Owing to the implausible beauty and charm of bonsai trees, more and more people are pursuing the art of growing bonsai at home. It is no wonder it adds a distinct style and sophistication to your home, enhancing the beauty and appeal of both indoor and outdoor spaces.
If you are seeking to pursue the hobby of bonsai for the first time, it is important to understand that taking care of the tree can be significantly intimidating and nerve-wracking. This is particularly true when you aren’t aware of maintaining and tend the miniature plant appropriately. Often, the trees do not survive and wither away due to simple reasons such as over-watering, lack of sunlight, etc.
Discussed here are some essential guidelines for beginners to start with their hobby of bonsai trees.
1. If you are a complete novice with no experience, it is better that you start with nursery stock or cuttings rather than seedlings. This way, you will be more focused on tending and maintaining the plant to let it survive and grow efficiently. Several things will concern you when you start with seeds, and you probably get messed up completely.
2. Choosing the right type of soil is most important for your bonsai. For beginners, bonsai dealers can guide you with the right kind of soil for your variety of trees. Typically, an equal mix of fine and coarse soil particles is best for bonsai to grow. Only a perfect balance of both varieties can hold water more efficiently than is necessary, but not too much for the roots to putrefy due to overexposure to moisture.
3. Often, most beginners commit the mistake of keeping their bonsai tree indoors to accentuate the beauty and sophistication of the space. Sadly, due to lack of air, moisture, and sunlight, the plant withers away in no time. Even if you have an indoor bonsai tree, make sure that you keep it in natural sunlight most of the day to let it grow naturally. Other times, place it in front of a window with ample light, air, and moisture.
4. To prolong the life of your bonsai, treat the soil with good quality and mild fungicide. However, do not apply it directly to the soil. Add a small quantity of the fungicide to the watering can so that it becomes diluted before applying to the soil.
5. Pruning your bonsai is an art, and you should develop good skills in it. To start with, consult with an expert bonsai dealer to learn the best way to prune your bonsai as per your unique ideas and needs.
Expert Tips for Beginners to Take Care of Bonsai Trees
Do you have an exotic bonsai tree adorning your home beautifully? Have you just started with your hobby of growing bonsai at home? It majorly depends on choosing the right kind of tree and taking care of it appropriately to ensure that your bonsai will survive and grow exquisitely in years to come.
Remember that a different variety of trees has different needs. Therefore, you need to be familiar with the pruning and maintenance skills of the bonsai that you wish to grow.
1. To let your bonsai survive and grow, it is important to water it adequately. One of the major reasons behind trees withering away is lack of water and even over-watering. Therefore, the best way is to water the plant first and wait until the soil soaks it up completely. Again water it until excess moisture seeps out of the pot. Do not water the tree unless the soil has dried up completely.
2. Ample light is also an important factor to consider here. If you have an indoor bonsai plant, make sure that you keep it in natural sunlight most of the time during the day. Otherwise, you can also place it near a window where abundant natural sunlight is streaming in.
Here, it is important to understand that the light visible to you may not be the amount of sunlight received by the plant. Hence, it should be as closer as possible to the source of light. Where there is a lack of sunlight, artificial fluorescent lighting can serve the purpose best.
3. Just like any other tree, bonsai demands regular care. Their miniature size and distinct look require far more careful attention. Therefore, it is important to feed the plant with the right kind of soil and fertilizer. You can also dilute a small amount of mild fungicide to water and apply it to the soil to prolong the life of your bonsai. Seek expert consultation from horticulturists or bonsai dealers who can share their secrets to keeping the trees alive at home.
4. Learn the art of pruning, wiring, and adjusting the bonsai as per your artistic vision. It will take time, but the results will pay off better. You can join training classes to get in-depth knowledge and in-hand experience in pruning, wiring, and maintaining your bonsai to get the desired look and appeal.
Buy Tough and Excellent Quality Bonsai Trees
Beautiful bonsai trees can instantly deck up your home décor, accentuating the style and sophistication of your indoor and outdoor space in an impressive way. Perhaps, this is one of the finest reasons why bonsai art is witnessing a definite revival worldwide.
Many modern homes are exquisitely adorned with exotic bonsai trees, uplifting the spirit and aesthetic beauty of the décor. The bonsai tree is a beautiful adornment in living spaces, patios, and even in landscaped gardens. The bonsai tree is the perfect way to spruce up your indoor and outdoor spaces.
Are you considering buying one to enhance the style and personality of your home? Wondering where you can get one that lasts for years to come? Well, with rapid technological advancement, the scope of the Internet has expanded. You can conveniently sit at your home and place an order for a bonsai tree online.
However, when buying an excellent quality and hardy bonsai tree, buying virtually isn’t always recommended. When you buy online, you will not be able to verify the quality and resiliency of the specimen up, close, and personal.
Hence, if you are truly looking for the best quality, it is better to buy bonsai trees in person since you will not only be able to examine the specimen closely but will have fantastic choices to pick one that best suits your taste and artistic vision.
Find a Reputable Bonsai Dealer
One of the best places to buy good quality bonsai trees is a commercial plant nursery or a reputable bonsai dealer. When you buy from a dealer, you will have the finest selection of miniature specimens to choose from and get the dealer to guide you in how to care for the tree. Bonsai dealers typically have in-depth knowledge of the subject and can provide you expert consultation on how to take care of trees and maintain it.
