How Can I Grow A Bonsai Tree

How Can I Grow A Bonsai Tree

Bonsai

are miniature trees grown in pots. The goal of bonsai culture is to develop a tiny tree that has all the elements of a large tree growing in a natural setting. A presentable bonsai can be created in a few seasons. Cultivating these miniature potted trees is both an intriguing hobby, and a means of adapting a wide range of plants to specialized and decorative uses.

How Do I Care for My Bonsai

4 Easy Ways to Love and Care for Your Bonsai

1) New bonsai are started in the spring. This is the time for any pruning and training of last season's bonsai.

2) Cool nights, sunny days and mist (or rain) each day help them thrive in the summer. Place your Bonsai where they receive 3-5 hours of direct sunlight a day. Water the entire bonsai -- plant and soil -- daily.

3) Be sure to water the trees less frequently, in the fall season, to slow their growth for the approaching winter. Do not prune or cut branches after mid-August. To reduce winter die-back of flowering trees and maples, make a light application of 0-10-0 fertilizer.

4) Bonsai can only be left outdoors where the temperatures drop no lower than 28 F degrees -- so you may need a pit or coldframe, if necessary. Winter frosts will seldom bother bonsai that are sheltered under the foliage of a spreading tree.

Bonsai require daily watering during their growing season, and, because the plants are rooted in shallow pots, they need careful pruning. Bonsai are kept outdoors most of the year, but from time to time these miniaturized versions of nature are brought indoors for display.

Indoor Bonsai Concepts

American gardeners have taken bonsai concepts and have applied them to houseplants. You can combine traditional procedures for handling houseplants with bonsai concepts of design. Only certain tropical trees, shrubs, and vines can be continuously kept indoors full time.

Outdoor Bonsai Concept

These are plants that are suitable for traditional bonsai. This is not intended to be a complete list. Specialty nurseries often have a wide selection of dwarf and semi-dwarf varieties of many of these species. Dwarf plants, however, do not always convey the same impression as their full size counterparts Ix-cause their growth habit is quite different.

Show Off Your Bonsai

Your indoor bonsai needs to be placed on a raised stand in front of a plain wall. If you bring your outside bonsai inside for a short visit, place it on a raised stand too. Try placing a small Japanese folding screen behind the bonsai.

For your outdoor garden, display bonsai on simple shelf set on concrete blocks. Bonsai in large containers look better displayed alone. Place these on some kind of a stand too.

Where Can I Buy a Bonsai Tree?

Here is a Great Web Site

You can look at all the beautiful and graceful Bonsai trees and accessories and select the perfect Bonsai tree for your home or for that special person at Essential Bonsai

Care of Bonsai Trees Can Be Therapeutic

There is something therapeutic about the growing and care of bonsai trees

. A quiet sense of accomplishment can be obtained in watching nature and your skill join to slowly create a living work of art.

In growing a bonsai, you are in essence coaxing the forces of nature to bend to your will. You are creating a work of art that lives, grows and changes, providing a sense of wonder and accomplishment. Indeed many believe that growing bonsais is a spiritual undertaking and I personally find it a great stress-buster.

The growing and care of bonsai trees is also a hobby that can be undertaken by young and old alike.This means it is something you can enjoy with your children, nieces and nephews, or perhaps even with your grandchildren.

A bonsai should have the appearance of great age but also a sense of timeless endurance and vitality. This can be achieved by having a tree with a weathered looking trunk but vigorous branches and leaves. When deciding how much of your tree to prune, bear in mind the trunk and canopy should remain roughly in the same proportion as those you would find in a fully grown tree of the same variety. Achieving this effect requires pruning of branches and leaves.

Pruning of branches can be done with a good, strong set of scissors or clippers, although older branches may require the use of a pruning saw. The tools should always be clean and sharp and it pays to sterilize the blades with a flame to minimize the risk of spreading disease.

Before deciding which branch, or branches to remove, consider carefully the overall shape you are trying to create. The tree is yours to shape as you will, but you do not want to end up with something that is not pleasing to the eye and therefore detracts from your joy in the care of bonsai trees.

Major prunes are generally carried out every winter but it is important to regularly cut back or pinch off shoots growing from the bottom or already pruned parts of your tree. This will encourage the plant to concentrate growth at the top.

