Afternoon everyone, I've got a question on bonsais. I've had one of my trees for about 3 years now. Its super simple to take care of. Once a week I stand in in the sink for a couple of hours, then prune it into the shape I want. Now I've bought more Bonsais and all have failed miserably, dying within a year or so. Is there anyone on here thats had massive success with the little blighters, that could give me a few pointers? Cheers, B.
A couple of questions for starters: First, it would help to know what kind of Bonsai they were. Next would be just how they died....did they dry up? did they turn yellow?
hmmm, I'm not 100% sure on the species unfortunately. Basically yes, it dried up. All the leaves shriveled and fell off, it looked like I hadn't watered it enough. Although I did exactly the same with the one I have currently.
O.K. I going to take a wild stab in the dark...does it look like a schefflera? You can either go to google for an image or go to Plants and plug in schefflera for a picture.
Rococo, I'm guessing here. But yes I do grow bonsai, and some of my children are tender in my zone (6 in S-E, OH USA). My first guess is the one you are having success with sounds like its a succulent, like Jade or Christmas cactus. No true tree will survive long with only weekly watering. None will live very long, even with significant supplimental light indoors. All of my children move back outdoors as soon as its warm enough. And will stay there till October. There is a scrap of due dilligence you'll need to do to get good advice. I'd start with a google search of succulents like Jade to see if you can ID what'cha got. I backed into bonsai with a large old Japan maple in my yard that made many volunteers. So where I'm going here is it is good to ask questions, its also mandatory (if you wanna succeed at this) to go to the library and read some. Welcome to bonsai.
Ok, so I found out the tree that is still alive is a Carmona. I was under the impression that one long soak a week would be better for the plant, I'm scarred of over watering. Which I believe is one of the easiest ways to kill a Bonsai. Looks like I've still got a lot to learn :-?
Carmona microphylla, aka Fukien Tea. Is listed as a tropical evergreen. P 36, "Indoor Bonsai" (c) 1985, Paul Lesniewicz. Its being grouped in with other tropicals is made clear by the min/max temperatures suggested for it to thrive in ie 60°F to 75°F. I did a google and through my own library search. To see if there were directions to let this tree dry out that thoroughly. To a degree I'm back to guessing as this is a tree I have not cultivated. My search leads to more questions of you Rococo. Please to not see this as an inquisition! Question #1: How long has your tree been in the same soil? #2., How are you fertilizing it? #3., If you took a probe (chopstick) and stirred the soil what is its texture like? IE gravely, covered with glued on stones, soil looks like mostly made of peat, other-please describe. #4., How much sun or lighting is your fukien tea getting? It too, even though it is an understory tree with 'waxy' leaves is reccomended to be outdoors as weather permits in shade. Every citation I could find also reccomended a gravel pan to hide a bit of water to increase ambient moisture. This last is a very common tool used while trees are indoors. While it IS possible to overwater trees. I'll need to know more to advise much.
Please don't mistake my many questions as a criticism. I susect strongly your fukien tea may not be getting what it needs to thrive. Moreover the greater your success with it and understanding its needs, should lead to more triumphs for you. The Milton Berle of japanese movies-tv was an avid bonsai grower--Zeko Nakamura. He thought any tree taller than a pack of Lucky Strikes was too tall. He grew mame sized trees (several pots fit in one hand), hundreds of them. The very small pot size he preffered made watering his trees 8 to 10 times a day in summer mandatory! Some of the trees he grew were fukien tea...
Haha, thanks Coppice. I don't see it as an inquisition, I appreciate the input and help. I'll have a look at the soil when I get home this evening. I have to admit, I've been very lazy and haven't re-potted it in about a year. The soil is a 50 Organic/50 inorganic mix. The tree probably gets about 5 hours of sunlight a day. Ermm as for Fertilizer, I haven't been using any to be honest :-?
Along with my interogation, if you have the chance and can enter a shop that sells bonsai without pauperizing yourself. See what that nurseryman keeps his fukien tea trees in for soil. From here I have to wonder if your tree isn't potted up in soil with a lot more peat or loess in it than the nursery man uses for his own trees. Your period between watering is extrodinarily long, even for a tree sensitive to wet feet. Most of my trees are hearty in my zone, They live out of doors in winter, nestled under a thick mulch of leaves. So as a result I rarely use use liquid fertilizer save after July because I always add a little osmocoaat pelleted fertilizer to soil when I repot mine in April-May. Back when I made solid (but soluble) fertilizer on-for my trees, the outdoors trees suffered too much critter dammage in winters.
