Grow from seeds

You can grow your own bonsai from seeds. This will allow you a complete freedom regarding the shape you want to give to your tree, as you will be able to work from scratch instead of working from a pre-existing tree.

Do note though that, even if growing your own bonsai tree from seed is very rewarding, it is a very long process before you obtain a tree that you can start pruning and wiring. It usually takes between 10 and 15 years for a bonsai tree to grow to a decent size.

When growing from seed, you should repot your bonsai in the following spring once your tree is 1 year old. You should repot every year or so after that until it reaches its adult size. Once fully grown up, check the health of the root every year to determine whether your bonsai need repotting or not.

Grow from cuttings

Another way to grow your own bonsai is to do so by cutting. This consists of cutting off a branch from an existing bonsai tree, dipping it into water to stimulate root growth, and then to plant it in an appropriate soil mix. Prune the branch at an angle of 45 degrees, using a sharp twig shear, to optimize root growth.

Air layering

Like cuttings, the air layering technique is useful to create new trees using an existing bonsai tree. The concept of air layering is to force a branch to create new roots at a certain spot by interrupting the stream of nutrients from the existing root system.

There are two methods to perform air layering: tourniquet method or ring method.

In the tourniquet method, a wire is tightly wrapped around a branch preventing the afflux of nutrients from the existing root system. In order to survive, the branch will have to develop its own root system. For that, we create a favorable environment by placing soil mix and rooting hormones in a plastic bag just around the wire.

The ring method is slightly more aggressive and should be used on more resistant trees. It consists in cutting away a ring of bark on the branch and creating the same kind of favorable environment around the cut than in the tourniquet method. In order to survive, the branch will have to develop its own root system and this will be encouraged by the environment you created for it.

Once the new root system is developed enough, cut the branch just below the wire or the wound and place it into its own pot. It usually takes between 1 and 3 months for the new root system to fully grow. This young tree will have to be kept in a protected and favorable environment in order to grow properly.

Collecting trees

A quick way to obtain a bonsai tree is to collect trees in yours or a friend’s yard. Please note that it is illegal to collect trees in nature, and you should always have the approval of the landowner where you are collecting the tree from.

Collecting trees has the advantage to offer an already quite developed tree, that is suitable for bonsai shaping and styling. It is not always easy though to correctly collect the tree and its root system. The best moment to do so is in early Spring, before the tree starts its full growth.

Do not start any wiring or pruning during the first after collecting the tree to let him get used to its new environment and grow a sustainable root system.

Grafting

Grafting is a very advanced technique. It consists of joining two trees. It is sometimes used to combine different species between them, for example a fast growing species with a slower growing but more beautiful one. Or it can be used to replace a missing branch for example, and to balance the general design of the bonsai tree.

Different grafting techniques exist. In general, grafting is done by cutting the bark of both trees to expose the cambium (green part of the trunk). Then both trees are joined and wired tightly together to allow the merge between the two.