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I planted a whole bunch of Silver Maple (Acer saccharinum) seeds in a pot this spring. Almost all of them grew, but I thinned the lot down to 4 trees I’d like to keep. I added pictures to the post. One is about 10” and the other 3 are about 5”. My question is where do I go from here?

A lot of what I read on this site that says when growing from seed it takes about 3 years before you can start pruning/shaping. I have the patience for that but with how fast these grew, I might have full size saplings on my hands by the end of 3 years. Should I be trimming them sooner?? What’s the next step I should be taking?

Any help is appreciated, I’m a 100% bonsai beginner.

The best thing to do is let them grow while you read up on basic bonsai work in the How-To section above, and the watch a couple of tutorials. Look for other web resources.

No narrow what you should leave them until next spring, so you have plenty of time to research.

Niothing bonsai-ish to do in the next several years.Everything you need to do is purely horticultural: water/fertiliser/repot when needed

Ivan Mann wrote:
No narrow what you should leave them until next spring, so you have plenty of time to research.

Not narrow, matter. For some reason I have the idea I proof read these things before I submit them. Obviously not.

You guys don’t think they’ll grow too fast?? I mean the one is almost at a foot tall and that’s only from sprouting about 4-5 months ago. If it stays warm all the way through August and September (like it normally does) what’s preventing these saplings from getting too big?

I guess I’m just not sure what constitutes “too big” and what is a normal size bonsai

Blake6897 wrote: You guys don’t think they’ll grow too fast?? I mean the one is almost at a foot tall and that’s only from sprouting about 4-5 months ago. If it stays warm all the way through August and September (like it normally does) what’s preventing these saplings from getting too big?

I guess I’m just not sure what constitutes “too big” and what is a normal size bonsai

I think you have the wrong idea about how bonsai are "made". Most are made by grow and chop: let it grow for a few years, chop back to a low branch that will become the new leader, repeat... To fatten up a trunk, there are two things necessary: time and length growth ( every meter is a cm gained in thickness).

You have 4 seedlings, you say.
What stops you to try a different approach on each of them. For example, you can start to put one in the ground and forget him for 3 years, keep one in the pot and start trimming, keep one in a large pot and at the end of dormancy cut it back to 1 or 2 buds. etc.
I mean, this way you learn a lot by doing things wrong, perhaps you wil end with a beautyfull bonsai in 20 years +

FrankC wrote: You have 4 seedlings, you say.
What stops you to try a different approach on each of them. For example, you can start to put one in the ground and forget him for 3 years, keep one in the pot and start trimming, keep one in a large pot and at the end of dormancy cut it back to 1 or 2 buds. etc.
I mean, this way you learn a lot by doing things wrong, perhaps you wil end with a beautyfull bonsai in 20 years +

Great answer!

You might wind up with four completely different trees, all great.

Personally, I really don't think swamp maples will work, even if you paste them to the wall. Grow them any way, live and learn. Actually, I still have one, but the bottom sides down. Keep it alive, you'll see, but you'll learn, things about letting things grow.

You can put a bit of movement in the trunk already if you want.
Repot them in ealry spring next year, Cut the taproot, spread the remaining roots.radially to start your future nebari.