I've no idea, just something I picked up on amazon. Though I figure people who like gardening are just as good for advice as a company that sell a product.
My thoughts are that if they’re a reputable company, presumably they’ve trialled growing what they’re selling.
Although we may have grown trees from seed before, we don’t know exactly what you’re growing, where the seeds are from and what the growing medium is, so we’re working almost blindfold and can only make relatively uninformed guesses based on our experience of what we’ve grown, which is probably not what you’re growing.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Well, as I said earlier, currently it's red leaf maple, but I also got dwarf mountain pine, Italian Cyprus, judas and Japanese cedar. The pots are coconut husk, I think, pretty sure it said that on the amazon page, and the soil is unknown, but I'm guessing it's a nutrient rich starter.
Brand on the box is garden coliseum, but haven't a clue if it's big name or not, and no details of any way to contact them either.
Sadly I think you've been had. There's a lot more to making bonsai than is included in this kit. You will need all the correct types of pot plus a whole heap of instructions on how to root prune and train your trees. Bonsai do not do well indoors....they can quickly dry out in centrally heated houses.....so they are best kept outside. They require a lot of care and attention beyond just germinating the seeds. I'd advise you to buy a book on bonsai basics before going any further.
Well sure, any plant can dry out quickly indoors, that's why you gotta water them just right. With the right care and attention any plant can be kept indoors. Just gotta have the right spot, and the right watering/feeding. As for buying books on it, I can easily find the info I need elsewhere, and as far as training, pruning and whatnot, until I can get something to stay alive more than a few weeks, then I'll consider looking into that. Last time I stupidly over watered it just a touch, then thought that it drooping was caused by not being watered enough and just basically drowned the thing. (it's my first time trying to grow stuff) cause I do know you can't train them until they're about a year into development, this is no fast hobby.
Plus, there's more than 1 reason I'm trying for indoor plants. I mean, the most problematic of which being that I don't have an outdoors I can do it in. I'm in a 1st floor apartment with no private balcony, so even if I wanted an outdoor plant, that's a no go.
It sounds to me like you're doing everything right, some seeds just seem prone to moulding particularly if surface down so I would continue to do as you're doing and just gently wipe them as you spot it before it spreads to the inner parts. My son bought me a bonsai kit which had silver birch in which all moulded and unfortunately didn't germinate but luckily I had a silver birch outside which self seeded itself by the dozen last year so now I have lots of bonsais in the making. I'm doing an outside display of them though. And it did make me think was there any need for that little bag to pop over them in the bonsai kit, I suppose it's to keep them moist for longer especially as those coco fibre pots dry out so quickly. I would try putting them in something that acts as a mini greenhouse instead of the bags so there's more air to circulate and water them when they start to look like they're drying out. I hope you have plenty successes, its a therapeutic hobby I think. There are some great YouTube channels on bonsai growing. I'm aiming to do landscapes with mine when I get round to it, I've seen some amazing mountain landscapes done in books and on YouTube. All the best with them and keep us updated on how they're doing as they grow
Thanks for the support and advice Karen, next time I get something to germinate I'll be sure to let you know, hopefully this time I'll be able to spot the difference between over/under watering since I experienced this first hand already. :-)
I sometimes still make mistakes about watering, I go into panic mode when something looks like it's not doing well, lol. You can also turn an older plant that's been growing normally into a bonsai if you look out for one that has stems growing with a desired shape and thin out the rest. Again there's some great YouTube videos on that too. I'm trying it with a shrub that looked scruffy in the garden but has lovely gnarled branches, it looks in really bad shape at the moment because I quite brutally root and branch pruned it but I'm hoping it survives so that I can start training it.
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Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Although we may have grown trees from seed before, we don’t know exactly what you’re growing, where the seeds are from and what the growing medium is, so we’re working almost blindfold and can only make relatively uninformed guesses based on our experience of what we’ve grown, which is probably not what you’re growing.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Brand on the box is garden coliseum, but haven't a clue if it's big name or not, and no details of any way to contact them either.