How to Start a Blooming Bonsai Tree
Bonsai is the art of keeping miniature trees that mimic the shape and look of older, full-sized trees. A number of flowering trees are suitable for bonsai including azaleas, camellias, flowering serissas and flowering plums and cherries. Starting a flowering bonsai tree is as simple as starting with a small, young nursery plant and combining it with traditional bonsai pots, soils and tools. Does this Spark an idea?
Things You'll Need
- Young flowering tree
- Bonsai pot
- Mesh
- Scissors
- Bonsai wire
- Wire cutters
- Bonsai pruner or sharp scissors
- Bonsai soil
- Fish emulsion
Instructions
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1
Remove your young tree from its pot. The tree doesn't need to have been specifically grown for bonsai, but the smaller the tree, the easier it is to work with as a novice bonsai grower.
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2
Remove the nursery soil from the roots of your tree. Spread out the roots to get a sense of their spread and size.
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3
Clip the side roots by at least 50 percent with a pair of bonsai pruners. Trim the lower roots enough so the tree can sit comfortably in the pot. Trim the sides to a maximum of a few centimeters smaller than the pot. Root pruning is an important part of limiting the size of your tree.
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4
Cover the holes in the bottom of your bonsai pot with bonsai mesh, window screen or other fine mesh. Bonsai soil is fine enough that it can easily drop through the holes if you don't cover them with mesh.
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5
Add 1 to 2 centimeters of bonsai soil to the bottom of your pot. Most bonsai soil is a combination of fine clay, pumice and organic material, which drains well yet retains water in the organic material and pumice.
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6
Place your flowering tree in the pot and finish filling the pot with soil.
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7
Prune the tree to about the same height as your pot's widest dimension. Thin the tree's branches and leaves by removing 50 to 70 percent of the leaves. Prune from the bottom up and from the inside out. Work to open up the tree so that light can reach the inner branches and trunk.
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8
Water your tree thoroughly, then every one to three days or when it feels dry. Never allow the tree to dry out. Don't fertilize for the first month after root pruning. After the first month, water once a week with a 1/2 strength fish emulsion.
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