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Quick Tips for Indoor Bonsai

Bonsai make great additions to your home. If you have bonsai that you keep indoors, here are some quick tips for keeping them at their best.

• Make sure the species that you have is well suited to being kept indoors. One good species for indoor bonsai are Ficus.
• Keep your bonsai in the right spot in you home. Bonsai, like all plants, love light. A well lit window that doesn't receive large amounts of direct sunlight is best. Direct sunlight can cause the plant to get to warm and dry out. It should also be noted that you should never keep bonsai on top of or near electrical equipment, such as televisions or computers. Bonsai require water, and water and electricity don't mix well. It is also important to turn the tree every few days so that all sides of it receive equal light.
• Make sure that your bonsai's soil stays moist. Water only when needed though. Too much water can kill the tree just as fast a too little. (On a side note, when you water your bonsai, you might want to put a tray underneath it because the water will drain out of the pot, potentially ruining anything in the vicinity.)
• Mist your bonsai regularly. Bonsai like humidity, and their desire for that can be satisfied through misting it about twice a day. It also helps to keep the leaves clean and free of dust. When covered in dust, it is hard for a tree to transpire properly, which can also harm the tree.
• Don't close the curtains with the bonsai still in the window, especially if it is starting to get colder outside, or you live in a climate where it becomes very cold at night. The curtains may help to keep the cold out of your house, but traps it around your bonsai. The best solution is to simply take your bonsai out of the window at night.
• Just like outdoor trees, indoor bonsai need fertilizer. During the growing season, be sure to fertilize the tree.
• Indoor bonsai need to be repotted. Younger trees need to be repotted every year, typically in the spring because they grow more vigorously than their more mature counterparts, which should be repotted every two to three years.

Growing bonsai indoors requires a little more care in some aspects, but has many benefits. All plants, including bonsai, improve the air quality in a home because they emit oxygen into the environment. Growing bonsai indoors also ensures that you can care for them no matter what the weather conditions are outside.

Any other techniques for keeping an indoor bonsai in tip-top shape? Share your ideas in the  comments!

Budget Bonsai: A List of Ways to Get New Bonsai on a Budget

Buying a new bonsai can often times be expensive. A lot of time goes into creating a bonsai tree, and that is reflected in the price. If you want a new bonsai, but don't want to break your budget, then this is the article for you. Here are eight ways to get budget bonsai.

1. Seedlings in your front yard - If you have trees in your yard, the chances are very good that there are seedlings popping up all over the place. Pull them up and put them into a pot, and you have a baby bonsai that you can start training to be a mame (mini) bonsai, or let it grow and mature, and begin shaping it when it is a little thicker.

2. Seeds - Starting a bonsai from seeds is certainly the one that takes the longest, but it can be fun to watch your tree grow from a tiny seed.

3. Discarded garden plants - Discarded garden plants can make great bonsai. They are already a decent age and have the characteristics of a mature plant. Even if they look more like a shrub at first than a tree, trim it back a little, wire the branches, and soon it will start to look like the start of a good bonsai. Is your neighbor planning on taking out some bushes? Offer to take a few so that perfectly good plants don't die.

4. Cuttings and air layering - Using cuttings and air layering, you can get a jump start on having a nice thick trunk that could otherwise take years to develop from a seed. Rooting hormone is a good thing to buy if you are using this method. It isn't that expensive either (I got a container of it for about $4).

5. The local garden center - To buy bonsai from a local garden center, you don't have to buy bonsai from the local garden center. By that I mean that if you want to be able to go to a store and buy a bonsai, you don't have to buy a pre-made bonsai. You can buy a small juniper bush, which costs about $5 at a local Walmart, Lowes, or Home Depot, and train it to look like a bonsai. It might require more work, but it is rewarding to know that you created the bonsai yourself - at a fraction of the cost. Another benefit of this is finding a wide selection of species for bonsai. You can also buy pre-made bonsai at a garden center, but their selection is typically limited to figs (Ficus). 

6. The Internet - Sites like eBay, Craigslist, and Amazon are great for buying hard to find species of bonsai. With sites like these, you can find great deals on not only bonsai, but really everything a bonsai enthusiast needs, from soil, fertilizer, and containers, to shears, shovels, and wire cutters.

7. A specialist bonsai nursery - You can buy pre-made bonsai at bonsai nurseries if you are willing to spend a bit of money, but the cheaper alternative when shopping here is to buy young, unshaped trees.

