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Beyond the bothersome pests, your bonsai can also fall ill.  The right bonsai care will prevent diseases from forming, but you can also treat these illnesses as well.

•    Mildew – This comes in two types: Powdery White or Downey. The white mildew is found on top of the leaves, while the downy mildew is on the underside. Both mildews are caused by poor air circulation. Downy mildew can also be caused by too much wetness, either in the soil or in the air.  The right bonsai care calls for a treatment with a fungicide designed for plants and improvement in the air circulation around your bonsai.
•    Black Spot Fungus – This fungus causes your bonsai to lose its leaves, which in the long run is more damaging than the actual fungus itself. The actual fungus is an unsightly black blotch on your bonsai’s leaves. It’s more of a problem for indoor plants, as they don’t have the benefit of wind and rain to wash away the spores. This disease spreads rapidly, and thus, rapid bonsai care is needed. Remove the affected leaves and increase your air circulation around your bonsai. Treat your plant with a fungicide to ensure it doesn’t return
•    Sooty Mold – This is a telltale sign that your bonsai has aphids. It usually affects older leaves on your bonsai plant. Treat it with an insecticide for the aphids. Once you get rid of the aphids, you’ll get rid of your mold.

Bonsai care involves more than simply training the branches to grow in a beautiful direction.  Instead, bonsai care means you monitor the health of the plant, keeping pests and illnesses at bay.  When you know how to spot and treat pests and diseases, your bonsai will reward you with beautiful growth

Trained and grown with care over many seasons, our Grapevine Bonsai produces clusters of intensely sweet Cabernet Sauvignon that are also reduced in size for a true-to-scale presentation. It flowers in spring, sheds leaves in late fall, and thrives indefinitely as a living gift.

Grapevine Bonsai available here

When your bonsai first came into your life, it was happy, healthy, and growing well. However, whether your bonsai care or pests are to blame, your bonsai may be sick. You see black spots, drooping leaves, and perhaps mildew. How can you tell if your bonsai is sick? And what type of bonsai care will rejuvenate your ill plant?

This article will discuss common bonsai pests and diseases, how to identify which problem your bonsai has, and what type of bonsai care will bring your plant back to its normal, healthy self.

Common Bonsai Pests

Like any plant, bonsais can attract pests.  With the right bonsai care, you can keep identify these pests and keep them at bay.

• Whitefly – These tiny white, moth-like insects prefer to hide on the undersides of the leaves of your bonsai. Whiteflies leave sticky, ‘honeydew’ like substance on the leaves and then a black soot-like mold grows on the sticky substance.  The right bonsai care will prevent whiteflies, and it involves misting your bonsai daily, as the insects dislike being sprayed with water. If you already have an infestation, use an insecticide designed for this type of problem. Use it regularly, such as 3-4 times at 5-day intervals, until you get rid of the insects.

• Spider Mites – These almost-microscopic insects are so small they can be difficult to see with the naked eye.  It helps to put some white paper down on a smooth surface and then shake your plant over the white paper. If you see tiny moving dots on the paper, your bonsai has spider mites. These little bugs will suck your plant dry of all its nutrients, and therefore, the right bonsai care is to get rid of them as soon as you see them. Another clue is that your bonsai’s foliage will turn dull and yellow-green, or you might have dead patches. Spray with an insecticide designed for spider mites, once a week for 3 weeks.

• Aphids – Most people think of these little creatures as red colored, but they can come in shades of pink, green, or brown in addition to red. If you don’t like the idea of an insecticide, and your bonsai is outside, import some lady bugs to take care of the problem. Lady bugs won’t hurt your bonsai and they are nature’s aphid predator, making them a great aid in your bonsai care. Aphids cause distorted growth and can be temporarily thwarted by spraying the bonsai with a firm jet of water.  Insecticides can get rid of aphids permanently.

As a beginning bonsai gardener, you may have many questions about appropriate bonsai care.  By understanding the fundamentals, you can build a firm foundation upon which you can confidently grow your skills and expertise, right along with your new bonsai garden!

Trident maple bonsai tree photo credit: ragesoss

Bonsai Care: First Things First

As with any garden, the basic elements that your bonsai plant will need to thrive are the right soil, the appropriate amount of light, and the right amount of water.

However, bonsai care involves fulfilling certain needs that ordinary plants don’t have. For instance, did you know that most bonsai trees are bred to be outdoor plants like their full-sized counterparts?  If you bring a sun-loving bonsai inside, be prepared to give it 12-16 hours a day of fluorescent light. There are, however, some bonsai plants that do not need that much light, and these may be the ideal species if you want to practice bonsai care indoors.

Another important element of bonsai care is utilising the right soil. In the “wild,” trees grow tall due to their deep root systems, which dig deeply into the earth.  In contrast, your bonsai will grow in a shallow tray or container, and therefore, your tree’s root system cannot penetrate deeply downward. Instead, it will spread out shallowly, thereby reducing your tree’s growth.  For this reason, bonsai plants need a special mix of soil to ensure that their roots don’t become waterlogged and drown. Because they are grown in such shallow containers, regular potting soil is much too dense and will trap too much water, killing the tree’s roots, and eventually, the tree.

