For starters, would you mind talking English - what is 'shams'? I think it's probably text talk (because if I thought you really were from some other country I wouldn't have said that the same way :) ) but I don't text, so...

Once that's clear, I'll try to help. Where do you keep it? Where do you live (climate counts), how often do you water, how's the light there, and temp?

Can you post a picture (not from above, but side on, showing the pot, top of soil and tree too of course.

What do I do with it I'm a complete bonsai novice :D

I live in uk.

It looks like it needs watered every few days.

It came with a slip of paper which said to cut out back every one or two leaf nodes which I'm doing but I haven't a baldy really as it seems to be growing weird I dunno I guess I never done this before red no books I'm just looking cutting and poking.

I heard you have to do all sorts of wonderful things to get a bonsai to live repotting in big pots, root trimming. I know nothing! It was a buy off Amazon. I know I seen a few natural bonsai yes at the top of a forest/hill/mountain in UK that had naturally stunned by wind. They were beautiful oaks and very old too.

It gets the full sun from about 11 am till evening on window by back door.

Temp i dunno exactly it's kinda warm in my house but that is the coolest place on the house I guess because it's by back door.

Actually will I keep it outdoors now?

Can someone help?

A sham is slang here a man or woman who knows everything about motors and usually drives a good one so was thinking of a bonsai sham :D

I really see now that that is what it needs , poor thing I hope it lives to be a professional :D

But amateurs are so much more fun :).

Seen a round 8 inch pot on Amazon it looks nice, do you think that's as big as it needs now ? they do bonsai soil too it's all about the techniques ;D

Not knowing what their idea of bonsai soil is... and it could take ages to reach you, and knowing there are loads of 'recipes' available online that you could put together yourself, I don't suggest Amazon as the best place to shop... the pot is up to you I guess - don't know how big your present one is or whether the 'new' one has good drain holes, etc, but is there nowhere in the UK (I know there is!) to get a pot?

Don't use the soil in your garden... it could be full of all kinds of things you don't want in a small pot - never a good idea, and your assumption that what's there is good for your particular tree (with its history) may not be correct. Please look for ' what is a good bonsai mix for Chinese elm" in Google and then find a few, compare notes and make up something appropriate. If it's too much trouble, then you don't want to do bonsai, trust me :). And remind your potter friend that 2 relatively large holes are necessary. Pot growing, never mind little bonsai pots, is very different to a tree than the ground for all kinds of reasons.... Go to Bonsai4me.com, look up your tree, look at the site's version of bonsai soil (it's run by a man from the UK) and other info... and you don't repot (and/or trim roots) like you do an e.g. tomato plant or rose. Without the right info your tree won't last long. Good luck.

hi I hope I got this right... I got a slightly bigger pot and Akadama bonsai soil. trimmed the roots repotted and hopefully it will live.

It looks pretty healthy, good job! Is there a local club you could join? If so, I suggest that and reading up on basic bonsai principles.

I recently bought a basic bonsai book and was unaware you could bonsai basically any tree. thinking I might do some local variety's of tree. I honestly don't know if there is a club were I live I must look it up see if there is. it started wen my friend started on an overgrown jade plant by taking cuttings and then the original tree is now bonsai :D so I bought this one on Amazon as I was fascinated and I continually I'm with this little elm tree. it's so pretty I look at at all the time hoking and poking but I know little to nothing so yes I believe I need to join a club research the concepts etc.

Hi, it's looking very good - you're obviously doing 'it' right, but it's also a pretty good size and if you've trimmed roots, can I suggest what might seem radical, but in the long run could give you a more interesting tree? What about chopping the whole top piece either to just a little above the branch going (in the photo) off to the right - really the next big clump down from the top - or else leaving a (always use a cut slanted in the direction you want new growth) longer piece - cut just below existing foliage of the top clump - and see how interesting it looks? Because as things are now, it's a bit of a Chinese bonai factory look - one turn too many, and just leaving the 2-3 (hard to see what's around back on the left in photo) lower branches, the one coming forward on left (plus what's behind it) and the one on the right with the bare branch coming downward could look more balanced in the pot - things are a bit top heavy as they stand now - less graceful than they could be otherwise.

there's a lot I could do I guess I think I'll wait till I know more about how to seal the branches etc. still reading and thinking of what else is possible :)

I read that you do it with a combination of blue and red plasticine to all and heal wound and I do I see what you mean by lobbing the top off :) it says to cut back the branches mid summer that are sparse on leaves of which there are many...

yes the tree was grown in a poly tunnel in China for 7 years apparently and sold to a company in England for the Christmas period to be sold on Amazon! yes it really is a global market. they could tell me very little I guess because they didn't grow them. i guess i really should have seen a professional :)

Hi - what you saw about branches refers to smaller ones, but I meant why not chop the main trunk, tho' I didn't specify properly having looked again at the pix... I meant bring it down to just above the branch going off to the right. Period.

yes I see that that was what you meant it means that it will take on a whole new look which is what I believe could make it , yes a more interesting tree I was reading there to do it in the spring so as it heals properly without a bulbous bit of bark... very effective looking in the long run I guess. but looking at it I think something looks weird about the top of it. doesn't look right to me were the original cut is there and how I can fix that with the cut you suggest. I send a picture of that join. it looks very clumsy/messy done originally.

When/if that cut has hardened, you can always use knob cutters or small concave cutters to nip around the 'bowl' edges and round them off a bit, plus you might want to reconsider keeping both of those branches, or only the upper one (I can't say from here as the picture's in such close up mode that I can't tell what's doing what, but I wouldn't worry too much otherwise as foliage usually covers a lot of things which end up not mattering much in the long run - kind of like human scars that fade in time.