r/bonsaicommunity

Hello,

I have had my azalea for over 4 months now, and it finished flowering about 2 weeks ago. Three months ago, I noticed some black spots on the leaves, so I applied fungicide for over 3 weeks, and the black spots slowly started to disappear. Two weeks ago, I started to see black spots on the leaves again, and I do not know how to fully get rid of this problem. I have been watering according to the soil and providing some shade in really high UV light weather. It has lost some foliage.

Any advice is welcomed.

Thanks and have a great day

i'm bonsai watching for two weeks, end of week one the little guy almost completely gave up on life. here's the rundown:
- first picture is when i got it, second is as of right now (+ some up close)
- i was told to water it every 2-3 days, so i watered it on day 2, using half of a standard spritz bottle (as the owner has always done)
- it sat in my window, away from direct sunlight (it was in direct sunlight for maybe 30 minutes total at one point), away from a heavy draft.
- yesterday (day 4 of me having the tree) i noticed that the leaves lost their vibrancy and their perkiness, even though the top soil was decently moist. i called a nearby bonsai nursery, and they advised a full dunk. that i did.
- now it's 24hrs later, and imo it's gotten worse. dry, sad leaves. i don't know what to do. i have to watch it for one more week.

I’m just getting into Bonsai and saw this nursery stock at Garden centre and thought it might be good to experiment with. It was £20 and is quite bushy (has loads of thorns as well which is going to be a nightmare to wire). I think it has potential but again I don’t really know what I’m doing. Any advice?

(18 August, London 2026)

Purchased as halloween decoration October 2025

Just curious if this kind of bush has ever been dug up and made into a Bonsai type of plant. Thanks, everyone!

I'm very new to plants and got this juniper to make a bonsai. Since it's sitting in this outdoors balcony it seems that some little branches are greying out, is the poor thing ok?

I measure humidity with a two prong meter and water when it goes down to 2-3 out of 10, and it's now sitting at about 5, so I'd assume it's ok in this respect, but don't know how the leaves should evolve...

Thanks for any comments :)

I purchased this thinking it was a powder puff but am now unsure. I need to determine if it is tropical before it starts to get cold. Did not flower or fruit, so only have the leaves to go off of. Located in Cincinnati, OH but no guarantee it is native. Thanks!

Which Front would be the best for semi cascade? 1 or 2, how do I create an apex for a cascade design?

I would love your help with a ficus I’ve had for many years and have done nothing with it. Or myself for that matter, meaning I have sadly invested 0 of myself into learning the art of bonsai

I picked up this nursery stock boxwood to practice on. I think it has an interesting trunk. The first photo is the front of the tree. Would you recommend removing the forward most branch on the left? Or even making a jin out of it? I don't know if Jin's on boxwoods is a thing.

Hi everyone!

Last month I shared the first prototype of a bonsai simulator I was building — a tree that actually grows, so you can practice real techniques on it in a virtual environment.

The response was incredibly kind and full of good advice, and a lot of what I did since came straight from your comments. Thank you for that.

This is version 2, and here's what's new:

Nebari. The tree now builds a root flare at the base, and it shows above the soil line. It was the thing I missed most in the first version — a bonsai without nebari never looks like a bonsai.

Bark. Trunks and older branches age their bark over the years instead of staying smooth tubes, so the tree finally reads as old.

Wiring. You can wire a branch, bend it, and let it set. Thicker, more lignified wood resists more, and the tree keeps the shape you gave it once the wire comes off.

Shade cloth. Summer sun can scorch leaves, and now you can shade the tree through the hottest part of the year.

Soil and pots. Different soil mixes and pot sizes, each behaving differently for water, air and root room.

Repotting. Root pruning and repotting into a new pot, with the recovery cost that comes with it.

Rewind. You can scrub back to any day in the tree's life and watch how it got there. It's the thing a real tree can never give you, and honestly it's my favourite part.

There's more under the hood — energy distribution, seasonal growth, stress and fertilization all got reworked — but those are the ones you can see.

You can try the app yourself at https://bonsaisim.com/

You can also watch the video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6j4iWfN6U8 🎥

The goal hasn't changed: this isn't a replacement for a real tree, and nothing could be. I just want a place where a beginner can make the mistakes I made, cheaply, and feel confident enough to go buy their first tree.

I'd really love to hear what you think. What's missing? What looks wrong to your eye? Any feedback or suggestions are enormously appreciated.

Follow the Patreon for free to stay up to date with the latest updates!
www.patreon.com/bonsaisim

Thank you!

Got this for $1k yesterday from a local artist. After doing lots of research on the hobby and finding a nice spot outside for a potential tree. I was about to order a what I thought was a nice tree from Brussels online for $500 which they marked as a “specimen” a friend in the hobby who on bonsai trained in Japan said wait before you order online and sent me a friend of his locally. I spotted this in his collection it’s a 35-40 year old imported Root over Rock Trident Maple in a signed Japan pot. It was trained by Bjorn Bornholm. He originally wanted $1.2k but we agreed on $1k instead and he gave me a brand new pair of Japanese pruners, taught me how to care for it and how to prune it.

It is currently in escape root stage and I did not style it yet. I notice the trunk is quite getting big. Probably around the wrist size of a 5’1 Asian woman with curly hair.

Looks a bit better, it has gotten some new sprouts.

I'm trying to grow my first bonsai tree. it's doing ok so far, but I'm not sure if it's not the greatest shape. I've been taking saplings for my garden, and this is the first one that's stuck long enough to recover from being potted. I layered pebbles, sand, and soil for extra drainage, and that seems to have helped, but I'm still not sure what to do from here. I know it's mostly waiting, but any advice would really help.

Could they be used for cascade styles?

New bonsai owner, received the tree recently on a birthday and it had a little more leaves than it does now, all the leaves are green but they’re falling off, I’m assuming it’s just because of the season but I can’t help but worry about it.

Woke up yesterday and noticed that my ficus that I keep by the bathroom window has these black spots on several of the leaves. Looks like a disease to me, but I’m not sure what kind and how to fix it, this is my first Bonsai and I’m worried it might be done for.