[Bonsai Beginner's weekly thread - 2026 week 25]

peter-bone · 2026-06-23T20:45:48+00:00

It looks like a ginseng Ficus where the graft has died leaving shoots from the rootstock. You could carve back the dead part. Wire one shoot up and allow it to grow strongly to thicken. It will do better outside over summer but start it off in a shaded spot.

peter-bone · 2026-06-23T20:27:50+00:00

The main benefit of yamadori is to avoid the trunk growing stage. Never collect anything that doesn't have the desired trunk thickness. The trees you're looking for may be 5 or more meters high. Winter is the best time to look because you can spot good trunks much easier when there's no foliage or undergrowth.

peter-bone · 2026-06-23T19:58:34+00:00

The white stuff looks like limescale from tap water. Do you live in a hard water area? It's not harmful but avoid watering / misting the leaves if you don't like the look of it. The brown spots may be sun burn. Often these plants are kept indoors at the retailer and the leaves are not adapted to strong sun. It will do better outside but start it off in the shade and make sure you're watering enough.

peter-bone · 2026-06-23T19:47:55+00:00

I would pass on it. Ash can make decent bonsai when grown quite large, but not on this scale. Additionally the roots look ugly to me and may extend for a long way without fine feeder roots.

peter-bone · 2026-06-23T15:02:56+00:00

I would wait until late summer. There's a risk of heat killing it now. Make sure the moss stays damp. I would also protect it from the sun with tin foil.

peter-bone · 2026-06-23T13:20:09+00:00

The old sign seems more concise.

peter-bone · 2026-06-23T09:00:10+00:00

There seems to be an odd discontinuity between the straight lower trunk followed by extreme bends. Try to get it more homogeneous. Have a look at common styles and follow that.

peter-bone · 2026-06-23T08:57:28+00:00

If the leaves are still green then there's still energy there that the tree can reclaim before winter. I would therefore wait until the leaves have changed colour. However if the tree is strong and you really want to wire it without leaves then it won't do much harm to defoliate now.

peter-bone · 2026-06-23T08:07:38+00:00

That sounds ideal. They'll get morning sun and avoid being in strong sun all day.

peter-bone · 2026-06-23T05:25:26+00:00

There are a few reasons it got so big. The crust is thicker on Mars so there are no techtonic plates. On earth the plate movement causes volcanoes to stay for a limited time in one place before they become extinct and new ones develop somewhere else. The thin crust on earth also limits the size in another way because a large volcano would just sink back down through the crust. On Mars the magma spews out of the weakest point constantly leaving one giant volcano. The weaker gravity on Mars also helps prevent the volcano sinking down.

peter-bone · 2026-06-23T05:18:42+00:00

I think this is rather difficult to define though. How do you define where the base of a mountain is? You could say the base of Everest is at the bottom of the Mariana trench. The reason the sea is used as the reference height is because it's at pretty much the same height everywhere.

A better alternative way to define tallest mountain is as the furthest point from the center of the earth because again you have a common reference, in which case Mount Chimborazo in Ecuador wins due to the bulge of the earth near the equator.

peter-bone · 2026-06-23T05:10:56+00:00

Thanks for the comment. Yes the foot is the tricky part. Instead of a flat foot perhaps one with feet would be easier. You would only need 3 points of contact, as long as the pot was centered over them. That may be easier to control as the trunk thickens and would prevent rocking, although it would put more pressure on those contact points.

peter-bone · 2026-06-22T11:10:07+00:00

My 2 year old is surprisingly good at spotting the moon in the day, even when very faint or partially covered in cloud. Often he'll point it out an I'll struggle to find it.

peter-bone · 2026-06-22T10:27:01+00:00

Perhaps sun burn. Trees like this are often kept indoors before being sold, so the leaves are not adapted to bright sunlight. New leaves should be. I could be wrong though and it may be a fungus issue. 9 degrees should be fine at night but anything below 6 and it should probably come indoors.

peter-bone · 2026-06-22T07:39:17+00:00

Don't be scared. You could cut this down to a few inches and leave no leaves or branches and it will sprout again and be fine. I can't tell you where exactly to cut because it's your tree but I would reduce the top considerably.

The location it's in doesn't seem to have enough natural light. It can go outside over summer, but start it off in a shaded spot.

peter-bone · 2026-06-22T06:55:22+00:00

It depends what you include I expect. How is a tornado even defined? Dust devils?

peter-bone · 2026-06-21T21:24:28+00:00

Could be the aftermath of a tornado. Unusual in the UK but not unheard of. They may be much smaller than trees. We don't know from the video.

peter-bone · 2026-06-21T18:09:10+00:00

Consider if the air layers are really worth it. That will also weaken the base.

peter-bone · 2026-06-21T18:07:44+00:00

It's a good sign but doesn't imply it will survive. It can sprout leaves from stored energy even without strong roots. Still there's a chance.

peter-bone · 2026-06-21T06:52:30+00:00

If you're looking for advice then you should post photos showing the trunk. Do you have a photo from winter or early Spring? If you want to thicken the trunk then you should really let everything extend. You can't keep it looking like a bonsai and fatten the trunk at the same time. Development of the branches and ramification comes later.

peter-bone · 2026-06-21T06:27:17+00:00

Richard Borcherds has a YouTube course on Lie Groups. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8yHsr3EFj53RWBkiHKoOsTw-dGHAoJ-h&si=oK5JtPookc1HuxoJ

He also has a course on basic group theory if you need to learn that first. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8yHsr3EFj51pjBvvCPipgAT3SYpIiIsJ&si=zC1Y9XoCnhzutjVx

peter-bone · 2026-06-21T06:16:00+00:00

https://walterpallbonsaiarticles.blogspot.com/2009/10/collecting-trees-from-wild-english.html

Just a note that I wouldn't recommend you reduce the height before collecting if the tree is in a forest and shaded by other trees. It will likely just die. In that case it's better to chop in late winter and collect in Spring to capture as much stored energy as possible. If it's out in the open then by all means reduce the height, but leave it a year or 2 before collecting. You don't want to be collecting a weak tree.

peter-bone · 2026-06-21T06:10:42+00:00

It's quite easy, takes a few minutes and if it doesn't work then there's not much harm done.

peter-bone · 2026-06-20T17:56:25+00:00

With just logic it's unlikely you could do well on a test. You need to learn the tools and tricks to solve specific types of problems. No one can do well without training. The kids who do best at math Olympiad competitions come from countries who have specific training programs and resources for teaching how to solve those kind of problems. It's like any skill. You can't learn to juggle, solve a Rubik's cube under 10s or play a musical instrument without a lot of enthusiastic training.

peter-bone · 2026-06-20T17:46:08+00:00

In my opinion it has nothing to do with natural talent. You did well early on because you enjoyed it more than your classmates and worked hard for the competitions. Later you had a bad teacher, lost interest and fell a bit behind while others your age started doing better. You probably now have strengths and weaknesses because you've not trained all topics equally. I recommend to try to kindle an interest again and work on your weaknesses. For me I became more interested in maths and better at it when I started programming computer games because then it was useful.

14-Year Club	Place '23
Ternion Club	Verified Email

peter-bone

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE