Boxwood Bonsai - Part 2

Here is a follow up to my Boxwood Bonsai that I started last year, (July 2023).

[@nerinat8371]

I like what you did, well done..

[@BonsaiBoise]

Thank you!

[@thebirddude]

Looks good, but since you asked, i would have chopped right down to that 1st thick branch. But i like to really reduce trees down in this stage of training, it puts the focus back on the trunk and then work on branches after the new trunk line is established.

[@BonsaiBoise]

Not a bad idea actually. I may actually do that in the spring when I repot it. I just looked at it and I see what you're saying

[@deepanjanbanerjee3491]

Hopefully the big scar will heal in time …. The trunk flow is lovely

[@BonsaiBoise]

@@deepanjanbanerjee3491 thank you!

[@jagboy69]

Thanks for putting this series together! Just started one of these a month ago. It's really helping me turn my boxwood bush into a tree! I gave mine an initial haircut, but keeping it in the 1gal pot until spring to start shrinking the roots. Would you recommend spending a year or two in a training pot before going to something small? My trunk is thick enough for the size of the tree I'm planning.

[@BonsaiBoise]

Thanks, I'm glad these helped! So I'm going to sound like a hypocrite a little, but I wouldn't recommend doing it the way I did in these videos. My timing was way off and I got lucky that it lived. (For $5 I figured it wasn't a huge loss). But, if you going straight into a bonsai pot in the spring, I think you'd be ok. Assuming it's in good health and everything. And you trim the foliage way back so that it balances out with the root pruning, it's probably fine. But doing it in phases never hurts too if you're not quite sure. Going with an "in between" size pot first, wait a year or two, then bonsai pot. These seem to be pretty tough trees though.

[@dkstott29]

I just bought a variegated ficus benjamina for $18 at a local nursery...The big trunk inspired me...its already gotten a trunk chop and root pruning...its been 2 days and no loss of leaves...🎉🎉

[@BonsaiBoise]

@@dkstott29 Nice! I love those kind of hidden gems. How thick was the trunk?

[@dkstott29]

@BonsaiBoise a guess is that it's 50% bigger around than a pencil ✏️ . It was about 14 inches tall before I chopped it down to about 7 inches. Typical potato roots got cut off, but there's a lot of fine roots still there. It's one of the small leaf varieties vs the big leaf varieties at big box stores..

[@BonsaiBoise]

@@dkstott29 that's a real good find them!