名媛直播

Hello everyone, I am brand new to the world of 名媛直播 and I have been a long time admirer of the art. This year my girlfriend purchased a beautiful Chinese Elm for me from Eastern Leaf as she said they have great reviews online.

I recently ran Into the predicament of proper care and wanted to run by my first few days with the tree. It arrived beautifully with all of its leaves and I watered the plant thoroughly as the soil was fairly dry. I purchased a dish to turn into a humidity tray and filled it with porous rock and smooth stones for accent. I took some Moss I found outside and placed it on top of the soil for decorations and to help retain moisture. I spray my Elm with water at least 1 time a day as I have read that it requires solid humidity and the house I live in has constant heat going to keep the house around 75deg Fahrenheit. I am going to buy fertilizer tomorrow along with a trimming kit. I will attach a pic aswell because I'm curious if what I have is even considered a bonsai by this forums standards. The tree is between 5-7 years old and stands about 10" tall. Some of the leaves have turned yellow and dropped but at least 95% of them are green and vigorous. I just want to be sure I am doing right by this tree. Thanks for all your advice!

Jp1993 wrote: Hello everyone, I am brand new to the world of 名媛直播 and I have been a long time admirer of the art. This year my girlfriend purchased a beautiful Chinese Elm for me from Eastern Leaf as she said they have great reviews online

Yeah... but no. If you have read this forum, you'll know what the reply will be: that's not a bonsai but a mallsai. A cheap version, intended to look like a bonsai, but not really a bonsai. I understand your girlfriend meant well, but this really is not what this forum is about.

So how exactly does one "fake" a bonsai? I was under the impression a bonsai was a miniature plant(tree) in a pot. How would I identify what is and is not truly a bonsai tree? Does it have to do with age or shape or?? I'm very sorry for the noon questions

Upon further research I believe you are wrong. This is indeed a bonsai tree and not mallsai. This tree has no glued rocks or fake shrubbery, I put those on there. The tree has a good root system and is indeed 5 years old and from a reputable source. I will remove the roaks as I know this is now a bad idea but in the future I'd appreciate a more detailed explanation on how you came to the cocclusion is a mallsai. This tree cost me $60 not including shipping and will hopefully one day be a beautiful Chinese elm.

Jp1993 wrote: So how exactly does one "fake" a bonsai? I was under the impression a bonsai was a miniature plant(tree) in a pot. How would I identify what is and is not truly a bonsai tree? Does it have to do with age or shape or?? I'm very sorry for the noon questions

Your plant is a mass product that does not have the qualtity of a real bonsai. This is being discussed on this forum day after day after day after.... it is discussed so often that it not funny anymore. We get the same question about the same s-shaped, standard, mass-produced fake bonsai again and again and again.

Do some research. Use the search option.

Jp1993 wrote: Upon further research I believe you are wrong. This is indeed a bonsai tree and not mallsai. This tree has no glued rocks or fake shrubbery, I put those on there. The tree has a good root system and is indeed 5 years old and from a reputable source. I will remove the roaks as I know this is now a bad idea but in the future I'd appreciate a more detailed explanation on how you came to the cocclusion is a mallsai. This tree cost me $60 not including shipping and will hopefully one day be a beautiful Chinese elm.

Oh, Ok, sure then. If that's what you want to believe. You're the one who knows about bonsai, right?

60 usd for something that is sold, in wholesalfe, for 2 USD? That's a rip-off.

I understand the frustration and I am not at all saying your vast experience in bonsai is not something I take great consideration of.

Basically your saying the S shape is why you don't consider this tree bonsai? I'm assuming because it's not a naturally occurring shape in nature?

Outaide of this would the tree be of the same quality? I ask this because the soil looks good and the tree has good roots so I assumed it was a good bonsai.

Most importantly, I know that mallsai have low life spans, will my tree die sooner because if it's shape or is it because the soil is perceived to be low quality or the root structure poorly grown?

I really want to begin my journey in bonsai but if the definition of mallsai is a plant purchased online then I am lost on how to start my journey....

I am there even a chance that this tree is actually 5 years old and not some branch shoved in the dirt?

Hey JP,

Welcome to the empire!

Just for questions like yours I have written a little post on my blog. Take a peek. I hope this clarifies a lot for you.Just so you know: I have some 100 trees in pots. Maybe 10 of those I would now consider to have reached a stage where I would refer to them as bonsai. In Japan I am not sure these would even be recognized as such.



