Reflections on the Past Winter

My first winter as a bonsai owner was very interesting and very boring at the same time. First, barely anything grows during the winter. My flowering sansaqua camellias were about the only thing to look at when I went outside. At first, I thought this would be a huge letdown, but it actually turned into a positive. With all the rain that takes place and with nothing growing, winter is a time that you can take away from bonsai for a while. They get plenty of water (although I’d still check them every few days) and so you can concentrate on other things in your life. This spring, when everything started growing again, I gained a renewed interest into something that was basically in the back of my mind for the last few months. It was a welcome break and now I’m ready to get back fertilizing and watching things grow. The only items of maintenance for me were:

1. Make sure everything was watered well when it hadn’t rained in a few days.
2. Make sure ants weren’t taking up a winter home in my pots.
3. Protect the more sensitive plants from wind.
4. Fertilize with a 0-10-10 (balanced is fine too, but I had already bought this) once a month.
5. Bring in the tropicals for the winter when lows start dropping below 50 degrees.

Repotted Azalea Bonsai

I blogged about the “Shanghai Rosie” Azalea bonsai that I purchased from Guy Guidry a few months ago. I had gotten a new pot over Christmas and decided to repot it in something a little larger and thought the blue pot would go great with the green leaves and pink flowers. I bought the blue Houtoku pot from Bonsai Monk. It’s probably not the time for it, most people repot after the flowering period I think, but It’s progressing nicely and there are even 3 flowers hidden in the leaves. I’m hoping to see a lot more flower production next year.

Wintergreen Boxwood Bonsai

I have had this boxwood for about a year. Last spring, I repotted it into a slightly larger pot and basically cut the top out of it to let the lower branches get light. I’ve heard that boxwood branches need some foliage left on them to continue growing, so I left it for a year and waited for some sprouts lower where the sun was now reaching. I actually had several new sprouts on many branches and it allowed me to cut further this spring. I also put it into a large bonsai pot for some growing room and to get the roots growing out and not down. I hope to style this in a live oak style. Here it is today:

Hurricanes and Bonsai

Being in the South, we’re often faced with the threat of one or several hurricanes in a year. Several days of wind and rain pound your trees performing a pruning and defoliating action on your trees by mother nature herself. It’s tough to see something you watch and care for go through this, but all in all, as long as it doesn’t get too bad, I think it’s good for them. I may change my mind one day when a major branch is broken, but for now, I leave them out to toughen them against the forces of nature.

Plant-Care.com has a good article on Hurricanes and houseplants, and the lessons we can learn from them. It goes over the differences between your indoor potted plants and your outdoor landscape plants. Click here to read the article.

Technorati Tags: bonsai, weather, indoor bonsai

Fertilizing Bonsai

I tend to love fertilizing days. It seems like I’m nurturing the tree and providing everything that it needs. We all want our pre-bonsai trees to grow at their maximum growth rate and we want to make sure our bonsai trees stay at their best.

I have several fertilizer types that I use on my trees. For in-ground trees, I use all organic fertilizers. I love Plant-tone All-purpose organic which contains a mixture of organic components (blood meal, feather meal, manure, crab meal, etc.) to give your trees a complete nutritional buffet with a 5-3-3 nitrogen/phosphorus/potassium mixture. I also have started using Terraform worm pellets and Terraform liquid fertilizer. The worm pellets are pretty inexpensive if the recommended rates of feeding are right. One $8 bottle is going to last me a couple of years. The liquid version is the exact opposite. I spent one $8 bottle in one feeding.

For potted trees, I’m using a variety of inorganic fertilizers right now. Miracle-Grow Bloom Booster (15-30-15), All-Purpose (24-8-16), and Miracid (30-10-10). I know many people who use Miracle-Gro fertilizers on their bonsai and swear by them. I have compared them to other liquid fertilizers and they do tend to pack more micro-nutrients that the tree needs. I just haven’t been able to find another that compares. It’s immediate, I haven’t had any problems with it burning, and it’s very easy to apply once you get your system of fertlizing down. I am thinking of trying some of my organics with my potted trees following some advice that I got at a bonsai forum, and I’ll wait and see what kind of results I get out of that.

For a much more general article on fertilizing your bonsai, check out this article. Technorati Tags: fertilizing bonsai, bonsai, organic