Haven't checked the link, but seedlings should be left in the ground til they're a lot bigger and (hopefully) at least somewhat fatter - any container will slow it down. I wouldn't clip any more leaves this year, wait til next late June and do it through the tiny leaf stems - and watch a whole new crop grow back, but smaller.

Hi Lucy,
Thanks for your reply. Well, I say seedling, but in all honesty, I don't know how old it is. The trunk is about 5mm thick (I know, hardly anything) and its already woody.

I havent been able to find anything on the net that doesnt say chop a trunk down in order to train a plant into bonsai. I was hoping that someone could tell me how to train a seedling... maybe such a thing doesnt exist?

Anyways, I'll take your advice and not fiddle with it anymore! :)

How tall is it now? Can you post a picture - with something beside the tree for height reference? If not, tell us about how high it is (I don't do mm well!). Being 'already woody' doesn't exactly sound very old.

Mine,

Lucy is correct; let it grow, and don't mess with it yet. I checked your pictures, and I think you have quite a while to wait before it's time to start training; unless, of course, you actually WANT to have a very thin trunk.

When I first decided to try bonsai, I made the mistake of thinking I could begin to train a small tree and make it look like the wonderful bonsai I had seen. Unfortunately, by beginning to prune out branches and otherwise messing with it, I slowed its growth to such an extent that I could never expect to achieve the thick trunk that looks so cool.

While I am no bonsai expert, I do know that some bonsai candidates can be years, or even DECADES old before bonsai training begins. And even more years may be necessary to create trunk taper, movement, select branches, etc. etc.

In the opening sentence in this helpful article, Developing Informal Upright Trunks for Deciduous Bonsai, the author says it all: ". . . for a thick trunked bonsai, the tree must first be allowed to grow freely in the ground or a pot to help thicken the trunk."

Itching to get started on a tree sooner? Read a bunch, then go buy a nursery tree that already has a thick trunk, and get started! Or, read even more, and learn how to successfully field-collect a more mature tree.

Cheers!

To add to my last post, I found this in my FAVORITES folder, another good read on growing trees as bonsai candidates:

Developing Large Trunks for Bonsai