The First 90 Days.

Open the box within an hour of delivery. Cut the tape, lift the tree out gently by the pot (not the trunk). Set it in a spot with bright indirect light for the first 48 hours — a windowsill that doesn’t cook. Do not water yet unless the soil feels bone dry. Take a photo. Send it to Beginner Mode. That’s the check-in.

Bonsai are not houseplants and they are not desert plants. The rule is: water when the top of the soil is dry to the touch, not on a schedule. Poke a finger into the substrate. If it feels dry a knuckle deep, water thoroughly — until water runs out the drainage holes. If it feels damp, wait.

In practice: dwarf jade wants water roughly once a week. Chinese elm and ficus, twice a week in summer, once a week in cooler months. Adjust to your home.

Bright light, ideally direct sun for part of the day. A south or east window is perfect. Ficus and jade tolerate lower light but get leggy over months. Chinese elm prefers to be outside once night temps hold above 40°F.

Not yet. Your tree was recently repotted by us and needs to settle. It has enough substrate nutrition for the first eight weeks. The urge to do something is the single most common way beginners kill their tree. Sit with it. Watch it. Photograph it. That is the whole practice for now.

After 60 days, Beginner Mode will prompt the first light feeding. After 90 days, the first optional pinch.

Yellow leaf, drops off. Normal — one or two adjusting to the new light. Not an emergency.

Many leaves drop in the first two weeks. Also normal for ficus especially. It’s adjusting to your air. New leaves come.

Leaves curl, feel crispy, soil bone dry. Underwatered. Water thoroughly, twice within an hour, then resume normal schedule.

Trunk feels soft or spongy. Overwatered — root rot risk. Stop watering for a week. Send a photo to Beginner Mode.

Beginner Mode nudges you at week 1, week 3, month 2, and month 3. The check-ins are one tap and a photo. Do them. The photos become part of your tree’s TID™ record — the same record a future caretaker will one day inherit if you decide to pass this tree on.

Around month three, Beginner Mode will ask if you’ve shown your tree to anyone. Do. The practice spreads person to person, not through screens. If someone asks how to start, the answer is a Sprout jade and their first ninety days.

You’ve done it. You have a bonsai. From here Beginner Mode moves into seasonal rhythm — spring repot, summer maintenance, autumn styling, winter rest. You’ll get through the first year with the same tree you started with. That’s the goal.