessary for furthering my skill. I simply will NOT take someone else's word for it!

So, start reading, now. And while you're learning, get a few species (some of which are mentioned above) that you can start "playing with" right now, so you can at least have your hands on some plants, and end up with, at a minimum, an interesting specimen (if not a true bonsai) for your efforts.

Go buy a jade plant (Crassula, mentioned above) with a thick trunk, and just start hacking! It will forgive you! I bought a top-heavy jade at Home Depot a few weeks ago for $9. It had a 2" trunk at the base, with a bifurcation about 1" above the base. I cut one of the branches off the bifurcation, and voila, instant trunk taper (you'll soon be learning about trunk taper!). I then selected branches on the top to keep, and chopped off everthing else. Then, I barerooted and repotted in a fast-draining soil. And, of course, I "planted" all of my prunings to start new jades! I have a decent looking mother plant right now (waiting for new foliage), a couple of nice rootless trunks in soil waiting for root growth, and a bunch of smaller cuttings.

By this fall, you should have read enough to come up with a potential list of beginner trees to start with. To begin, I would choose a species that is very tolerant of root pruning (you'll read about that), and one that back buds easily (you'll read about that, too). If the trunk is thick enough at the base for your purposes, you could keep it in it's existing pot, or pot up. If the trunk is not thick enough yet, plant it in the ground (ideally). Buy of few plants, a few species.

In the meantime, over winter, buy some Ficus benjamina that already have nice trunks. You'll have read about this species by this time. Read some more about it. Do a little work on it over the winter; it should forgive you.

In late winter/early spring, if the trees you bought in the fall already have a reasonable trunk thickness at the base, consider a "trunk chop" (another thing you'll have read about) to start developing taper. You'll have done enough reading to let you know if your species will tolerate the chop.

By spring, if everything goes well, you should have a bunch of jade plants to begin/continue work on, some Ficus for the house and outdoors, and some trees in the training stages. By this time, you may also know enough that you'll be planting a bunch more trees in the ground or in pots for training later on!

. . . or, just go buy a finished bonsai; but that's no fun!

Cheers!

but I haven't yet found much info on how to reduce the root mass to fit in a bonsai pot

First, like I said above, select your first species based upon its tolerance of root pruning.

Second, read this post: Trees in Containers

Third, read all you can about nebari and its development, and growing on tiles. You'll find that info out there; it's in some of the websites Lucy mentions (and there are others). You'll be well on your way to understanding how to develop roots for bonsai.

Oh, and have fun!

What you do is get the thing out of the pot. If roots are numerous, old and woody and strangling the rootball, then gently crumble away as much soil as you can from between the roots. A good job of it can take a long time, so keep a sprayer handy to use every couple of minutes or so (though don't soak the rootball, especially if it's a conifer, ficus or succulent. After that do your best to gently untangle the roots from the bottom up, but don't feel you have to do it all, just enough so that you end up with about two thirds of the rootball still alive after cutting the bottom third off. Then repot into a gritty mix, very gently pulling roots laterally, but do watch for breakage. Fill in every little gap between roots with the mix, but don't press down on top as you might with an outdoor tree in the ground. Water well. Job done. OK?

I HAVE a Ficus benjamina with a nice trunk - rooted it from a cutting in 1999. It's seven feet tall though and in a huge pot - I could probably hack the trunk but could i ever get the root system to work as a bonsai?

Also - redneck - it looks like in your jade plant example, you topwork BEFORE root pruning...is that generally correct?

in your jade plant example, you topwork BEFORE root pruning

The jade I refer to in this example was planted in a HORRIBLE, water-retentive, compacted, peat-based soil. There were hardly any roots to speak of (nothing to work on, yet). So, I opted to bareroot and simply replace all the soil with my free-draining mix. I did massive top work because the plant was horribly over-hydrated and top-heavy. With the top pruning, I got the plant looking more like a tree. I'll try to send some photos.

Understand, I am no expert at bonsai. I'm just a hack. Having said that, with my temperate, deciduous trees, this is what I'm doing: I do have a bunch of trees in the ground and in large pots that I plan to perform trunk chops in the future to begin the development of trunk taper and movement.

For the in-ground plants, I don't plan on even thinking about root work until I have the trunk the way I want it. When the trunk is about right, I'll dig up the tree, put it in a training pot, and start working the roots.

For my potted trees, I'll begin root work alternating with trunk work. What I will do is perform a trunk chop in a year that I DO NOT plan to root prune. Conversely, when I anticipate root pruning, I WILL NOT do any top work. The theory behind this is thus: roots help the top grow, the top helps the roots grow. So, I will let one help the other, and not handicap both at the same time.

I'm sure an expert will come along and confirm or refute my methods. Right or wrong, this is what I'm doing, and it seems to be working.

Your methods sound pretty good to me (although I'm a beginner)! Thanks!

Josh

OK - between here and other websites I think I know how to train the TOP.

But the roots? How do I get a plant from having roots that go deep and outwards to fitting in a 3 inch tall pot without removing 90% of the roots? Is there a method to this madness?

OK - a watering question:

I've read that bonsai in the shallow bonsai pots oftentimes need watered several times daily in hot, sunny weather.

How does that work for those of us unlucky folks who actually work during the day? I can't exactly run home at noon everyday to water the poor things!

Humidity trays, drips systems, ice cubes, zip-lock bags with pin-pricks in them, shade-screens, et cetera... ;) Where there's a will, there's a way!

As to the roots...
well, you remove the roots in stages. You will, indeed, remove a lot of roots over time. When you remove a length of woody, hardened root, you encourage finer feeder roots to develop "higher up" the root. Thus, the roots will eventually be concentrated in a smaller area where they can receive the water and nutrients you provide. I'm sure I'm just repeating what others have said, but this is theory as I understand it.

Josh

Sorry, I should have been clearer - you don't do it all this year, or necessarily even next year, but over time, as Josh said.

I HAVE a Ficus benjamina with a nice trunk - rooted it from a cutting in 1999. It's seven feet tall though and in a huge pot - I could probably hack the trunk but could i ever get the root system to work as a bonsai?

Yes, Ficus benjamina can be bonsai'd very nicely. The roots are pretty cool, too. Once you've gotten your trunk the way you like it, and have miniaturized the tree, it can do without all the extra roots, and you can drastically root prune. Read about planting on tiles to help get your root system flat so it can fit in a shallow bonsai dish.

But the roots? How do I get a plant from having roots that go deep and outwards to fitting in a 3 inch tall pot without removing 90% of the roots? Is there a method to this madness?

Here's some insight: first, get the top how you want it. If you are growing in a container, you can begin to prune roots periodically as your tree grows. That way, you can prune off deep roots, large diameter roots, etc. and concentrate on developing radiating roots, like spokes on a wheel.

Once your trunk is how you like it, the tree can be hacked to a small-sized tree, and doesn't need all those roots anyway.

Take a look here, it may offer some more insight (there are other tutorials elsewhere on root development): Creating new nebari . . .

I can't exactly run home at noon everyday to water the poor things!

Another reason to try something like jade and Ficus; both tolerant of drying out. Matter of fact, both prefer to be dry before the next watering. Both are very tolerant plants.

Keep reading!!! It's addictive!