This article was written by way of a care sheet when I sold some starter bonsai at a table top sale at my local horticultural society. I purchased some starter trees and pots from my friend John of Bodiam Bonsai. The idea was to sell some starter trees and pot them up for people when they bought a bonsai, that way giving them the choice of tree and pot. I also sold a pack containing mesh, some wire to hold the mesh in the pot and some soil. Most customers were intrigued how I could take a tree, remove the soil and pot the tree with fresh soil. I tied the tree into the pot so customers could take them home easily.
The trees were well-rooted 2-3 year-old saplings which had endured at least one root pruning. The trees were in excellent health and perfect for bonsai. The species were Hornbeam, Beech (purple and green), Japanese Beech, Cotoneaster, Maples, Chinese Elm, Dawn Redwood, Coast Redwood, Chinese Juniper, Yew and Weeping Fig (Nataja). All species being easy to care for.
The article is very relevant and I have published it here for convenience. Maybe at a later date I will append it, but please read it in it's present form and hopefully you will gain some knowledge or it may kindle your interest.
Bonsai are not difficult to grow, but they are a lifelong commitment.
A bonsai tree is a tree grown in a pot. Literally translated from the Japanese, it means tree:vessel. Most people have heard of bonsai trees, and bonsai trees conjure up images of tiny ancient trees with gnarled and twisted branches and worth considerable sums of money. Most people believe that bonsai trees are special types of trees and they are difficult to look after. Not so!
Bonsai trees are everyday trees, grown in pots and through various techniques emulating natural processes, are trained to become miniaturised representations of their counterparts growing unrestricted in their natural habitat. In this country, most bonsai must be grown outside, however, there are some which are unsuitable for outdoor cultivation and as such are named indoor bonsai. Strictly speaking there is no such tree as an indoor tree. The term describes trees that are predominantly tropical and sub-tropical, which will not tolerate our winter temperatures. These are best grown indoors but can be placed outside during the warmer parts of the year.
The tree you have purchased is a young sapling 2-3 years old, well-rooted and cultivated to be grown and trained to become a bonsai. When it can be called a bonsai and when it can not is up to you. To me even the youngest tree is a bonsai. A tree does not become a bonsai overnight.
The tree you have purchased is an outdoor tree and must be allowed to live outside. If you cannot allow the tree to be grown in an outdoor environment, please do not buy it. It will invariably die and further fuel the myth that bonsai are difficult to look after. The tree has been top-pruned, root-pruned and repotted this year into a stone pot and a growing medium suitable for bonsai cultivation. Apart from watering and feeding and maybe the occasional pruning, the bonsai should not need any more attention to stay alive and healthy until next spring.
Place the bonsai outside in your garden or patio, preferably in a semi-shaded spot. Unless advised, do not place the bonsai in full sun as with the size of pot it is growing in it will dry out and wither in less than a day, with little or no chance of recovery. If you are home all day and never go out then placing the bonsai in full sun may work for you, but it will have to be watered more than once a day.
The bonsai soil should remain constantly damp. The growing medium is free draining and thus does not hold a lot of water, preventing root rot due to the roots being constantly wet. The bonsai should be watered with a fine nozzle on your watering can soaking the tree and the soil thoroughly and preferably in the morning at least an hour before midday. The soil should be checked mid afternoon for watering again if necessary. Do not allow the bonsai to dry out completely as it will surely die, but at the same time do not let the bonsai remain waterlogged for days as this will also cause the death of the bonsai.
The bonsai should be fed every fortnight with half strength commercial plant food. The bonsai should be fed until August. Do not feed the bonsai between September and March.
The bonsai can be pruned if necessary. The simplest form of pruning is to allow the branch to extend to about 5 or 6 pairs of leaves and the branch then cut back to 1 pair. This action will allow the branch to divide into two branches and by repeating this process the bonsai will develop many branches. This action can be carried out until about the end of August. If branching is not required, then pinching out the soft growing tips will cause the tree to develop compact growth. It is a combination of these two techniques, which will ultimately produce eventual bonsai.
Next spring your bonsai may need to be potted on, re-potted and/or root
pruned.
Potting on: The process by which the tree is grown on in a larger pot for further growth.
Re-potting: The process by which the tree is potted into the same pot with fresh growing
medium, which may include root pruning.
Root pruning: The process by which the roots are reduced to enable the bonsai to be placed
back into the pot or a smaller pot with fresh growing medium. Often in these cases the
bonsai is pot bound after a year of growth.
The accepted formula for bonsai soil ingredients is:
2 parts grit
1 part peat
1 part loam
Using this soil mix will give you good compact growth and reduce the chances of root-rot
caused by excessive waterlogging of the roots. For evergreen types e.g. conifers increase
the amount of grit to 3 parts.
There are numerous books on bonsai and your library will have books for you to borrow. The more you read and do, the more you will learn. Bonsai cultivation is a fascinating subject and a rewarding extension to gardening.
Outdoor |
Indoor |
|
| Beech Birch Hawthorn Hornbeam Serissa Maple Azalea Pine Chinese elm Juniper Sycamore Oak Flowering Quince Pyracantha Cotoneaster Cypress/False Cypress (not Leylandii types) Fuchsia Cherry Peach Azalea Elm Crab apple Sequoia Larch Zelkova Privet Yew |
Olive Gardenia Pomegranate Jade/Money tree Weeping Fig Chinese elm Grevillia Bougainvillaea |
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Revised: 25 September 2003.