Are you trying to start a bonsai with a 12 foot tall tree? Do you mean style it like a bonsai or plant parts of it in a pot (which is what the word bonsai basically means)?

Well, all bonsai start out as tall trees, right? Can we see a few pics of your tree? You say it looks pretty rough...do you feel that it's in optimal health?

HAHA! Just realized my mistake. It's about 2 feet tall. Sorry. can't correct it now.

It's not in optimum health, but it's putting out new growth, and I can move it up to a larger pot, take better care of it and let it grow awhile more if I need to. Citrus are pretty tough. I just forgot about it because it was tucked away in a corner of the garden, and the leaves got a little yellow from lack of water, but it came right back and is putting out new growth. It has roots growing out of the bottom of the pot, which is why I thought I might just bonsai it, since it obviously need root pruning anyway.

So should I root prune it, cut it back and leave it in this pot, or move it up to a 2-gallon pot for another year and baby it? I'm not big on tossing plants out if they can be saved, and this can definitely be saved.

As you can see from the picture, there are two seedlings in this pot, but I'm going to remove the small on, whether it goes into a larger pot or not. Plus, is it o.k. to snip off the thorns? Kinda hard to work when you're getting stuck all the time.

Bonsai is meant to look like an old, but small tree. That means a fat trunk with tapered base, and what you have now is a very thin tall sapling tree. It will take a lot of work and time to develop that into a bonsai. With many deciduous varieties such as Maples you can do a late winter trunk chop and develop all new growth after developing the trunk, but I don't know about citrus. The best thing for it is to plant in the ground outside, spreading the root ball flatter over a plate or flat rock to encourage a tapered base over the next few years. It won't hurt the tree to snip off the thorns.

I know, but I've seen people start with small trees and grow them out into nice bonsais. Yes, I know it should have a larger trunk, but that isn't going to happen for several years, even in the ground, and I also risk losing it to a freeze in the ground. yes, you can drastically prune citrus, as long as there are nodes, and it will branch out.

Could I not just put it into a larger pot and cut it back so it makes a stouter trunk? I have a 5-gallon pot I could use, and it should be able to stay in that for several years if I keep it root pruned, until it gets a nice trunk. In the meantime, could I not start wiring the branches so when it's large enough, I could just root prune it into a smaller container? It's just an experiment. I'm just trying to learn how to do one, and thought this would be a good trial plant. I don't mind having to move it up in pot size over the years. Like I said, it's just an experiment.

I obviously know nothing about bonsai. I'm going to see if there are books at my local library I can get to learn. Do you have any good recommendations?

You can use a much larger wider but not deep pot. I didn't think you had to worry about freezing in Florida. I have Meyer Lemon (not bonsai) here in zone 8 that I just put back outside last week. If you want to learn, I would suggest the website below. There are also many bonsai forums with tutorials to look at. Just be aware than many of the forums have intermediate to expert members that are not all that tolerant of beginners. We all started as beginners at one point, in my case 1985 or so, and I don't claim to be an expert though I have about 70 trees. I did some experimenting along the way, and have lost several trees, but it's fun, even if you tree never becomes a good bonsai.

Thank you. I'm going to Walmart and Lowe's tomorrow and will see what I can find. I guess I could get a terracotta bowl or an azalea pot, whichever I can afford. I know some of the citrus around here got damaged by this year's freeze when it went down to 20F for several hours.

You didn't put a link to the website.

Couple of thoughts. First, nice trees :) If it was mine I'd be wiring it into a cascade and really pushing the envelope, but that's just me. :) Yes indeed, you can cut it back and make a more proportioned trunk that way. It's actually quite pleasing to look at now even in its non-traditional thin trunk state. Don't remove the younger brother/sister. I'd keep it as is and wind it into the other trunk, wrap the entire thing and let them grow into each other...voila! Instant thicker trunk!! :) https://www.bonsaiempire.com/blog/trunk-fusion The techniques there are good and there are other examples online - I've seen some dynamite trees made by fusing and with yours they're so close together it would be a shame to not use them together. The key to yours will be getting branches to grow. In the meantime...

Bonsai pictures are great but in addition, REALLY pay attention to trees in nature. You can learn tons from that and get wonderful ideas. I am constantly blown away by things that I've yet to see bonsai artists do. It'll also help you to break the rules in bonsai. For example, yes, officially, there should be a taper to a trunk, but more importantly, it shouldn't look ugly. Certain pines, and trees such as birches and poplars, can be quite old and not have very tapered trunks. Reverse tapers and bulges can often detract and seem non-pleasing. Never the less, trees are contextual. They grow certain ways because of the conditions. If you've got a thin trunk tree, or something else, dream the story that led to it and let the planting/pot/etc tell that story! We ALL love a good story!!

Learn all you can about Lemon trees (or whatever trees you're growing) in general.

Have fun and enjoy your trees!! Yes, there rules, and it's really easy to find them online. The fun is in working with nature, telling the story together and learning which rules support the story and which don't.

Really enjoy your trees. It's amazing, but as I've learned multiple times, sometimes one winter, or one deer, or one storm is all it takes to drastically alter your bonsai forever or destroy it. It's beauty - enjoy it :)

Hope this all makes sense. :)

All the best!!

Citrus family are in general a challenge but who cares - give it a try. They tend a bit unruly in how they like to grow, especially leaf reduction and tighter inter-nodes. Chinotto orange is naturally dwarf and very tight growth habit. You can try that in addition. I am trying a Calamondin this year. It tends to be bushy which is good. It is still too young. Thorns can be cut of anytime without any harm. I do it to my citrus plants. Just leave a tiny stub to protect the node.

Calamondin acquired a few weeks back:

Chinotto with a air layer and has not been trained yet. The picture is not clear.

Close up of the leaves and flower buds of Chinotto.

Michael - Since I live in FL and a lot of trees are shaped by the winds and hurricanes, I want to do a windswept style - but looking at the trees and the cascade style, that's pretty too. I already thought about fusing the two trunks. I originally planted 3 seeds with the idea of braiding them, but one died, so that's a no-go. Someone else suggested wrapping the smaller trunk around the larger trunk to give the larger trunk some fun texture.

tropicofcancer - You have some beauties there! I'd never heard of Chinotto, but I like the leaves. I don't think it would like Florida's tropical climate, though. We get small calamondin trees here in the fall at places like WalMart, since they don't really need grafting. They sell them in 1-gallon pots, so I'll have to keep that in mind if this one turns out o.k.

I'm just going to have fun with it. I'll post some pics once I have it actually wired and looking like a bonsai.

Chinotto should do as good as most other citrus in your area. The fruits are a bit bitter and so it may not be as popular. As the name suggests Italians do like it (or some do). Used in cocktails and marmalade apparently. It is slow growing and sometimes I think it as slow or slower than Flying Dragon (a trifoliate citrus) - a citrus relative - that also makes a nice bonsai subject.

But, I agree, a lemon in hand is better than two in the bush -- haha sounds kind of funny. Keep us updated with your experience.

I think if this turns out o.k., I'll do a Nagami kumquat next. They do extremely well here, and are used for marmalade as well, since the rinds are sweet and the center is tart, they are perfect. I used to have a large tree, and I took my mother big bags of them when I went to visit at Christmas. She always had marmalade made and ready to go back with us before we left. She loved canning things.

I know what Flying Dragon is because our citrus has to be grafted to go into the ground down here, and that's a very popular rootstock -- that and sour orange (sorry, don't know the species.)