If you are buying for the first time, the dealer knows in and out about what would be best for a beginner. For a novice, vigorous growers are typically recommended that are not much sensitive to transplantation. Junipers are also recommended since they are typically easier to shape, prune, and wire. It also adds a distinct aesthetic appeal to your home décor whilst helping you improve your knowledge in the subject.
Once you have bought a bonsai tree, ensure that you have a suitable set of tools to tend, prune, and care for it. A pair of sharp scissors and saws with fine teeth can be perfect for your first bonsai project.
Indoor Bonsai Tree Care Tips
Growing bonsai trees indoor can be nerve-wracking and intimidating, more so when you are a beginner. Trees grow and survive better outside where there is adequate air, moisture, and sunlight. Hence, you may understand how difficult it is to grow a bonsai tree indoor where there is a lack of sufficient air, water, and sunlight to let it bloom.
Therefore, indoor bonsai trees demand special attention, or otherwise, your hobby may become a nightmare. Here are some tips for you to tend and care about your indoor bonsai tree.
Water your Bonsai Tree Appropriately
Since there is a lack of moisture indoor, it is important to water your tree frequently and keep it hydrated all day long. Unfortunately, too much water can also cause the tree to drown. Therefore, it is important to know what the best way of watering a bonsai tree indoors is.
The right method is to wait for the soil to dry up when you water for the first time. When the soil is well soaked, water it again until excess water seeps out of the pot. Make sure that you don’t water it again until the soil has dried up completely.
Pick the Right Kind of Soil for Your Bonsai
Choosing the right kind of soil is also important to tend indoor bonsai trees and let them grow beautifully. You can visit a reputable bonsai dealer or commercial plant nursery to know about the exact type of soil for your bonsai. Make sure that you buy only high-quality soil. Spending a few extra dollars for the same can make the difference in years to come.
Get Your Bonsai Ample Sunlight
Indoor bonsai trees often do not get sufficient sunlight, especially when you live in cold countries. In such a scenario, you can set up an artificial lighting system, typically fluorescent, so that the tree does not wither away due to lack of sunlight.
With ample fluorescent lighting, bonsai trees are often able to survive inside. However, that should only be used as an alternative to natural sunlight. Whenever there is bright sunlight, keep the tree pot outside to absorb natural sunlight as much as possible.
How to Prune a Bonsai Tree
Pruning is an integral part of taking care of your indoor Bonsai tree. Depending on the tree you have and its visual appeal, take the right pruning approach for the branches, foliage, and roots. It is important to learn the basics of tree pruning to sculpt your indoor bonsai in different beautiful shapes.
The Most Important Tools For Bonsai Trees
Here are 6 essential bonsai tree tools you will need for your very own bonsai tree.
Leaf Trimmers
As many other trees need leaf trimmers, they are just as necessary with bonsai trees. As the tree grows out, its leaves may sprout into tangled messes. The leaf trimmers will help with this problem and keep a nice, orderly fashion with the leaves to not look messy. This is a beneficial tool for the later stages of the bonsai tree’s life.
Trimming Scissors
Just as a bonsai tree needs leaf trimmers, it will need trimming scissors. These will help with trimming both leaves and small branches. If anything that needs trimming where a leaf trimmer won’t help, trimming scissors will help with just that.
These are very useful for cutting small twigs, branches, leaves, and any unnecessary parts of the bonsai tree without harming the tree itself. It will help maintain structure within the tree and will make it look much better if used correctly.
Root Cutter
Roots need to be cut when they have grown too long or into corners. The roots may be sticking out of the soil or moving out of order. You will eventually need to cut some roots on your bonsai tree. The root cutter can help you do that if you see any issues with the roots.
This usually happens in the middle to later stages of the tree and can become a big problem if the roots are not cut. Letting roots grow the wrong way can be detrimental to the health of your bonsai, and it could absorb less water and nutrients from the soil.
Water
Although this may seem obvious, water is an essential tool when it comes to bonsai trees. Water gives life to the tree and lets it absorb nutrients from the soil. Without water, the tree would die very fast because it depends on it as a life source, as do many other living things.
You may want to get a little container to pour the water with so that it will be there at all times and so that you can monitor it constantly without having to go up and bring the bonsai tree to the sink every time you need to fill it.
Concave Cutter
A concave cutter is necessary for cutting the harder parts of the tree to get to. If there was a branch growing the wrong way inside the bonsai tree and you could not get to it with normal trimmers, you could use a concave cutter.
This allows for ease of use and makes for an easier and more efficient way to monitor and take care of your bonsai tree. The cutter will save you time and make it easier on the tree because, without it, you may have to use force to get a trimmer deep inside enough to cut something and could potentially damage the tree.
Tweezers
When handling small things, even small trees, you will need tweezers. If you tried to grab every leaf and branch with your giant hands, it could potentially damage the tree, and you may accidentally rip a leaf or branch off of the tree itself.
With tweezers, you can be more delicate and calm with the tree so that you can take better care of it overall. It will help you use your other tools and help you navigate your way around the branches and leaves without disturbing the peace of the tree.
This is one of the most useful tools to use when handling bonsai trees because they can act as a miniature set of hands so that you won’t have to worry about accidentally breaking anything.
