Saving Jim’s Bonsai
Growing your bonsai in the summer months is both a joy and a puzzle. Yes a puzzle. But there are really only 3 pieces to the puzzle and understanding the proper balance between all of them will ensure your bonsai grows healthy and happy all summer long. That’s what my friend Jim Spencer learned. Here’s what happened and what I told him.
Last summer Jim was very concerned about his bonsai. His maple’s leaves were curling and drying and his other plants looked very dry, limp and baked out. The problem was Jim had his bonsai out in his yard on pedestals. It was very attractive the way he had it set up, the only problem was it was full sun all day long, and it was breezy because he lived on a plain with no trees except for his property and he put his garden between 2 buildings. This created a constant breeze.
With every plant, you have to be aware of the environmental conditions that are surrounding it. A plant needs sun, air (humidity and C02), water, and food (fertilizer). It’s up to us to control those environmental conditions if we want to choose where the plants will live and shape the plants natural growth to our liking.
The first thing is water. A plant needs water. It’s how the plant regulates its internal temperature and stays standing upright (turgid). A bonsai in the summer needs watered at least twice a day, sometimes even three or four times a day or more. If the soil is dry, water it. This is important because bonsai trees prefer loose, course soil. The water should drain out of it rapidly. This ensures that the roots will stay healthy year after year. If we were growing herbs or house plants, we could use a potting soil with a lot of moisture holding peat moss. Tropical’s, like house plants, love it, but high growth or high stressed plants, like our bonsai, will suffer and the waterlogged roots will be weakened and open to disease and insects.
Secondly, you need to make sure you are fertilizing with full strength fertilizer. The summer months are stressful for a plant and that is why it needs all the help it can get. The vitamins and minerals help the bonsai bounce back from extended periods of drought, heat, and insects. In fact, all abusive environmental conditions can be tempered or softened with regular fertilizing.
Lastly, shade. Your bonsai really doesn’t need shade. But it can help cool the bonsai down and give it more time to grow. There are two kinds of shade – static shade and high moving shade. Static shade is like shade cloth or under a tree canopy so far that the levels of sunlight never change. High moving shade is where the plant is shaded for a portion of the day by a tree or a building. Static shade is not good for a bonsai unless it lets over 70% of the sun through all of the time. The ideal is to have high moving shade that shades the bonsai in the afternoon hours. As long as the bonsai is getting 6 hours of full sun a day, then it is getting all it needs to grow and stay healthy and happy.
By understanding these three environmental conditions and making the necessary changes, Jim was able to help his bonsai enjoy the summer and grow beautifully. He had to re-work his garden by putting a row of wind-break Leyland Cypress so he wouldn’t have to water so much. He also watched his plants and made sure he has a regular watering and fertilizing schedule which is attuned to the plants changing environment and seasons.
Fred Meyer is the owner of Dallas Bonsai Garden and has been growing beautiful, award-winning bonsai for over 37 years. You can learn more about Fred and Dallas Bonsai Garden at his website: http://www.dallasbonsai.com . Here, you will find the world’s largest selection of Japanese bonsai tools and trees at the best prices on the Internet.
Article Source: Saving Jim's Bonsai
