bonsaiTALK Community - View Single Post - my first wiring and hard pruning attempt ever

Hello Legato, I will try to answer all of your questions from my experiences. I would never give an opinion unless I've experienced it for myself or was taught to me by my teachers
First, I would just run another wire along side of that wire. In fact, many articles say that it maybe better to run 2 wires instead of one thick one. It almost looks like you used a gauge 1-1/12 wire. You could run a 2 1/2 with that one. This should give you the ability to bend the top portion of the trunk. But not the lower, but I think that your ok with the lower structure for now. You could take that wire off, just use wire cutters made exclusively for bonsai. They prevent cutting the tree and work unbelievable well. Just cut the wire about every inch from beginning to end and the wire will just fall off. However, I would just run another wire like previously mentioned. Oh and yes, you can continue your wire work now, the tree can take it. Your wiring job actually looks pretty good.
Second, yes, you can basically use any training pot that is the right size. The term " grow pot " refers to the pot itself " its purpose, not material. The goal of this pot is to make the root ball more shallow and train the roots to grow out instead of down. Trees absorb nutrients from the fine hair like roots, not the thick ones. Thats what you are trying to encourage. So find a pot that is slightly more shallow than the pot its it, but about the same width or so. If you repot, tease out some of the roots on the sides and at the bottom. Use a chopstick, even if you only reduce the height of the root ball buy an inch or two this is fine. Its also ok to do some minor root trimming with scissors. I would do this in late sept or next spring.
Yes, your bonsai nursery has pre bagged bonsai soil, see if they have one for conifers, if not, a nice quality all purpose bonsai soil is fine.
You have it right about fertilizing. If you don't repot, you can fertilize till the beginning of october and then start again in spring. If you do repot this september, you can fertilize until you repot. Then after its repotted, don't fertilize till next spring. This is because its good to not fertilize for about 3 weeks after a repot, by that time we will be in october and you can't fertilize anyway.
If you repot next spring ( april ) give it 3-4 weeks and then start fertilizing.

16-Aug-2006	#7
october bonsaiTALK Master Join Date: Jul-2006 Location: massachusetts Country: United states Posts: 416	Part 1 Hello Legato, I will try to answer all of your questions from my experiences. I would never give an opinion unless I've experienced it for myself or was taught to me by my teachers First, I would just run another wire along side of that wire. In fact, many articles say that it maybe better to run 2 wires instead of one thick one. It almost looks like you used a gauge 1-1/12 wire. You could run a 2 1/2 with that one. This should give you the ability to bend the top portion of the trunk. But not the lower, but I think that your ok with the lower structure for now. You could take that wire off, just use wire cutters made exclusively for bonsai. They prevent cutting the tree and work unbelievable well. Just cut the wire about every inch from beginning to end and the wire will just fall off. However, I would just run another wire like previously mentioned. Oh and yes, you can continue your wire work now, the tree can take it. Your wiring job actually looks pretty good. Second, yes, you can basically use any training pot that is the right size. The term " grow pot " refers to the pot itself " its purpose, not material. The goal of this pot is to make the root ball more shallow and train the roots to grow out instead of down. Trees absorb nutrients from the fine hair like roots, not the thick ones. Thats what you are trying to encourage. So find a pot that is slightly more shallow than the pot its it, but about the same width or so. If you repot, tease out some of the roots on the sides and at the bottom. Use a chopstick, even if you only reduce the height of the root ball buy an inch or two this is fine. Its also ok to do some minor root trimming with scissors. I would do this in late sept or next spring. Yes, your bonsai nursery has pre bagged bonsai soil, see if they have one for conifers, if not, a nice quality all purpose bonsai soil is fine. You have it right about fertilizing. If you don't repot, you can fertilize till the beginning of october and then start again in spring. If you do repot this september, you can fertilize until you repot. Then after its repotted, don't fertilize till next spring. This is because its good to not fertilize for about 3 weeks after a repot, by that time we will be in october and you can't fertilize anyway. If you repot next spring ( april ) give it 3-4 weeks and then start fertilizing.