Bonsai Growing Guides
The Basics of Bonsai Care |
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Growing bonsai is one thing that I have been doing for the past eleven years to try and take the sting away from our winters which otherwise would keep me from doing any significant growing ortrident maple gardening until spring returns in April.
Bonsai are not difficult to grow; they just require a slightly different approach from the typical potted houseplant, which we all have scattered throughout our homes. Bon- means tree and -sai means tray or pot when translated from Japanese. Therefore, bonsai is the art of growing trees in containers. Bonsai are not a specific species or variety of a tree (such as a pine or maple tree), they are trees grown in a particular way.
The key to successful bonsai growing is to remember that you are growing trees in containers and not tropical foliage or flowering plants which are the typical indoor house plants available to us as "house" plants, you will have happy, growing trees.
Selecting Your Bonsai
Selecting a bonsai for your home is very similar to the correct way to select and place any tree, shrub or perennial for your garden. All plants require a particular amount of sunlight, water and temperature range to survive and thrive. If we take the same approach to selecting the correct location for a bonsai tree inside your home, the tree will be alive and thriving for many years. Just be sure to remember that bonsai trees are trees that happen to be growing in containers instead of outdoors in the soil.
All green, living plants require a certain amount of light to live. Light is necessary to plants because it is the energy source which plants use for photosynthesis, the process by which green plants manufacture glucose (a simple sugar) from carbon dioxide and water. Since plants do not have feet and cannot move to a better light location, we must provide a location with the proper amount of light for our cultivated plants to grow.
Just as different species of hardy landscape plants can require different light levels for optimum growth, different species of bonsai trees require different locations for optimum growth. For example, jade tree bonsai need high light levels and would do best in a south window. Ficus (fig) trees are very flexible as to light levels and will do well in locations varying from full sun to no direct sunlight at all.
Junipers do best in an east window where they get direct sun during the morning but shade in the afternoon. The best all around location for most species bonsai is an east window as I have described for the juniper. It is important to realize that heat builds up next to the glass of a window during the afternoon in a south or west window and this additional heat can dry out the soil rapidly during the hot summer months.
All plants require different amounts of water to survive and thrive. Plants that are native to arid or desert areas of the world require very little water while plants native to tropical rainforests require high humidity as well as regular, thorough watering. The more closely the climate that the plant is native to can be replicated, the happier the plant will be and the better it will grow.
Most bonsai trees grown indoors in Maine are exposed to very low air humidity during the winter. This is due to the drying effect of central heating systems and woodstoves on the air inside a home. Misting the foliage of a bonsai tree every other day and placing the trees on humidity trays can help minimize this drying effect.
I will continue this discussion in 'part 2' with the proper watering methods, climate/temperature requirements and suggesting some of the easiest trees for the beginning bonsai grower. Until then, Happy Gardening and good luck in all your botanical endeavors.
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