Is my seedling okay?

I have bought 5-10 yesr old nurcery stock, uppotted and grown on for another 4-6 years before doing any root work. Yes, it is a big work (which I enjoy) and sometimes it takes two or three sessions before I am happy. But to me I do not understand the hurry. The first roots can only be turned into nebari if developed from young in shallow pot. If I want to make a nice tree within my life time in my climate, I need to grow wild in big pots to thicken up, then the first roots will be taken of and new regrown anyway.

So not only the climate makes difference, the age of the artist and the goal for the tree as well.

Well, let’s see that point by point…

You say you don’t understand the hurry, but there’s no hurry at all… Starting from seed is the complete opposite of hurry actually.

When you start from seed is very different from nursery stock, you didn’t sown the seeds of the nursery stock, so all you can do at that point with ugly roots, is correction, because they probably didn’t receive any special attention at the nursery, and that take a few years to correct as you said…

Now, if I’m starting a tree from seed, why would I let a problematic root base to develop if I’ll have to spend years to correct that after?
So it’s not about hurry, it’s about the timing and creating potential for the future of the plant, avoiding a future issue, specially because I’m not a nursery producing seedlings by the thousands.

Why would I prefer to correct the roots over avoiding issues to correct?

And the roots can’t be developed exclusively from young into shallow pots, there are plenty of techniques like the ebihara method that can be applied very early, using clay or wood to set roots in the right direction.
We all need to let it grow wild in order to thicken up, but it’s way much better when I know the roots are in the right direction while I thicken it, makes me more comfortable to know I won’t have any bad surprises with their bases…

I didn’t get it if that’s the case, but implying that I’m in a hurry because of my age doesn’t make sense, since I’m the one starting from seed, and you’re the one buying 5-10 years old material, nothing against that, buying advanced material is nice and I do it myself, I just don’t see why you think I’m in a hurry here…
You’ve witnessed the growth rate around here, it’s quite easy to loose the timing and ruin a good material or set it back a few years unnecessarily...
But I do understand our climate is quite different, and you do it the way it works for you.

I'm turning 33 next month by the way! :lol: :silly: :lol:
But well, that’s it, have a nice weekend everyone!

Sorry for the long text, I don’t know if I made myself clear…
But the main point is that from seed, you’re building the material, which in the future you’ll build the bonsai… And not right away the bonsai… It’s different from buying a advanced material to work on…

Here are two examples of 1 year old seedlings, two different varieties of BRT, worked as I explained…
I don't even mind the branches at this point, unless I want a specific trunk movement.

I’m not saying that’s a fast Bonsai method at all, but this seedling is now thickenin (both more than 1m tall at the moment) and in a few years I might have a good starting point for a good tree. With a good base already, so again, not in a hurry.

I did not imply that you are in a hurry. Do not make this topic about you, it is about trees. I just said that there is no hurry to work on the roots.

Your picture is an excellent example of what I am talking about when I say climate makes a difference. If I could grow trees to that size in less than a year, I would also concider working on the roots. However here it takes at least 4 years to reach that stage.

We do not know the location of OP yet. But we know that he is growing from seeds indoors. I am quite sure that there are not one place in the world where one can grow any tree to the maturity you show indoors in a year.

Neigther of us have experience in growing temperate trees indoors in livingroom conditions and hence cannot tell what the status of the tree will be in 1 or two years.

I am just advocating a word of caution. There is no pride in a dead tree, with or without a great nebari.

Hello sorry for causing some confusion maybe I’m not sure if ur helps clear things up but I am located in the England which is obviously not very warm haha. Yes it is correct I am growing them on a window which is getting probably 8 hours direct sunlight on a very good day, again I do appreciate both of your guys help and inputs. And as I have said previously I will keep you updated on growth or any changes, speaking of changes the 2 cotyledones have fallen off today, and I understand that this is normal and nothing to worry over.

Tropfrog wrote:

I did not imply that you are in a hurry

Cool, like I said, I didn't know if that was the case or not... But you said "you don't understand the hurry", so it sounded like there is a hurry here.

If the statement is "there's no need to hurry", I agree.

Jack mason wrote:

Sorry for causing some confusion

No confusion at all my friend.
Again, play safe and see how it develops in your conditions.

Albas wrote:

Tropfrog wrote:

I did not imply that you are in a hurry

Cool, like I said, I didn't know if that was the case or not... But you said "you don't understand the hurry", so it sounded like there is a hurry here.

If the statement is "there's no need to hurry", I agree.

I do not think any of us is a native english speaker. But it seems like OP is. Lets not have a discussion about the use of english words or language as it may seem a little bit foolish to a native . After all we are discussin trees, not arguing and not about language.

There is a saying in Sweden that may not translate correct: "there are several ways of flogging a dead cat". Culturally it just means that there are often several ways to reach the same goal. That people have different ways based on different resources and experiences.

Bonsai is about time management, to do the best within ones awailable time and within ones local restrictions. I do envy your lack of growing restrictions. Up here we just need to adapt to more of it and things happen slower. UK not as much as Sweden.

I do laugh a little bit, every time someone in UK say "pretty cold", when I on the West Coast of sweden consider myself living in a "pretty mild" area. To be fair, althou different climates, we both live in climates very close or better for growing bonsai than in Japan where the art has developed. And in Japan, as far as I understand, no serious bonsai artist would ever consider growing a tree indoors. That is a purelly western world idea driven by a market that wants indoor trees, not by the needs of the trees. If you want to be successfull in bonsai you really need to put the trees needs before your own wants. At the day you realice there is no difference between the two, that you grow with the trees, nothing is impossible given time.

Enough ranting from me. I do look forward to see these seadling develop. If there is still a forum in 20 years, I also look forward to see a great tree in the end.

Hi just a quick question, I have been watering my plants with just regular tap water. Is this okay or should I be using something filtered or rainwater just as I had seen something online that said that it could kill the plant by using tap water. Thanks

That is not a simple question to answer sinze tap water is not by far the same everywhere. Some have tap water that is good for trees, some dont and some do have tapwater that could kill trees.

The three most important factors to concider, but not the only ones:

If it is drinkable it is most likelly ok for your seedling.

If the species likes acidic conditions and you have hard alcaline water it is bad to use.

Some water purifiers us salt to battle alcaliniti. That is not good for plants and will kill them.