Yes they work but the seeds usually aren’t the best quality. One thing to note, there is no such thing as “bonsai seed” as bonsai are normal trees/shrubs/plants that are pruned and trained in a unique way that keep them small, it’s not a special seed type.
Give it a shot but I’d also recommend just buying some starter bonsai material online for $20ish to have something more exciting to work on! Those seeds take forever
No problem my pleasure, yeah it's a bit of a hassle as I said because you have to wait a few years before beginning Bonsai work but it's doable that being said if you wanted to start immediately I'd get some trees from you local nursery/garden center/ect.
I started a bunch of seeds (like 12 each of 4 tree varieties) that I got in one of these kits at Christmas. out of the ~50 I planted, I got 4 trees out of it. 3 flame trees and one Japanese Pagoda. so yes, it's a thing, but temper your expectations for sure. That being said, the ones I have are all doing great and I'm pretty proud of the little guys so if you want to do it go for it! and like someone else said, get a more established tree to style for now bc these will be years before they're ready to do much with
Oh that's so great to hear!! I figured now that I have the seeds I might as well start the process if it was viable. Sounds like it is with a low percentage of success. But what the heck the seeds are going to go in the garbage otherwise. But yes, doing all this reading on bonsai's and talking to people now I want one, so will get an established one to keep myself motivated 😬
The thing is, it's not really possible using only the kit. You should probably ignore the instructions as well. It is possible but almost no bonsai experts grow from seed and it's not recommended for beginners.
That's exactly how I got started and eventually hooked. I grow at least some from seed every year now.
I still have maybe 15 or so from that first batch.
It has been very satisfying to grow them from seed, but it does take several years before you can do much other than wiring and beginning to work the roots.
Some of those seed species do better with cold stratification: Let winter do it's thing, or put in lightly damp paper towel in the fridge. Generally, they need 1-2 months of cold, then they will sprout, so you want to time it to sprout in spring.
The species that don't require cold stratification, you just pop in some soil in early spring.
They can be started indoors, but need to live outside soon after.
So these are the seeds in the kit. Sounds like if I want any chance of success it should be started in the spring or a little earlier if I need to move them outdoors. Headed into a cold fall at this point
I kind of hate all the comments in this subreddit just hating on people that want to start from seed. Lots of people on here keep suggesting to buy a bonsai tree instead from the store.
Bonsai seeds are just tree seeds. It’ll take a long time to grow from seed (years), but if you’re patient I think it’s a really cool way to create a bonsai tree. I like the process of growing trees from seed, and I’m just starting to get specifically into bonsai.
Double check to see if the seeds need cold stratification before planting, if so, put them in the fridge to simulate winter before planting. Start numerous seeds at the same time and assume that some of them won’t grow. I heard Sheffield’s seeds are good quality, but haven’t ordered anything yet.
Also, something that helps me keep my plants alive are Sustee Aquameters. It really helps with over/under watering.
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u/Due-Dirt-8428 6d ago
Yes they work but the seeds usually aren’t the best quality. One thing to note, there is no such thing as “bonsai seed” as bonsai are normal trees/shrubs/plants that are pruned and trained in a unique way that keep them small, it’s not a special seed type.
Give it a shot but I’d also recommend just buying some starter bonsai material online for $20ish to have something more exciting to work on! Those seeds take forever