名媛直播

Hello I started the same thread on the dutch version of this site, because I love it to see if people still have their first tree or one of the first.
I think it's something u should try and keep with you, if u still have it as long as your bonsai career will last, because it's were it all started off course.
So if u do share them doesn't matter how they look right now i'm just curious.

I'll kick off here's mine. Short story: I bought it at a garden center. It's a white pine nothing special, big tree, long needles,big candles and long branches with foliage at the end of them.
At home I didn't put it in the garden, but started a google session on white pine bonsai.
Cut the the tree to a smaller size, did everything I read on the internet, cutting candles, plucking needle, pruning, wiring, a attempt to make an ugly shari and repotted it 3x in the first season.
My first styling looked like a small christmas tree but for me that was 名媛直播.
And due to a miracle i guess it survived my torture and the freezing winter.

Anyway I haven't got a before photo just something i took from google that looked like it and the after photo is taken this year.
It needs heaps of work, but that's not my goal. My goal is keeping it alive and healthy.
And it's not my most beautiful one and never will be but it's the one that started it all for me.
That's why I love it and hope to have it with me as long as I can do this great hobby.
Hope you like it looking forward in seeing yours.

Before image (from google)


As it is today

My first tree was when I was in Junior High, and of course it died, so I don't have it anymore. So about 8 years ago I was in Home Depot and saw a sick and struggling Ginseng Ficus that looked dead. It had lost all its leaves and was in a very small pot and had soaking wet roots. The lady at the desk told be she couldn't give it to me, but could sell it to me for .75 cents. So I took it, and of course transplanted it into the worst possible soil, indoor house plant Miracle Grow. Then I stuck it in a window seal and gave it some rooting hormone and prayed. Miraculously it lived and budded leaves. I let it grow in the window seal for years untrained and root bound, and honestly forgot about it and bought other trees, and worked on them outdoors. Last year when I moved to a warmer climate I took it outside and repotted it, and started trimming it back then started working on some ramification. It's still far from pretty and honestly embarrassing, but here is the current pic, and like others I don't have a before. Just imagine a small pot with a stick in the sun and no leaves. LOL

Also, question for Chrisv. What are the baskets all over your soil? Are they for air penetration to the roots? If so where can I get some, and what are they called? I have a Yamadori Juniper in native clay soil that I cant transplant yet, and could use a good way to help the roots breath. Thanks in advance.

NIce 8 years is a long time and good your working on it again!
The basket are fertilizing baskets. You put fertilizer in it and with watering it releases bits of fertilizer slowly.
They are mainly for protection so the fertilizer doesn't roll off the pot when watering and the birds don't steel it.
Its not penetrating the soil just a tiny bit but not enough to make holes for air.
To bad you can't transplant it yet because Junipers do love good draining soil.

Thanks for sharing by the way.

Ya, it was only taken from the wild this spring, and almost died. So I cant do anything with it for a while. It's in a 5 gallon nursery pot, and I drilled 1" holes all over it, so it could breath and dry out better. Been water it with PH Balanced water every 3 days or so, then I wait for it to dry out almost completely. I have also introduced Mycorrhizal, compost tea, and rooting hormone to help it along. I may just make some aeration steaks myself now that I got the idea.