The Right Bonsai Tree Care

Bonsai tree care
Potted trees can make your home or garden more aesthetically pleasing, and this is especially true of the bonsai tree variety. Naturally, most individuals think that caring for this variety of trees is an intricate and tiresome task. This, however, is not the case as it can be relatively easy to do it satisfactory when you know what you are about.

Bonsai trees come in a plethora of species but each and everyone of them adhere to the same basic care guidelines. It is of high importance, should you wish to grow these plants, to comprehend that all of them still have their own distinct requirements for water, fertilizer, light and even correct positioning. And it is, thus, imperative to know what these trees need to thrive and flourish.

Watering
Like most tree species, and indeed all other organisms, bonsai plants require a certain amount of water, and a certain frequency of watering. Just how much water they need greatly depends on several factors, and these include how big the tree is, and the size of its containing pot. Or even the soil you use, prevailing climate conditions or the season of the year it happens to be.

A critical component of bonsai tree-care is to regularly examine the soil beneath its surface. If it appears and feels dry you can deduce that it needs more water. If, on the other hand, if it is fairly damp indicates that it possesses sufficient moisture for the tree to imbibe.

To this end, you should try to avoid watering your plant on a rigid routine as all types of bonsai trees absorbs water at significantly differing rates. Not to mention that they can also be affected by environmental conditions such as humidity and their peculiar root systems. It is always prudent to soak up the whole root system, which ensures your tree gets the required amount of water. Nevertheless, it is vital to achieve the right watering balance as too much or too little water can be dangerous to these plants.

Choosing the right soil for your Bonsai plant
Premixed bonsai soils are widely available on the net or even at brick and mortar bonsai tree-care stores. It is, however, particularly good to purchase the essential ingredients and mix them by yourself, which can be an excellent way of customizing the mixture to your tree’s distinct needs.

There are generally 3 essential components that you need to procure, and these are akadama, compost and fine gravel. Akadama happens to be a distinct clay soil that is extremely good for bonsai trees. If for any reason you may not be in a position to acquire akadama, you can still utilize some type of hard clay soil or cat litter.

Naturally, all species of these plants necessitate different soil mixtures. For instance, deciduous bonsai trees prefer a 50% mixture of akadama ( or any other substitute you might use) and an equally balanced 50% composition of both compost and gravel. Coniferous bonsai trees on their part, do particularly well in 60% of akadama, 30% gravel and 10% compost.

You can even go further and adapt your plant to the particular climate of the place you reside, and to this end, wet climates require more akadama and grit which greatly enhance the tree’s drainage system’s capabilities.

Fertilizer for your bonsai plant
Trees growing out in the wild utilize their roots to get the essential nutrients they need, and this invariably causes these roots to expand when all nutrients in that particular soil are depleted. Bonsai trees lack this endowment as they are grown pots. This means you have to restore all the nutrients by fertilizer application.

This crucial part of bonsai tree-care can have a tremendous effect on the growth of your plant. Fertilizer products are grouped by their Nitrogen/Phosphorous/Potassium composition. At the onset of spring, a mixture containing more Nitrogen is excellent for encouraging growth. During summer, a well balanced mix can be particularly good. A decreased Nitrogen composition assists in preparing the plant for winter. Potassium on its part promotes the blooming of a bonsai tree’s flowers.

Repoting your bonsai tree
This happens to be a vital component of bonsai tree-care, and should, hence, be done regularly. This task helps in refreshing the soil and also eliminating the risk of your tree dying of starvation. There are several factors that primarily determine the regularity of repotting your bonsai tree, and they all depend on the tree’s state.

Young and fast growing bonsai trees can necessitate this process once in a few years. Much bigger trees that have matured need repotting after each 5 years. In order to ascertain which is the best time to do this for your tree, examine it during spring. If the roots jut out the soil, indicates that the tree is seeking fresh nutrients, which means that your bonsai tree needs a repot.

Pest and diseases
Bonsai trees are living organisms, and just like other live forms, they can be prone to ailments and attacks from pests. Some of these attacks occasionally mar the tree’s beauty, while at other times they can damage or even kill the tree if not checked. The main factors that trigger these occurrences are under-feeding, over-feeding or over-watering.

If your plant manifests yellow leaves that eventually fall off, can indicate a watering or feeding problem. If this alteration occurs suddenly you can infer that you are not giving it adequate water. If this change occurs gradually it usually means that you might be overfeeding or underfeeding your bonsai plant.

Pests on their parts like to feed on these plants, and you might begin to notice grasshoppers, bees, ant or slugs, visually. Aphids, wasps, mites and weevils operate more covertly, and can be difficult to spot them. Fungi and some kinds of viruses can also seriously infect these plants. These usually manifests by a rapid die-back of the leaves and branches of the bonsai tree.In such cases, you have to quickly quarantine the affected plant, and attempt to cure it using fungicides.