The proper care of bonsai trees also involves pruning the roots every one to three years. Leaving the roots untouched for too long can be dangerous as your plant may become root bound and perhaps die. Generally you remove around one third of the roots, leaving a tightly packed root ball along with enough room in your tree's small container for fresh soil to be added. This will encourage the growth of new roots.

Pruning and nipping is not always enough to achieve the desired effect, so bonsai growers use copper wire to hold the tree into the shape they want. Once the tree begins growing in the desired direction the wire can be removed. With some trees, such as conifers, you may need to leave the wire on for up to a year. This is something you may want to look into a little more as you research your care of bonsai trees.

Your bonsai requires regular attention to keep it healthy. Many people believe bonsais must be kept indoors, however most actually prefer being outside where conditions are similar to those they would find if they were growing wild. However this does depend on where you are living and whether your tree is a native to your area. It may be that you need to bring your tree indoors for winter, but if so you will need to check regularly whether you are providing it with the right amount of moisture and sunlight.

One of the most critical elements in the care of bonsai trees is watering. Unfortunately there are no set rules here. So much depends on the weather in the area where you live, and whether it is suited to your particular type of tree. You need to keep a constant watch on the soil. When it begins to dry out, water

your plant and keep watering until the water runs out of the holes in the bottom of its container. It is a good idea to repeat this process a second time, around ten minutes later. Check the moisture level of the soil in your pot as you should not water again until it is beginning to dry out. Over-watering can be as harmful as under-watering and is one of the most common mistakes first-time bonsai growers make.

The growing and care of bonsai trees is a relatively inexpensive but extremely rewarding hobby, one that you can take a quiet pleasure in and also one that can provide an interesting and aesthetic focal point for your home and garden. It requires little in the way of specialist equipment and is easily done once you have mastered a few simple techniques.

5 Important Secrets for Your Bonsai Trees Now

If you are the owner of a bonsai plant, it's important to remember that caring for them is like caring for a baby. Loving and caring is important but it's not sufficient; you also have to show some "parenting" skills to ensure that your bonsai plant will have a long and healthy life.

The Chinese were the first to grow miniature-size trees in containers. They started doing so around 200 BC. This is how herbal healers transported medicinal plants.

Japanese, Chinese and Korean practice this art of aesthetic miniaturization of trees that are grown in the containers.

For the Korean ?bunjae?, whereas for the Japanese, the term is ?bonsai.?

Bonsai are often found in the center of a garden when set alongside an urban or wild landscape. Bonsai collectors put great value on the bonsai because of the plant?s ability to exhibit age as they mature.

Tip #1 The source of life for all creatures is water but it's particularly so for bonsai plants. Although they require to be watered more frequently than other sorts of plants, they also require a precise quantity of watering. Anything that's less or beyond the ideal amount of water can lead to your bonsai plant's death so it's important that you ask for professional advice.

There are many factors that affect the quantity of water necessary to a bonsai plant like the type of tree you're taking care of, what season it is at present, if the tree's grown outdoors or indoors, and so forth.

Tip #2 Another source of energy for your bonsai plant is light. Just like any other plant, your bonsai plant will benefit from exposure to sunlight. You'll have to arrange for artificial lighting however, if you're growing it in an indoor garden. In such cases, it's important to use a timer in order to avoid risking overexposure for your plants.

Tip #3 Humidity remains unfortunately one of the most important but overlooked factors when taking care of bonsai plants; the best way to ensure that perfect humidity levels are constant is by utilizing a humidity tray. You may use decorative stones to make your bonsai plant appear more beautiful.

Tip #4 If you have decided to keep your bonsai plant indoors, you have to choose the pot for your bonsai plant very causiously. To be safe, be certain that you get pots that are specifically designed for bonsai plants. These pots have pre-made holes for drainage and training wires.

Tip #5 Many persons are confused as to exactly what function fertilizer plays in taking care of bonsai plants. Firstly, fertilizer is needed when you are keeping your bonsai plant indoors because this provides the added nutrition that your indoor soil is missing. Secondly, fertilizer isn't medicine so do not use it as treatment for sick or dying trees. Lastly, make sure that you thoroughly water your bonsai plant prior to fertilizing.

There are many kinds of bonsai. These are the slant, formal upright, informal upright, raft, cascade, semi-cascade, literati and the forest/group.

Lastly, do not risk your bonsai plant's health on the basis of any assumption. If you're not sure, always ask a specialist!

