One thing bonsai enthusiasts must be aware of is that bonsai care regimens must also be modified with the changing seasons. As seasons change, bonsai plants are subjected to varying situations, which might affect its ability to survive. This is especially true during the summer months where the high temperatures drastically alter your bonsai’s environment, creating problems for your plant.
To make sure your bonsai withstands these changes, there are three basic considerations you must make: the amount of water your plant receives, how much sunlight it gets, and the conditions of the place you keep it in.
First, since the high temperatures of summer can cause water to dry-out quickly, your plant will require more frequent watering. However, good bonsai care still requires that you check the plant’s soil and drainage conditions to avoid over-watering.
Second, when exposing your plant to sunlight, you should take care to limit its exposure to about 3-5 hours, making sure it’s keep in a shade during afternoons.
And third, you should make sure that your plant is kept in a cool place at night. So if you keep your plant indoors, ensure that the interior of your house is well-ventilated for bonsai care.
In the end, good bonsai care during summer requires keeping climate conditions controlled, and avoiding the extremes like heat, wind, and light – especially if you live in a place where summer months can be cruel for bonsai care.
When you inspect your bonsai, make sure you keep an eye on the compost and the quality of drainage.
The soil you use affects rooting, feeding, watering and transpiration; it is where half your tree lives so this is our second biggest consideration in maintaining your bonsai. While the needs of individual species vary greatly a good rule of thumb is 30% grit, 70% humus for deciduous trees, and 70% grit, 30% humus for evergreen needled plants, but these are just general guidelines.
Good soil composition equals good drainage and healthy roots.
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Here are some good tips to keep your Bonsai healthy all year round.
If you live near the ocean, make sure you take care to avoid sea breezes directly on you bonsai, with some species as the salty air can kill the tree.
Also if your Bonsai is placed against a wall make sure you turn it around
every two weeks. If you don’t turn your bonsai every two weeks it may grow out of shape as it
grows towards the light.
Another overlooked point is to make sure you don’t place a bonsai pot directly onto concrete if it will be
subject to direct sunlight for long periods. The heat generated off the concrete coupled
with the small amount of soil in a bonsai pot can bake the roots of the tree and kill it.
Read more here:
Many of my Bonsai Mastery subscribers have asked for a guide on Indoor Bonsai Care.
So rather than just put up an article I have made a new video for you that details some of the Crucial aspects of growing Bonsai indoors
Enjoy:-)
As I mention in the video, make sure you apply comon sense when it comes to your enviroment etc.
Every bonsai enthusiast needs a complete set of tools to care for their bonsai tree. Costing somewhere from a few dollars to even a few hundred dollars, choosing the best basic tools to complete your bonsai tree kit is an essential for anyone interested in growing and shaping their tree.
If you’re in the process of completing your bonsai tree kit, here are 3 must haves every bonsai lover needs:
- A pair of bonsai shears for trimming your bonsai. Investing in a good pair bonsai shears customised for bonsai trees is a must-have for every bonsai tree kit. Their razor-sharp blades, which produce clean cuts, are perfect for trimming roots, twigs, and branches off your trees since they will not crush your bonsai unlike regular scissors. However, since bonsai shears can be quite expensive, you can begin your bonsai gardening with a pair of pruning shears, provided they are sharp enough to prevent damaging your trees and small enough to perform detailed work on smaller trees and twiggy growths.
- Concave cutters to leave concave wounds in your tree branches. Concave cutters are essential to cut branches that are close to the trunk, and style bonsai trees and nursery stock. Unlike regular cutters that leaves a straight cut in your trees, concave cutters leave a smoother surface that will not only heal faster, but will also look aesthetically pleasing after the wound heals. A good pair of concave cutters is therefore an essential part of your bonsai tree kit.
- Wire cutters to remove the wires you put on. You will also need a special pair of cutters in your bonsai tree kit to remove the wires you used to shape your bonsai tree. Unlike hardware cutters that might damage your trees, bonsai wire cutters have rounded heads and shorter blades, which let you cut right up to the tree’s bark without hurting or damaging your bonsai.
Remember good tools will make a big difference to your ability to maintain your Bonsai properly.
Learning How to Identify a Bonsai Tree
The Bonsai is a very unique and particular type of tree, and the overall artistic affect is of really great significance in terms of growing the trees. This means that everything must be proportionate, including the size of the tree overall, its leaves or needles, its flowers or fruit, and even the container that you put it in to grow.
The process of learning how to identify a bonsai is one that certainly does not have to be difficult. There are actually various different qualities about the Bonsai species that give it away.
One of the most important things to understand when you are learning how to identify a bonsai involves its size. By definition, a bonsai is a type of tree that is kept small enough to be kept in a container the entire time while grown. The bonsai trees are actually classified according to size and name and are ideally less than 10 cm tall while some grow typically to about 25 cm tall.
Another issue to consider when learning how to identify a bonsai is in regards to the plant’s lignification. This is a term that basically refers to the woodiness of the plant, particularly of the trunk and branches, and typically the surface is encouraged to become rough and brown.
Learn more about identifying Bonsai Here
Here is a new Bonsai care video I have made to help bust some of the myths going around on the internet!
Many Bonsai mastery readers have asked about Misting Bonsai and what is the right way to approach it.
Enjoy:-)
Increasing numbers of people are moving into urban areas, because of the revitalization projects making such areas attractive in America and around the world. Outdoor bonsai tree growth in urban areas can be hindered because of the dearth of space — There is less lawn to attend, but nowhere for bonsai trees. There may also be pollution and vandalism in some urban areas, to the detriment of outdoor bonsai plants.
Urban apartment and condo dwellers can grow bonsai trees easily on an inside window sill or beneath fluorescent lighting on a table. An indoor bonsai garden is available to these individuals in the winter months as well, when outdoor bonsai trees are in a chill period of “downtime.” Additionally, in your own home, you can venture to use innovative types of bonsai tree containers, experimenting with new bonsai tree tableaus. For an urban dwelling, choose a bonsai tree that will thrive in dimmer light, drier atmosphere than outdoors, and the absence of a yearly cold period indoors.
As you view a bonsai tree, notice three aspects: the tree itself, an accent item like a stone, and the stand or dish. These form a triangle, with the highest point at the top of the bonsai tree. The accent item will be either left or right, to form the farthest point. The bonsai tree will seem to be a single triangle or set of triangle features. The apex of the bonsai tree triangle is the apex of the bonsai tree and the right and left points are the first and second branches, closest to the ground.
Other features to notice are visible, sturdy roots, gentle movement and tapering of the trunk, a visible apex, and good branches/foliage. Branches are larger at the bottom, decreasing in size as they near the top, in many styles. The distance between the branches should also become smaller as they reach the top and there should be open spaces between the branches. A bonsai tree may even have areas of dead wood, implying age.
NBF celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2007 as the support organization for the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum within the US National Arboretum in Washington, DC. During the 1976 Bicentennial Celebration, the people of Japan gifted the citizens of the USA with a superb collection of bonsai trees.
When the bonsai trees came to the Potomac Bonsai Association, the lead agency of bonsai clubs around DC, volunteers worked with the staff of the US National Arboretum to maintain the bonsai trees in immaculate condition. The Bonsai Museum developed from there. Volunteers and students of Bonsai Master Yuji Yoshimura organized the National Bonsai Committee and the Museum was opened in 1976.
Today, there are two additional wings dedicated to Master Yoshimura and Master John Y. Naka. A beautiful Courtyard Project was begun in 2001 in order to make the inner courtyard of the Museum more accessible to all by replacing gravel walkways and updating the courtyard to accommodate all forms of individual mobility.