8. Garden festivals - At garden festivals, there are often vendors who sell bonsai. These vendors sometimes offer special deals as a way to attract new costumers to their business.

Hey, budget-conscious bonsai cultivators! Please share any ideas for obtaining and growing bonsai on a budget in the comments section below!

Selecting Your First Bonsai

     When selecting your very first bonsai, it is important to take into consideration the level of care that the tree needs to thrive. As a beginner, you will want to select a tree that is simple to care for. One of the easiest types of Bonsai to take care of are Figs (Ficus). They are excellent indoor bonsai, and can be found at most garden centers. Chinese Elms (Ulmus parvifolia) are also fairly easy to raise, but aren't typically stocked at a local garden department. They can be found at bonsai nurseries or online.

Tiger Bark Fig (Ficus retusa or Ficus microcarpa)

     When buying your bonsai, look for evident signs of disease, pest attack, or wire marks (where wire that has been used to shape the bonsai has bitten into the bark). There are many different diseases that can affect a tree. The most obvious signs of disease to look for are wilted or discolored leaves. Common pest infections are easy to spot. Chewed up leaves or actual insects on the tree are typically pretty good indicators of an attack. Aphids are a little harder to spot and a real pain to eradicate. Aphids will look like small green bumps that usually congregate on the tree's new growth. Wire marks will look like something cut into the tree as it was growing. Wire marks can also appear in a spiral running around the trunk or branches. 


Best of luck finding your new bonsai buddy!

Fertilizer Part 2 - When to Fertilize Your Bonsai

     Knowing when to fertilize your bonsai is very important for it to maintain good health. A very basic fertilizing schedule is:


Early Spring - Half Strength
Late Spring and Early Summer - Full Strength
Late Summer and Fall - Half Strength


     During the winter, it is best to give your tree a period of dormancy so that it can rest. You want to give it very little, if any fertilizer. This period of winter dormancy is especially important in more tropical regions that don't experience a true fall.
     This is the most basic fertilizing regimen. Many bonsai growers develop their own fertilizing schedule that differs based on the tree and the climate. Therefore, think of this schedule as a reference as you fertilize, because every tree is different, and you know your tree better than anyone.
     Another important thing to mention is that you should not fertilize a tree after trimming the roots. It can harm the roots, and in turn, the overall health of the tree. You should wait about six weeks before you begin fertilizing a tree that has had its roots trimmed. Roots are typically trimmed when the tree is placed in a new pot, so when buying a bonsai, it is important to ask when it was last re-potted. If the seller doesn't know, which will almost always be the case when you buy a tree from your local garden department, it is probably best to wait the six weeks, because garden center plants are usually placed in the pots that they are sold in right before they are shipped.


Coming on May 31: Selecting Your First Bonsai

Fertilizer - Part 1: Choosing a Fertilizer

     Since bonsai trees are in small pots, it is very important to give them fertilizer because they will use up the nutrients in the small bit of soil that they are in very quickly. Often times, it is hard to find a specialized bonsai fertilizer in your local garden department. When you can't find it locally, you can go online and order it. But if it is time to fertilize your bonsai and you have nothing on hand, an all purpose plant food (10-10-10) will do the trick. 
     When using an all purpose plant food, give the bonsai less than the suggested amount first and see how it reacts. Every tree is different. For instance, I have a very young Chinese Elm (Ulmus parvifolia) that I gave just a little bit of all purpose fertilizer, and it had a nice flush of new growth within a week. It is important to remember that an all purpose fertilizer might not work for every tree. It is imperative to do research about your type of tree and find its specific nutrient requirements.
     Another thing to note with an all purpose fertilizer: make sure not to get one with a weed or insect killer added. You can never know how a tree might react to the weed killer. It could damage the tree. If you have moss on the soil of your bonsai, it would most likely kill that too. One reason you don't want a pesticide in your fertilizer is because many species of trees are very sensitive to any type of chemicals. It is better to use an insecticidal soap spray, which, when used correctly, won't harm the tree, to prevent or treat a pest attack. 
     One nice thing about a specialized bonsai fertilizer is that it contains all of the necessary nutrients for a bonsai. Simply follow the instructions on the package.
     With Azalea (Rhododendron) bonsai, you can buy an azalea fertilizer from your local garden department.


Coming May 30: Fertilizer - Part 2: When to Fertilize Your Bonsai

Starting Seeds

Here are the two smallest members of my collection. They are both baby Granny Smith Apple Trees (Malus domestica 'Granny Smith') that are about two weeks old.