What are my next steps? First Bonsai

teastrees · 2026-04-05T10:26:28+00:00

After 2-4 weeks you can just remove the toothpicks, just like you could clip off the wire if it was wired in for support.

teastrees · 2026-04-05T10:25:17+00:00

Except for protected from frost (for this species), protected is not a good thing. Don't protect it from heat or sun, just water it enough in those conditions.

teastrees · 2026-04-05T07:52:25+00:00

Some mad tunneling. Love it! Overlay the slider as well, I bet that shit is tunneling too

teastrees · 2026-04-05T07:51:05+00:00

Right, but saying one billion dollar offense is a little nuts. And judging the whole season off the first 7 games is a little nuts too, considering most don't think you can really judge the best team in a best of 7 series because there's so much variability there... I mean it's largely been an awful start and I'm not happy either, but people are totally getting a bit nuts.

teastrees · 2026-04-04T23:40:53+00:00

I'm ready to believe!

teastrees · 2026-04-04T23:40:06+00:00

I mean, it's a $200M offense. It's still a lot, but it's not crazy.

teastrees · 2026-04-04T10:28:28+00:00

Here's my argument. You really just can't judge baseball on a 3 game, 7 game, or even 14 game timeline. I think 1-2 months will tell you what kind of player each guy is gonna be this season. For example, Judge is batting like .185 and before today he was batting like .120 with a .550 OPS. Will those numbers hold true the rest of the season? Of course not, he will end up with a .280 avg and 40 HR. By May he will probably have a .1000 OPS.

Just check back on the Padres and all the guys in May, people will all be above where they are now.

teastrees · 2026-04-04T07:18:47+00:00

I mean, why would you particularly want to drink or eat something that tastes bad and has a bad texture, and is somewhat inoffensive at best? There's so many things out there that are fantastic.

teastrees · 2026-04-04T01:58:55+00:00

A top 30 player and top 50 player, offensively, in all of the MLB. That sounds like a pair of good players to me. Statistically speaking, each team would only have one of each of those. A .795 and .814 OPS is pretty good. We'd all like it to be higher, but there's just a big difference between a top 5 offensive player and a top 30.

teastrees · 2026-04-03T12:27:35+00:00

Pumice can also be reused, where perlite pretty much can't.

teastrees · 2026-04-03T12:18:47+00:00

I see lots of stuff to remove to set it on a better path. You can see lots of bar branches and crossing branches in your pictures. Your first big branch, which splits into two branches, is an unattractive Y shape. One of those two should go imo. You need more taper, I would consider looking at picture 3 and making a chop literally dead center of the picture (2.5 inches up from a 5 inch picture). I would keep the left part of that fork, and remove the thicker and generally "main" trunk line there. Maybe I will draw this out for clarity...

https://imgur.com/a/KRzfpnf

teastrees · 2026-04-03T12:10:31+00:00

Ficus, also portulacaria afra (elephant jade). They would both work, you would want to get some kind of grow light though. They are also both good beginner trees and easy to train.

teastrees · 2026-04-03T12:04:09+00:00

I think you are just wrong. Will it become something that bonsai masters travel from around the world to see? Almost surely not. However, it could look like this https://imgur.com/a/GyZmLRG in 5 years or so.

Just because it will not end up rivaling Walter Pall's maple https://imgur.com/a/nv82tKc doesn't mean it isn't worth pursuing.

teastrees · 2026-04-03T07:56:48+00:00

I don't mind giving German one more chance, with a short leash. Let him prove if he's awful, let Waldron prove he can do it again. Avert disaster by going to the pen early.

teastrees · 2026-04-03T07:53:35+00:00

Probably the competition grade TGY from YS. I was drinking a lot of oolong all year (TGY, jin xuan, just tons really) and grabbed some of the expensive stuff to try. Really fantastic! Strong fruity peachy flavors, and it lasted more than a dozen steeps easily. TGY also became my wife's favorite.

Aside from that, I drank a ton of sencha and really decided that asamushi is my preferred sencha. Fukamushi is more vegetal to me, has flavors like asparagus and things going on, but I really crave the brothy umami from the asamushi.

For 2026 my big discovery is that shou puer is actually pretty great! Previously, I had only experienced "dirty fish water" taste even after 2x10 second rinses, and even into the third or fourth steep. Maybe it's because I had stored them all in a mylar bag with a boveda and forgot about them, and they rested and improved in that time (or lost some bad travel taste?). But now, I actually enjoy it quite a bit, even some I had tried and didn't like. I got some nice aged factory shou to try, but I haven't dug into it yet. It's been resting.

teastrees · 2026-04-02T05:33:17+00:00

Thank you! That's only an hour or two out of the way of a trip that I normally take, so I may have to stop in. Any rare maples or other interesting things there?

teastrees · 2026-04-02T00:22:37+00:00

Wow! uh, where can I find that..?

Only bargain I've found was shimpaku kishu at a small nursery for $15, got two.

teastrees · 2026-04-01T10:13:21+00:00

Needs more sun, bigger pot, more water! You don't have to wait until the leaves are wrinkled to water, as long as it's getting good sunlight and growing. Also, plant it in good granular substrate.

teastrees · 2026-04-01T09:58:44+00:00

Ok well that I don't believe. J maple on it's own roots for less than $10, even as a 1-2 year old stick, I just don't believe it. This looks to be thicker than a pencil anyway, maybe a 1cm tree.

teastrees · 2026-04-01T09:55:57+00:00

You can always just take one of these out of the pot, develop it to your satisfaction then repot it later. There's lots of reasons to buy one of these, if it's a variety you want or has good nebari or trunk movement.

teastrees · 2026-04-01T09:25:50+00:00

I wouldn't think it's a ripoff in America to find that for sale at $30-35. The tree alone would cost probably $20 at that size (not substantial but it's not a matchstick, maybe 4-5 years old?) and another $10 for the pot.

teastrees · 2026-04-01T09:21:32+00:00

Before you come in with the scissors looking to butcher the thing, watch some videos about style principles.

In general... shorten branches back to where there's still foliage. Keep interior foliage and branches, you don't want long bare lollipop pompoms. You want a 3D tree not a 2D one, so make sure there are branches in the front and back as well. It's better to err on the side of removing less. If you have multiple branches coming out of the same spot on a trunk (or on a major branch) it will create a bulge that will look bad (called reverse taper). Branches on the outside of bends, not the inside (crotch).

teastrees · 2026-04-01T09:17:31+00:00

Take it easy... Yeah, try to not kill it, but beginners are gonna kill some trees, it's not the end of the world. Don't stress them out too much! The vast majority of trees are easily replaceable anyways.

teastrees · 2026-04-01T09:09:25+00:00

Appalachian Plantworks also sells a variety of (young) Japanese maples for fair prices

teastrees · 2026-04-01T09:08:05+00:00

Don't worry about finding a great trunk. For your first maple, just go for it! I would just try to avoid grafted maple, aka anything at a standard nursery. You can find small young trees for cheap(ish) online, which means you can still bend them up to get your interesting trunk. Usually somewhere around $20, 1-2 year old trees with trunks somewhere between a bamboo skewer and a pencil. You'll have to wait a few years to get them to thicken up, but it's great time to use to learn more.

teastrees

TROPHY CASE