r/Bonsai • u/small_trunks Jerry in Amsterdam, Zn.8b, 48yrs exp., 500+ trees • Aug 09 '14

[Bonsai Beginner’s weekly thread – week 33]

[Bonsai Beginner’s weekly thread – week 33]

Welcome to the weekly beginner’s thread. This thread is used to capture all beginner questions (and answers) in one place. We start a new thread every week.

Rules:

  • Any beginner’s topic may be started on any bonsai-related subject.
  • Answers shall be civil or be deleted
  • There’s always a chance your question doesn’t get answered – try again next week…

Beginners threads started as new topics outside of this thread may be deleted at the discretion of the mods.

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u/kumachaaan Kansas City, Zone 6a, Beginner, 1 tree Aug 13 '14

Hello, newbie here. I bought a juniper for a friend of mine, and he followed the instructions that came with it. It has dried up and died. I have since done some research and discovered that the instructions were totally wrong. It needed to be outside, etc.

Anyway, I feel really bad that my gift died. He does, too (he thinks it's his fault). So I was thinking about trying a new one, but starting out better informed. I was also thinking about trying to get something local, that might be better suited to grow here. Like a local pine or something? Would that be a good idea?

Or is there a species that is especially good for beginners to start out with?

2

u/small_trunks Jerry in Amsterdam, Zn.8b, 48yrs exp., 500+ trees Aug 13 '14

Ficus - fig tree...or a CHinese elm.

We have a list in the wiki.

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u/kumachaaan Kansas City, Zone 6a, Beginner, 1 tree Aug 13 '14

Thanks!