Please help with this 'rescued' bonsai!!

lehket

You're quite welcome, and yeah, that's a problem a lot of us probably faced when we first started. I know I did. I spent a year reading and thinking about how to do things before I actually worked on a tree.

For this, though, you can make it fairly simple by potting it in a cheap plastic pot, or even just repotting it in the pot that it's in right now. I rather think the tree will need first to get healthy and then to develop a bit more before you'll be ready to think about what kind of bonsai pot you want it in. This is an area where I jumped the gun a number of times. Bonsai pots are chosen to complement the tree's size, coloration, and styling. Therefore, you don't want to rush to get a really nice pot until you know how big the "finished" tree will be (partly for aesthetic reasons but also for the health of the tree) and how it will be styled.

For this tree you don't need to worry about thickening up the trunk, so it's okay to put it into a smaller pot, but you are nowhere near achieving a "finished" styling yet, so choosing the right pot might be a little tricky, unless you have a really good vision for the tree's future. That's mainly why I'd suggest getting a cheap plastic pot for now, or repotting it in what it currently is in.

Again, anyone who thinks I'm wrong, feel free to snarl at me.

Pat gives good advice about hooking up with a local Bonsai club. You'll be amazed at how much faster you'll learn when you can see people doing things instead of just reading about it in a book (although reading is helpful, too). And you can ask specific questions about your tree and its particular issues, which you can't do with a book.

__________________
--Dale
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Co-author of Spiritual Telemetry,
Host of Planet Baha'i and the Planet Baha'i Forum

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