No peat for bonsai of almost any kind. Use a little tropical mix (maybe 1/3 of the final mix) plus small bits of bark (another 1/3) and the rest something like akadama grit - pines, e.g. would be potted in all grit with a little bark, but Fukiens are tropical and need a little more help holding onto water. Pruning is not done as a matter of course in bonsai, but to achieve a particular design or style, which would be up to you, not us. Clip and grow (not cut and grow) is used in the same way to shape plants/trees without a lot of branch pruning, but relying more on new growth replacing clipped stuff, especially when clipping (I include small twigs here) is cut such that the pointed end of the slanted cut goes in the direction you want more growth to go.

Hi there Kasima, Ecuador Pink is best as a standard from all of the people I have come in contact with you loose the flowers if it is a bush enrich is a shame as the blooms are to die for. If you do want it to bush up I would cut it back to about 2-3 foot tall and allow all the side shouts develop but I would wait till the frost have passed to do this! Then you can do cuttings from what you have taken from the plant at that time, you can cut it back to the ground but I avoid this as we don't need to worry about harsh frosts in Australia The other plant you call Charles Grimaldi is not so as we do not have this plant in Australia If you could post a great pic of the bloom I may be able to help with its name I think that it could be 'Old Apricot' some people in the Hort industry call plants names just for $$$$$$$$ I hope that this helps you A 5 gallon pot is OK I usually pot them up to a 12' pot and keep them there for a while and change there soil every 2 years you can use a good potting mix with compost and cow/ sheep manure and top it of with dynamic lifter You can also check my link for Charles Grimaldi ID My blog is brugmansiaworld.blogspot.com

Cool your willing to use a make shift gritty mix. May want to sift some of the peat materail from the BBS bagged C&S soil as well. What remains after sifting is some darker bark pieces that looks like a finer mulch and some forest humus. Useable yield may vary, would think one bag of BBS unsifted bag O'crap should yield enough for all of them. You could also ( with some extra time on your hands) pick up a bag of orchid bark smaller size is better but any size will work from a BBS as well . After soaking them in warm water for a while the chunks will be eaiser to ( by hand) break it into smaller barkier pieces. Prior to sifting any especialy for Perlite I'd suggest to use some sort of mask for beathing protecing. Big drainage hole ? As in orchid pot drainage hole big ? The demo pic is a bit off. less humor or more fun ? Blue arrows. look sort of good as ASAP potting candidates for some practice for you but if me I'd cut them for newer cleaner root. Red lines suggest cutting them for re rooting and potted later Purple circle I'm Sort of mixed on this one. It can go either way. Bigger can survive longer but adapts more slowly.

I have several kiwis that have been in the ground 3-4 years now. i didnt read up on pruning them enough until recently so i have 2 main trunks coming off of each and running up to my trellis. the trunks are .75-1'' thick. is it too late to prune one of them down so i can establish a more traditional single trunk system. i feel that would make better use of the trellis space i have to work with. i'm just afraid of cutting out such a thick trunk, dont know if it will open up the system to rot? thanks