Bonsai Nut

I'm starting early this year. Glossy Privet from the infamous roadsides. It was on the back edge of the ditch bank, so the roots were much higher in the back. Didn't fit in a standard mortar tub so it went into the ground for a year or two. Really nice character, with some low branches to work with. I'll have to see what sprouts out of the main trunk to decide in which direction...

I have a nursery stock coast redwood that is about six feet tall and quite spindly.

My plan is to chop the tree back to the point shown in the first picture, above the sprouts. One of these sprouts will be chosen as the new leader and the others removed. I will also remove all but one sprout from the other areas with multiple sprouts, to avoid inverse taper.
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This is usually the time that things get real for me...
Every year this time (late winter)...for the last 10 years, there's one willow out of a block of about 100, that buds first.
Every year I greet it by taking a few branches...there's 2 bunches in there already... tying them up...and put them in my 220L water tank. By springtime the water is proper snotty...just a...

Hi, bonsai friends.

Maybe it’s no problem, but better ask anyway…

I’m in Eastern CT, zone 6.

I’ve got a Ponderosa Pine with yellow tips on some needles that have gotten progressively worse for the last week. This week, by the way, has been my first week with the tree. It’s a collected Ponderosa Pine from Andy Smith that arrived Mar 5.

I have problems with spider mites every year. They usually chew for a while before I notice and get to spraying as they will wipe out a bunch of plants if one doesn't get on them. This year seems to be a little different. I've had some spider mites but I have also had a bug that looks just like a spider mite but is much smaller and moves way faster than the normal spider mite wh...