The Tips To Bonsai Pruning

The act of bonsai pruning is actually more tiring than it seems. In integrity, bonsai pruning is akin to diagram by connecting dots. You have to pursue a pre-intended conduit and you\'ll end with the chosen smooth. The quantity of preparation made before bonsai pruning however is what bonsai enthusiasts should primarily focus on.

Tools for Bonsai Pruning Before you get into the act of bonsai pruning, make positive of course that you have all the required tools.

Bonsai Shears - These are a special kind of scissors designed for bonsai edge or pruning. There are assorted designs of bonsai shears so make solid that you hold right what you want.

Concave Branch Cutter - This particular bonsai pruning tool will be used for ejection of brushwood, which is sometimes necessary to acquire a particular affect. The great thing about hollow area scissors is that they can effectively cut off branches with the least quantity of injury or sorrow to the bonsai ranking.

Wire and Wire Cutters - Wire is used for repotting and molding the bonsai hide into the desired nature. You will of course must wire shears to simplify wire callous.

Miscellaneous Tools - As your facts of bonsai pruning grows, your tool set will grow in proportion as well. In time, you might find manually needing other tools such as burrow hook, lump cutters, soil sieves, and torso benders.

Wiring before Bonsai Pruning The chief objective of bonsai wiring is effectively to tailor or style the workshop into a favored influence. To place it in a simpler framework, think of a bonsai workshop as an instance of fabric and wiring is what will help you make an outline from it to make an amazing looking outfit. Wiring however can also help in permanently stabilizing or maintaining direction of certain parts of the bonsai factory.

There are two kinds of wires that you can work with for your bonsai deposit. Copper is preferred by some because it\'s more lasting. Copper wires, however, expect frequent monitoring. If you neglect to safeguard its stage regularly, copper wires can place too much demands on your bonsai factory and end causing scarring. Your jiffy selections is aluminum wires. Although aluminum wires are excluding tough than copper wires, they are however more bendable and need fewer monitoring. In the episode that you do disregard to overseer your bonsai\'s wiring, aluminum wires won\'t basis as sorrowful results to your yard the way copper wires do.

Care Of Bonsai Trees - Three Tips To Keep Your Tree Alive

There is nothing particularly hard about the growing and care of bonsai trees, but they do require constant care in order to thrive.

Bonsais require the same three ingredients essential to all plants - soil, water and light. The trick in providing the proper care of bonsai tree is ensuring they get just the right amount of these crucial elements. While it's not difficult it does require a little specialist knowledge and without the proper application of that knowledge your bonsai will probably very quickly die.

Many people new to the care of bonsai trees assume they should tend to it in the same manner as any other potted plant. Despite the fact your bonsai is potted, it is not, in any true sense of the word, a pot plant. It is a miniaturized tree and as such thrives best in the same conditions as a normal tree of the same variety. Most bonsai therefore prefer to be outdoors, however it does depend on where you live and what kind of climate your tree is suited to.

In order to provide the best care of bonsai trees you need to do some research to determine the conditions that best suit your particular variety of tree. If you live in an area where it snows during winter, leaving a tree outside is fine, and probably best, if your tree has been adapted by nature to those conditions [such as a fir or juniper]. You may find your bonsai prefers to be outdoors in winter, rather than cosseted inside. However if your bonsai is a more tropical plant, such as a bougainvillea, leaving it outside in even a mild frost could prove fatal. Check exactly what conditions are native to your particular tree and find a position which produces the closest match.

Watering:

Correct watering is also vital to ensuring your tree stays alive. Because the roots of your bonsai have been trimmed there is less mass to undertake the task of taking up water to feed the tree, therefore frequent watering is a must. You may not need to water every day, but you should make a daily check of the moisture content of the soil in your bonsai pot. If the soil gets too dry your tree will begin to lose leaves and, if left completely dry for several days, it will quickly begin to die. However keeping the soil too wet can encourage fungal growth and root rot, also leading to the demise of your bonsai.

One easy way to check the moisture level is to poke a small stick, like a toothpick or chop stick, into the soil. It may be dry on the surface of the pot but still contain moisture around the roots. You may find you need to water your tree several times a day during a hot summer but leave it without for days, weeks or possibly even months during the winter.

It is also a good idea to occasionally ensure the roots get a good soaking by popping the bonsai pot in a tray of water. Do not, however leave it in too long and also ensure your pot has plenty of drainage holes to allow excess water to run out.

