Bonsai for beginners

For beginners bonsai can be a complicated path to travel.  As a starter, you need to understand about the creation of Bonsai. Due to this you will be able to copy the natural world in your own style.

Most of the beginners get confused between indoor varieties and outdoor varieties. Many feel that, indoor varieties are difficult compared with outdoor. But success and failure depends on selecting the right plant. Ficus and Schefflera do not require lighting or heating, but they sometimes they look like houseplant even after created into bonsai.

Always set realistic goal which you want to achieve through your bonsai experience.  To achieve this goal set a realistic time period. Never shy away to seek advice from experienced bonsai gardeners. Be sure about the look of your bonsai tree.

Use photograph to trace down the trunk and branches of your desired bonsai. Photographs will help you to make changes in order to achieve objectives set by you. Trim and prune your tree in order to prevent it from becoming bushier.

Bonsai gardeners can consider few species that will help them to improve their skills. Beginners can learn basics by creating bonsai. Purchasing already grown bonsai won't develop your skill. It is patience and care that creates bonsai.

It takes around two years to learn fundamental skills of bonsai. In five years you would create your own bonsai. Never pot the plant until it has reached expected size and shape. Never work on roots in initial stages because it will kill the plant sooner or later. Always start learning from top of the plant. Learn skills such as pruning, wiring, and styling. It will prepare you for pruning of the root. Learning from failure shows you right path to success. Roots may die, so don’t get demotivated with it. With experience you will learn about techniques to deal the roots of the plant.

To play it safe, remove more than about a 3rd of foliage with couple of month recovery. Slowly, your plant will start looking like a bonsai. You can also create your own techniques after gaining experience. Bonsai is all about creativity.

Generally, bonsai has a single trunk, but sometimes you can discover dominant and secondary trunk. You can also start with a shrubby plant. Most basic task of a bonsai gardener is to find trunk line. To find trunk line you need to remove unnecessary branches and trunks.

Before removing unnecessary branches, make decision about branches which you wish to keep. The easiest convention is that branches go outwards of the curve.

Foliage of the plant should be carried by branches. Due this there will be formation of foliage pads. These foliage pads get separated from each other. Best way to maintain these foliage pads is to eliminate branches growing up and eliminate branches growing down. Prune your bonsai in such a way that it forms a triangle of foliage such that length of the sides of the triangle will be unequal and same for the angle formed by the sides of the triangle.