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Hello everyone

A friend brought me 4 trees as a present because i wanted to start this hobby for a long time.
He brought me the trees below.
1-Acer palmatum
1-Acer palm phoenix
1-Acer palm orange dream
1-WIsteria
I inlcude a photo to see them.



I have a few questions besause i read a lot and different opinions

1.can i cut them in this period?
2.should i repot them in a bigger pot? (they seem too small)
3.The soil that they have is hard like cement. Can i put a mixture of pumice and peat or pumice and regular plant soil ? 50/50 or 60/40?

Any advice is welcome and thanks in advance..

Hello and welcome

First of all: these trees need to be outside, inside trees do not exist and they will die in your living rooms.
Your questions:
1. you can but why would you want to do that? As they stand now they are pencil thick trees, to create a plausible bonsai you need a thick trunck which only comes by age and letting it grow
2. because your trees are in leaf i assume you are in the Northern hemisphere so the repotting season has passed ( early spring, when buds just start to swell). There is absoluely no reason to repot now ( they were and are happy in the pots/soil they are in now)
3.If/when you repot( see question 2)there is for now absolutely no reason to plant them in expensive bonsai soil.If they were mine i would plant them in the garden for a few years to fatten up fast, and dig them up for some rootwork every 2-3 years.

I know you are eager to "do" something but bonsai is a marathon, not a sprint

Hope this helps a bit

Thank you for your quick answer.

The plants was inside when i unpacked them and took the photo now they are outside.
i wanted to cut some branches that are curved and a little damaged from the transport. And in 2 of them i see some cuts so i thought they need cutting from young age.
i don't have a garden so they will stay in pots and i wanted to put them in bigger one if it is better.

Yes i am from Greece and its early spring here. right now our top temperature is 18-19°C
They brought me some fertilizer liquid fertilizer should i start it?
I read somewhere that acer need to get inside when temperature is below 10°C and in the shadow when above 34°C is that correct?

I want to do almost everything right and i am not in a hurry. I have aquariums so i am patient. I water my other plants with aquarium water that has nutrates can i use it in those trees too?

I second lucR in everything and adding:

If you dont have possibility to plant in a garden it is also possible to uppot to a bigger pot. That can be done at any time. You will not get as fast thickening as in ground, but not as slow as in bonsai pot.

Keeping trees in pots on the ground is another option. Roots will grow out the drainage holes and speed up the process. When repotting just cut the pot loose.

The best thing you can do is find a local bonsai group, join it, and go to meetings. Local people know what your climate is like, they have experience keeping trees alive in your climate, and they know what species do well and what don't.

They might also give you some of their excess trees.

So you suggest to put it on bigger pot and add soil. not to disturb the one that already has. that's easy.
So what soil to buy? I find a ready mix that has 70% peat and the rest 30% is soil,pumice and marcs. is that good? its cheap too
Or i buy pumice and peat and mix it 50/50 or 60/40? just give me your advice and i will make it. only akadama is very expensive.

i tried to find a local group but they are not very interested in helping.

Any of the soil mix you mention will be good. The issue is not to get the perfect soil, it is to get the watering right according to your soil, climate and season.

Maples should definitely not com indoors in winter. They need their dormancy. Only if temperature drops below minus 10c for prolonged period protection may be needed. But I guess that is not an issue in greece?

If it gets really hot they may need to come into shade. However, I am in Sweden and cannot tell when that is, never happens here.

I just want to get them a good soil. I know the best soil is a little bit hard to get it or mix it.
Right now I water them when soil starts to get dry on top.
Where I live I never saw temperature below -3. But they have small pots and I am afraid about the root system. At summer we go above 39-40 easily. You think I can leave at full sunny place all day long? Or I choose a place where it will get sun early in the morning or evening to avoid big heat at midday?

What is the best soil?? Everyone have their own mix and everyone is still working on improcing it. Just skip that idea that there are an universal best soil. There are not. Just start with a mix of locally awailable and affordable ingredienser and work from there

My acers saw 6 weeks of constant temperature below minus 10 c last winter with a low at minus 18c. They were kept protected in unheated greenhouse because I was just as worried as you they might not make it outside. And yes, that was the temperatures inside the greenhouse. Kept indoors they would definitely die. But both of them is still alive. Three acers was outside in the ground even colder, the most recently planted got some frost damage, All others Just fine, both the ones outside and the ones in the greenhouse

The soil i can find easy contains black and blonde peat , humus, zeolite and perlite. The organic composition is 30-40%, the Ph is 6.5-7 and the moisture 25-35%. Seems good to you?

So in winter i will leave them outside. I will just try to protect them from too much wind. I don't have a greenhouse.
(i try to write from the morning but i get error all time.)