My son's first tree...

bliorg

My 8-yr-old son's recently been bitten by the bonsai bug, which is pulling me gratefully back into the hobby, and we started with this Ficus nerifolia:



It's a young tree, but had a nice shape to it, so we potted it down and are letting it grow. The pot's a bit large, but the thing had a tremendous rootball to it, and I didn't want to reduce it too much at one go.

A few years, and my boy will have a nice tree.

Scott

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kingkong

Nice..now is a good time to get the roots spoked out properly before any coiled bad habits get started. Save those bottom branches. They are worth their weight in copper.

eeiko321

very nice minature tree
good choice...

maybe should start wiring the branches and perhaps thin the upper area...so you can expose a bit of the branching to give it more character.

Sailor_Jerry

Nice little tree, and a fantastic photograph.


Ficus N is a good choice for an 8 year old. They can tolerate just about anything as long as they stay watered, especially root pruning.

BarbaraM

Cute tree. Your son has a nice start.

My 10 year old son has a pasion for elms. Right now he is thrilled because he gets to do a lot of pinching to keep the branches in check on his forest. It keeps him engaged with the hobby.

__________________
"What I like about bonsai is that it has a beginning but no end. A bud today becomes a branch tomorrow. It is like searching for the rainbw's end; the farther it is pursued, the farther away it is." John Naka

bliorg

Thanks, everyone. He's excited about bonsai, which makes it all the more fun for dad.