What you hopefully learn is that the fact that it is mass produces (Millions near-exact copies each year) make it not fitting the concept of bonsai as discussed on the forum. Just like the IKEA "artwork" sold for living rooms around the globe will be not considered art by painters. The uniqueness gets lost in the process loosing its validity. It is however still a tree, it is in a pot. So you can learn techniques. Just don't expect people that are in the know to grant this the label bonsai.

The plant probably is a few years old. It is not just a branch stuck in the dirt. And even if it were, who cares . In the end, bonsai is about creating the image of an old weathered tree. It does not in fact have to be old as long as the image conveyed is one of age.

Jp1993 wrote: Basically your saying the S shape is why you don't consider this tree bonsai? I'm assuming because it's not a naturally occurring shape in nature?

No, the S-shape is not the reason why this is not considered a real bonsai - though a symmetrical S-shape should be avoided as it doesn't look pleasing.
The reason is that, when growing a bonsai, you try to create an image of a tree in nature. This plant however is shaped to look like a bonsai.
名媛直播 is an art form, and a bonsai grower will look at the possibilities that a tree offers, trying to improve it. There is a reason why real bonsai look so pleasing - there are several 'rules' that make a tree look good, like a good root flare, a tapering trunk, proper branch placement and ramification (and more, but you can look that up).

Your tree is made following a standard 'design' - S-shape, first branch in the first bend, growing up and with a sharp bend, the second branch, looking unnatural... well... just Google images for S-shaped bonsai and you'll see what I mean: different species of plants, all looking practically identical. These plants were not carefully grown and shaped. They are all done the same way, using guy wires (cheap, iron wire. You may see traces of rust on the trunk). Goal is not to create a good looking tree, but to create something that looks like a bonsai, real fast. There are many nurseries that ship these by the thousands. Per month.
Go have a look at alibaba.com and search for bonsai. You'll find something like this:


Actually, I do have one myself. I got it for free. It's a clone of yours, even including that ugly, sharp bend:



I am still wondering where this 'design' came from and why it is being copied over and over...

Outaide of this would the tree be of the same quality? I ask this because the soil looks good and the tree has good roots so I assumed it was a good bonsai.

As you may expect from the above: no.

Most importantly, I know that mallsai have low life spans, will my tree die sooner because if it's shape or is it because the soil is perceived to be low quality or the root structure poorly grown?

Reasons why so little trees like these survive:
- They had to be shipped. Probably by seafreight (cheaper) and probably in a 'transport' soil that retains mosture - as there'l be no one watering the trees during the trip
- Change of environment/climate
- Wrong location - usually indoors, where the climate and light level is not right for trees
- Improper care - under/overwatering, using fertilizer thinking it cures sick trees (it doesn't)

I really want to begin my journey in bonsai but if the definition of mallsai is a plant purchased online then I am lost on how to start my journey....

You have started accepting what you actually have and you're asking the right questions, so you're not lost
Actually, several of us have, or have purchased, such a tree and we've started a contest. It is possible to grow a good bonsai out of it (but it will take lots of time(

Do look at the posts from Mimo, he has created amazing landscapes using cheap material like this.

I wanted to keep my S-shaped tree in it's pot and leave it, only prune it a bit. The idea was to find out how hard it really is to take care for such a tree. First thing I found is that watering it is an issue. The soil must have dried out somewhat at a certain point in time - when watering it, water just ran off the soil, along the sides of the pot, not reaching the roots. Thats one reason why people advise to dunk the pot in water and leave it in there for a while. It doesn't solve the problem with the soil though.

As we have started this contest, I've changed my mind and repotted the plant in proper soil. That worked, it's been growing hard. Still, there's years of work ahead to try and make it a good bonsai.

Long story... what you need to learn first is to keep it alive, and to make it thrive. You do need very healthy, growing trees if you want to create bonsai.

MY GOD. I came to this forum as i'm interested in the hobby and wanted to see what new users were asking about, hoping to see (as i have in so many other hobbies) seasoned vets helping out the new guy. Instead, i see a bunch of incredibly stuck up responses (minus a couple) about how THATS NOT A REEEAL BONSAI and basically making the guy feel dumb. What a shame. Why not tell him this is a good starter tree to learn the basics with? And yeah, BON SAI literally means "tree in small pot" so yeah, by definition, he has a bonsai. Whether or not it's up to your community's standards is certainly debatable but just because you don't like it doesn't make it so.

Sad really.