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Got a beautiful little Bonzai over Christmas but now i'm wondering how to take care of it ,at the moment i mist it once a day but have no idea how to maintain its form. this is it = http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...psq8xcgx08.jpg
Jambo, that is a very nice little juniper bonsai tree you have there so when you look for bonsai gardening books or for online information about it's care be sure to specify juniper bonsai. Not all species of bonsais are equal and of course not all require the same kind of care and growing, light, water conditions. Here is a website with information about juniper bonsai for example: https://www.bonsaiempire.com/tree-species/juniper
There's not much anyone online can tell you about the care for that tree so you really do need to do your research based on what you see in front of your own eyes. But I can tell you that you will have to get that juniper outdoors as soon as temperatures outside start warming up above freezing. If you leave it indoors it will die. Junipers cannot survive in what would be normal indoors living conditions for people and juniper bonsais are never cultivated to be indoor plants. They are supposed to be outdoors in gardens and on decks and patios or in climate controlled greenhouses specific to evergreen bonsais. If you have a covered patio at your apartment it should do okay on the patio but not where it's in direct sunlight all day. Part sun / part shade would do nicely.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Most juniper bonsai are killed by keeping them indoors. If your temperatures are near or above freezing it should be outside now, or at least in an unseated garage. Here is a link that may help you.
Most juniper bonsai are killed by keeping them indoors.
As i live in Montreal we have a problem with there being another 3 months of winter,perhaps this gift wasnt the best idea ., i mist it 2-3 times a day to prevent drying out in the low humidity conditions that come with being indoors in winter but it seems to be drying out anyway...
As i live in Montreal we have a problem with there being another 3 months of winter,perhaps this gift wasnt the best idea ., i mist it 2-3 times a day to prevent drying out in the low humidity conditions that come with being indoors in winter but it seems to be drying out anyway...
Misting isn't good enough for junipers and believe it or not over-misting can actually cause them to dry out more when they are indoors and can cause a type of foliage rot that is called juniper blight. How often do you actually water the roots themselves, and how much? Junipers are drought resistant, so you should keep the soil just slightly moist around the lower roots but mostly dry at the surface soil, and never soaking wet.
Look, if you keep it indoors it is probably going to shrivel and die anyway within the next month or two no matter what you do. So at least give it a 50/50 chance to survive and put it outdoors now on your patio under cover and in a corner or up against a sheltering wall where it isn't exposed to too much wind, not where it's completely exposed to the elements on all sides of the plant. The trunk and upper foliage of juniper go into a semi-dormant state in winter and can tolerate well below freezing temperatures so it doesn't matter if your winter carries on for another 3 months.
The important thing to do is insulate the whole container itself and the top surface layer of soil to ensure that the roots don't freeze solid through and through. The roots are the heart of the tree and they can tolerate deep cold but not deep freezing the way the upper part of the plant can. You could wrap the container in layers of bubble wrap or a thick layer of towels in a pinch, but best yet bury the whole container into a large bucket of dry sand so that the sand acts as insulation to the roots, with the upper part of the trunk and tree exposed to the open air.
Later when all danger of deep freeze is over you can lift the container out of the sand, rinse it off, and hey presto your bonsai is ready to go for the rest of the year with no fuss. Next winter before deep freeze sets in bury the container back into a bucket of dry sand again and place the bucket into a sheltered corner again.
There is one other alternative - that is to lift the whole plant out of the container and repot it into a much bigger patio pot and then put that outside. That will mean that in spring, because the roots are no longer so constrained, your plant will start to grow bigger of course, but slowly as is the juniper nature. And it will still retain the unique shape that it has been trained into right now and you can still trim it back as you desire to keep it a manageable medium size bonsai rather than a miniature.
Got a beautiful little Bonzai over Christmas but now i'm wondering how to take care of it ,at the moment i mist it once a day but have no idea how to maintain its form. this is it = http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...psq8xcgx08.jpg
Your Juniper plant must be gorgeous five years later! How is your plant doing?
I am thinking about starting a few Bonsai in the next few weeks. Any idea's for the Beginner?
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,570 posts, read 81,147,605 times
Reputation: 57790
Quote:
Originally Posted by 2goldens
Your Juniper plant must be gorgeous five years later! How is your plant doing?
I am thinking about starting a few Bonsai in the next few weeks. Any idea's for the Beginner?
Southeast Florida location.
You have the opportunity to do tropical bonsai there. Among my collection are Bougainvillea and India Banyan bonsai, which must stay indoors from October-May here. Years ago PBS had a show called "New Horizons in Bonsai" and he was in Florida. He also wrote a book. His method did well there, using Sphagnum moss rather than bonsai soil. Remember that the whole idea of bonsai is to make a small tree in a pot that looks old. That means a thick trunk, with a wide spread out base. Unless you are very young that leaves out starting from seed. Buying stock from a nursery is the best way to start, or rooting a cutting. One expert that I know here in our area, Dan Robinson rooted a thick Bougainvillea cutting that he brought back from Hawaii,
looked like firewood at that time.
For an indoor bonsai, ficus are easy and very forgiving; especially Golden Gate Ficus and Willow Leaf Ficus. When purchased, they might loose half their leaves, but once settled in they are resilient. Some people might find the rubber sap irritating, my cat ignores plants, don't know what they would do it a pet ate one.
It is a must for anyone interested in Bonsai or Japanese gardens and a real treasure house of local knowledge. Well worth the price of admission.
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