Bonsai Maintenance

Repotting a Bonsai trees for Beginners

      You may Require a repotting due to following reasons -
1. Bonsai Trees has grown big enough for a pot and a bigger pot is required.
2. The roots are coming out from the bottom hole and the pot is completely filled with roots.
3. The bonsai pot got damaged.
4. The manure of the pot is completely exhausted.
5. You want to change the pot with a different look one.(not suggested frequently)

      Steps of Repotting of Bonsai Trees for beginners-
a) Wet the soil completely.
b) Cut the copper wires tied up with plant and pot.
c) Shake or pat the pot so that the plants root gets separated from the pot wall. If required, use a knife to separate it from pot.
d) Take out the bonsai and remove the extra root. Don't cut the main root.
e) Now do the potting as you have done in previous section for new plant.
      IMPORTANT :- Do the Repotting only during early spring or monsoon.

Styles of Bonsai for Beginners

      There is no fix style and let your imagine go wild. However I recommend only three style -
a. Straight up -Most of the bonsai tree look good in this style (Fig-A)
b. Up-side down - Plants with less no of leaves look good in this style (Fig-B)
c. Parallel bar -This is good if you are having more than one small plant in a pot.

Trimming & Pruning Bonsai Trees

      Trimming and pruning is very important to give bonsai trees a definite shape and to avoid thinning of the plant. This also helps the plant to grow in desired direction. take care in this process so that you are not short of leaves & branch. Always cut the branch just above the nodes, otherwise you will have a branch without leaf. This is very important step and good thing is this that you can do it by your common sense.

Watering of Bonsai Trees

      Always use a watering can for this purpose
Almost all the plants require watering on alternate days except during monsoon days. However please note that watering is required when the top layer is dry.
After potting and repotting, water as instructed in previous section by using a bigger pot filled with water.
During watering try to put the water in a way that the leaves gets washed.

Manuring Bonsai

      Plants should be provided proper food and please note that by starving a plant you cannot develop a good and healthy Bonsai tree.
Lot of Bonsai manures are available in horticulture stores. However organic / natural manures are good for bonsai. Most of the artificial manure contain Nitrogen, Phosphorous, Potacium, magnecium, calcium etc. Your store owner can advice you a suitable manure, if you tell him your category of plant. To be safe as a beginer use organic manure.

Diseases of Bonsai Trees

     Since Bonsai trees are potted in a pot and generally kept in a safe place, therefore they are less susceptable to disease. However some time you may find ants, bugs, caterpillars, black spot etc. on your plant. treat it immediately with common medicine like pesticure, Diatef, Malathion etc. Wash your plant with a very diluted solution. You may take advice from your horticulture store for this purpose. Never use a very strong medicine used for curing big trees or to cure a farmer's field.