AusBonsai

Hey everyone,

My name is Olly and for Christmas I recieved an Azalea Bonsai Starter.

I am completely new to Bonsia's and would love to grow with it.
I have had a look online and there aren't really anything for what I have.

Here are a few images to help you help me (sorry if the images are too big):







As you can see, the trunk is confusing as it all breaks out in five branches.

Like I said, I really don't know what to do but would really like to learn.

Any advice to get me up and running would be amazing!

Thanks!

G'day Olly , Welcome to the forum firstly, hope we can help mate,

What you have been give as a lovely christmas gesture is basically a small pot plant sold as Bonsai starters. Now this may be ok if it's an Advanced bonsai person buying it as they would know what to do with it ,however for a beginner, it won't be an easy or quick transformation into a Bonsai, This type of "stock" is typically planted out into the ground or a larger pot and grown for several years, so that the trunk grows in thickness. It's at that time it could start being turned into a Bonsai trainer.

Olly, Bonsai is a facinating and pleasureable hobby, i hope you can do some reading and research and get yourself really interested in it and that way you'll get an idea of what is involved.In saying that what i would do is either plant this little Azalea in a larger pot and grow on or enjoy it as a pot plant until it can be used for bonsai. It has been said that a club is well worth it for new people starting out in Bonsai, that would be a great New years treat for yourself in the new year, hope i have helped just a little with your tree .

Gday Olly

Welcome to the forum mate
Your azalea is a starter. they take a bit of time to grow into a bonsai so if it was mine I would repot it into a larger pot and grow it on for a bit to get some vigour into it. When you repot the roots of a azalea are very fine and need to be combed out or they will become matted and grow into a ball that will hinder the tree in the future. Azaleas always grow multiple branches from the point were they flower so some pruning is required in the future. but for now I think you should just grow it on and learn as much as you can. Joining a local club is a great source of local knowledge and read through the threads as there is a wealth of info.

Hey guys,

I would just like to say thank you so much for welcoming me into the community and giving me information that I needed.

You have both, even in the brief messages you wrote, made me more excited to join a local club!

Thank you both!

Olly wrote:Thank you both!

No problem, here's a couple of Azaleas to aspire to and over , i can't credit the grower as i don't remember where i lifted the pics from.

Hi Olly and Welcome to the forum.
Craig gives great advice and info and to learn some more, do a search in here for Azaleas, and you will many threads on them to inspire you.
They are a wonderful species to start with as they are quite robust and always look nice.

Although starting from a starter is a long term project.

I note you are in Sydney and the starter comes from Bonsai Environment at Vineyard. so figure you are in the Sydney North west.
If so you have 2 of the best Bonsai Nurseries in Sydney close by where you can see some nice trees "in the bark" so you can see up close what we are all about. Bonsai Environment at Vineyard, and Ray Nesci at Dural.
https://www.ausbonsai.com.au/wiki/index. ... _Nurseries

The School Of Bonsai meets weekly ( during school terms) at North Rocks and we run a full teaching program on Bonsai.

check out these threads and Links here
https://www.ausbonsai.com.au/wiki/index.php?title=Azalea
viewforum.php?f=132&start=25
viewforum.php?f=132

Ken

welcome Olly--just a question for you other blokes ----there are 5 branches coming from the same spot ---before replanting would you remove 2 or perhaps 3 of them and have one leader and one branch--or would you leave them all to have more choices for later-- just thinking about reverse taper.

Guy wrote:welcome Olly--just a question for you other blokes ----there are 5 branches coming from the same spot ---before replanting would you remove 2 or perhaps 3 of them and have one leader and one branch--or would you leave them all to have more choices for later-- just thinking about reverse taper.

No problem with reverse taper as this will build the nebari only. If you left all of them they will make a large spreading solid base with the trunks coming from it.

Whether you want to keep them all depends on what sort of tree you actually want in the end. I would, and usually do keep all the low trunks for the first year at least, and then take off the ones I do not want when they have all grown to about 10 mm or so.
Then you will be deciding what to keep based on the shape of the tree.

You can certainly keep them all and build a connected root clump tree. Check out my progression thread for an example. that was started from collected stock, but the process would be the same

Ken

Guy wrote:welcome Olly--just a question for you other blokes ----there are 5 branches coming from the same spot ---before replanting would you remove 2 or perhaps 3 of them and have one leader and one branch--or would you leave them all to have more choices for later-- just thinking about reverse taper.

Like Ken said, i'd be doing much the same Guy, Happy new year mate,.

thanks craig and ken -so much to learn and so little time--stick around ollie -this is a good forum--only had four beers last night-nice to have new years day without a hangover --40c degrees yesterday--41c today--40 odd tomorrow and tuesday--so I waterspray me as well as the "sticks in pots"

Haha, you guys are really great!

This is a really good forum, and I will be a part of it for a long time to come!

hey ollie welcome !!! leaving all the branches on now will help growth rate as well with photosynthesis etc , will thicken up roots and base faster and give you more chioce later on when you have a vision in mind , planting in a garden bed will help grow faster too . if you are near Londonderry , you can come to my place , i have enough trees for my own nursery and love talking bonsai , cheers eyleene