youngsai

hello all,

I am complete beginner at bonsai besides a juniper mallsai I killed at 17 years old. But i am a good learner and a much better listener, and so I ask you sages for advise to question I could not find answers to.

I now have three bonsai, a ficus something, a something maple, and a something spruce (not sure what specific species these are). The spruce was a mini-christmas tree and I need practice wireing, the ficus is from home depot. I am going to be styling and wireing the spruce and/or ficus soon. Which leads me to my first question. When is the best season to style or wire my spruce/ficus? I am in philadelphia pa, which i think is either zone 5b or 6a. Question 2- if i wire my spruce (all branches including main branch are green and young) and after wireing I pinch back the apex bud, will this cause the entire main branch to die back and make that wired branch hardwood and strong? Question 3- how long should the plant soil take to dry? Im now watering the plant every two days after making my own soil mix of sand, dirt and organic material; two days is about the time it takes for my concoction to dry. thank you for your willingness to share your knowledge and wonderful forum.

Sorry about the long post, I asked one question and I got carried away.

-Joshua

Advertisement