Training my first Bonsai

18 January 2020 – 10 January 2021

The first step in training a bonsai that you grew from seed is wait. Wait for your bonsai to fully establish itself and grow into a shape that is natural for it. I waited almost a year before i began training my bonsai.

When he started developing a well-known shape is when I decided it was time to train him.

In the left photo it can be seen that the bonsai is developing a slanting style (as seen in the middle photo). The only issue with the untrained bonsai was that the top portion was slanting in the opposite direction.

As the tree is still young and only has about 3 cm of hardwood, a thin wire could be used. I put about 2 cm of wire into the soil near the base of the trunk, from then I wrapped the wire around the stem of the tree. Once the wire was on I slightly bent the top half of the bonsai into a C shape. Only in a few years will I begin training the side leaves when the stem of my bonsai has matured into hardwood.

I will leave the wire on for the next year and check monthly that it is not scarring the trunk of the tree, if this is the case then I will remove the wire and re-do it.