hi... i am a bonsai lover too.... used to have at least 20 pots but only left 5 now... most of it dried out.. the leaves got burnt... it happened when i was away for 2 weeks++.. thought my bro will water it but seems that he forgot..it was a miss communication morelikely... this happened about 1 month ++ ago... the survived trees are still in recovering stage now... they are not really in good shape.. i may need lots of work to reshape them as some of the branches are dead... wasted 3 to 4 years...

gary,
what type of tree did you plant?... some trees cannot be planted from stem/branches... i am also not sure about you covering it with plastic bag.. our weather here are quite humid, no need to worry bout water being evaporated... When you cover it with plastic bag, did you water them? i suggest if you wanna grow from stem, try to dip it in root hormone before you pot it... as for leaves, if you wanna make them small, you need to pluck it regularly.. fyi, leaves can be trained to be small but not the fruits nor flowers. training a tree to be a bonsai is a very long process... need to be very patient... (like mr.miyagi in karate kid ...cool ey that old guy..love that movie)

if you are new to this rewarding hobby, i suggest you try water jasmine (wrightia)...this will turn into a very beautiful bonsai & it is not a demanding tree & very easy to shape.. just not to forgot to add water daily..

cheers...