Finding the right balance can be a matter of trial and error but one handy little trick is to get used to judging the weight of your tree, pot and soil. About one quarter of the weight should be water, so if your pot is feeling lighter than normal it is probably time to give it a drink.

Soil:

You can use any good quality potting soil

for your bonsai, though it must be free draining. However some garden centers and specialist shops sell special soil mixes to provide extra specical care of bonsai trees. These specialist soils are usually freer draining than one-size-fits-all mixes and have less in the way of fertilizers

which helps limit growth. The soil in your pot will need to be changed at least every two years, and is generally done when you repot the tree.

Light:

Try to ensure your bonsai is shaded from the sun during the hottest part of the day. But again, each variety of tree prefers slightly different conditions and you should try to emulate its natural habitat as much as possible. Because plants naturally grow towards the light, it is a good idea to turn your plant regularly so that all sides get an equal amount.

The care of bonsai trees can be likened to the care of a small child. Like babies they require constant and tender loving care. It can be very costly learning through your mistakes. It is easier on the pocket and also less frustrating to learn the proper techniques before attempting the care of bonsai trees.

How To Take Care Of Your Indoor Trees

Indoor plants can make your home look clean and beautiful. Many people prefer to take care of indoor plants nowadays because of the convenience it affords the. Bonsai plants

in particular needs to be watered once in a week so owners need not worry that it would easily wither. Also, scientific studies proved that indoor plants can actually reduce the pollution from dust and other particles in your home.

On the other hand, a bonsai plant that is usually exposed to sunlight should be watered once a day or according to its requirements. You should observe the soil in your bonsai plant once in a while to ensure that it would not become dry. You should also note that you need to water the bonsai plant gently or leave its soil undisturbed at the very least. The water requirement from one bonsai plants can vary so adjust the water you put in accordingly.

In addition, the demands for taking care of indoor plants present a different challenge from taking care of outdoor plants. In an indoor plant, you need not worry about exposure to the outside environment like snow, extreme heat, or rain so your bonsai plant would remain well protected inside your home. Note that bonsai plants can also be grown outdoors but many people prefer to grow them indoors since it would make their home more attractive. Bonsai plants are also more vulnerable to extreme elements when they are left outdoors, for example, because its roots retains moisture, the plant can easily freeze because of the water content it retains.

However, it would be best if you set aside the time to expose your bonsai plant to the morning or afternoon sunlight. It should also get at least four to six hours exposure to sunlight per day. Fertilizers are also a necessity for your bonsai plant to grow healthy since it grows in such little soil. On this note, ensure that it receives the amount of fertilizers it needs, liquid fertilizers are especially recommended. Spraying a water soluble fertilizer on your bonsai tree once every two months would also help your bonsai tree retain its beauty.

Finally, most bonsai trees that are widely available already had their training. All you need to do in this case is the periodic trimming so that your tree would remain miniature. You should not trim all the new growth in your tree because leaving some new growth is necessary to keep it healthy. Taking care of your indoor plants properly would ensure that they will remain healthy and beautiful. The tips stated above cover only the basics on taking care of your indoor bonsai tree but it would surely help in growing a more attractive and healthier indoor bonsai tree.

Bonsai Tree Care Tips - Pruning

Pruning serves two purposes in bonsai tree care. Firstly, pruning removes branches that clutter and hinder the aesthetic design of the tree. Secondly, pruning directs and controls the growth of the tree. There are pruning forms such as Branch pruning which include pinching (finger pruning) and leaf pruning to help encourage branching. There is also root pruning where roots are pruned.

Here are some Bonsai tree care tips on pruning:

Branch Pruning
o   Pick the branches that you wish to keep and carefully remove the others.

o   For new plants, allow the trunk to develop before pruning. Pruning branches from a developed trunk will increase the chances of survival of the tree.

o   Always have a hand-sketch or image of what you want your tree to look like, at your disposal. This will help you to identify and remove branches that clutter the chosen style and obstruct the basic design.

o   You should start with a light pruning then give it two or three weeks and wait for the bounce back to decide if you need to do more.

o   If you need to redirect growth, then prune one area heavily and another much less. Thus, growth will be directed to the less pruned area.

o   Always remember when you are pruning your bonsai that you can always remove something later but it is very difficult to put it back after you have cut it. So if in doubt leave it for now.

Root Pruning
o   Select the roots you want to keep and get rid of the bad ones.

o   When pruning you need to keep the branches and roots balanced for optimum results.