Starting a Bonsai

Step 6 Long Term Care

It's been about a week now and I am pretty happy with the results. The plant has started to set on leaves and it's flower buds have started to open. It is important to keep a good balance with watering. Too much watering can cause root rot, but letting a plant become bone dry will kill it in one day or less. For this size it will probably take a day or two between waterings, but for smaller sizes you have to check the plant at least a couple times a day by digging a finger into the top of the soil and seeing if it's moist underneath. You shouldn't water if the plant is still wet on the surface. Wait until the surface dried out and the pot isn't as heavy as it generally is after you water. It's not about the quantity of water used, but the frequency of deep waterings. You want to give the soil all it will absorb then leave it until it dries out an appropriate amount. I am sure this is an experience thing and I plan on keeping pretty close tabs on it until I get a good feel for it.

The tree doesn't need fertilizing if you just root pruned it for at least a month, but it is a good idea to use some fertilizer later on. Specialized bonsai fertilizers exist, but I have heard of people crushing up extended release tree spikes and sprinkling it on the top of the soil in order to have a little fertilizer leech in each time it's watered.

Ultimately this plant will be in a ceramic pot, but I will probably let it stay in this one for about a year to let it get use to it's new local.

Thanks for reading! If anyone has any suggestions please leave a comment.

Comments

[hackinblack]

nice posting, bonsai is my other hobby,and here are a few tips... bonsai soil actually works better if the ingredients are mixed-up, not layered; by layering the ingredients the waterlogged area caused by heavy rain (or overwatering) actually just happens further up the pot killing off more of the roots... making the roots spread out instead of down is the biggest problem when using nursery trees,as they are grown crammed together to take up less space in the greenhouses; this makes their main roots grow straight down . in Japanese Bonsai nurseries, they even trim the tap roots off the seedlings! which explains how a 200yr old tree can live in a 2" deep pot... mmm i feel a Bonsai 'how to' about to be posted.....;)

[r3nrut]

Please do! I started a juniper in the fashion shown above, but most of the online bonsai literature has been mostly words and I am not sure some of the stuff they are talking about. We also don't have a bonsai club nearby. Any help especially with pictures would be greatly appreciated.