In practising proper bonsai care, you should purchase special bonsai soil, which is a mix of loam, sand, and organics, like peat moss and leaf mold. What soil you should specifically buy is determined by your local climate. Your local greenhouse or nursery, bonsai enthusiast, or Agriculture Extension office can help you determine which soil is perfect for your bonsai’s care.

Toringo crabapple bonsai tree photo credit: ragesoss

Water and Food in Bonsai Care

Of course, the one question all beginner bonsai gardeners have is “when should I water my bonsai?” The answer to this important bonsai care question depends upon what kind of bonsai you have, how humid or dry the air is around your bonsai, what time of the year it is, and other variables.

Ideally, in bonsai care, you want a balance between too much and too little. Don’t over water—but don’t underwater either. Make sure your water is at room temperature, as you don’t want to shock your plant with either cold or hot water. If you use tap water, let it sit out overnight so that the chlorine and other chemicals can oxidise out of the water.

Wet the soil first, which will increase the bonsai’s ability to take in more water.  Afterwards, soak the soil until water runs out of the drainage holes in your training tray. Make sure that the entire soil mass gets wet. Watering is best done daily in the early morning, before the plant begins its daily photosynthesis cycle.  You can also mist your bonsai on a daily basis to help it retain its necessary humidity levels.

As for fertiliser in bonsai care, use a completely balanced fertiliser (i.e., 20-20-20, which is equal parts nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium) every other week at quarter strength.  A balanced fertiliser is ideal in bonsai care because your tree is considerably smaller than the plants the fertiliser is typically used for. Never fertilise a dry tree (the shock could kill it – make sure to water first!) and don’t fertilise a sick tree; remember, fertiliser isn’t medication.

With the right amount of water and light, along with appropriate soil and fertiliser, you are well on your way to growing a beautiful bonsai collection. Bonsai care does not have to be difficult, as long as you remember to meet the fundamental needs your beautiful bonsai plant has.

Sweet gum bonsai tree photo credit: ragesoss

This article will show you some of the pros and cons related to starting a bonsai plant from seed. The process is not impossible neither difficult, but there are some considerations you need to think about before you buy from a bonsai seed supplier.

Base of a Goshin bonsai forest photo credit: ragesoss

What are Bonsai Seeds?

To put it quite simply, a bonsai seed is any seed that will grow into a plant you can use for bonsai. Bonsai seeds are not special dwarf varieties of plants and shrubs. They are simply normal seeds for trees, bushes, shrubs and flowering plants.

You do not need to pay inflated prices for a seed that’s marketed as a special “bonsai seed.”  Instead, just plan a bit in advance, do your research, and buy seeds based on what you want from your bonsai plant. Maple seeds, crabapple seeds, cypress seeds – all these seeds can be bought for normal market prices. It’s your job as a bonsai grower to turn your Japanese maple tree into a bonsai tree through the use of a shallow tray, the right soil and light conditions.

While there is no need to buy special “bonsai seeds,” typically the ones that are labeled specifically for bonsai have been time-tested to thrive as miniature plants.

Foemina Juniper Bonsai Forest photo credit: ragesoss

The Pros of Bonsai Seeds

When you start a bonsai plant from a seed, you are involved from the beautiful process from the absolute beginning. You can nurture the seedling, watch it grow, and begin the process of shaping your bonsai immediately.  Many bonsai enthusiasts enjoy knowing that they are the originator of their own plant. It’s definitely a thrill to watch your seedling sprout and know that you are an integral part of this plant’s life!

Bonsai is the art of creating a plant that is beautiful, by pruning and shaping – and when you grow your own bonsai seeds, you can start to shape your plant to your own design immediately. Another consideration for buying bonsai seeds is that they are generally much cheaper than buying an established plant, and in fact, could be the most affordable method of obtaining a bonsai plant.

A beautifull Goshin bonsai forrest photo credit: ragesoss

The Cons of Bonsai Seeds

The biggest reason to not utilize bonsai seeds is because bonsai, like their full-sized counterparts, are still trees, and trees grow at a much slower rate than a typical houseplant.

If you want to grow a bonsai from seed, you must have a lot of patience and understand that it will take years, not weeks or months, before you start to see any results. For some bonsai enthusiasts, this is the biggest reason of all not to start your bonsai from seeds. After all, if the purpose of bonsai is to create and design, why wait around for years before you can begin, particularly when there are young plants that you can train and work with right away? Some leading bonsai experts recommend against starting your bonsai from seed for exactly this reason.

In the end, however, only you will be able to decide for yourself whether starting a bonsai from seed is the right way for you to cultivate your bonsai plant.  If you have patience, or a tight budget, bonsai seeds are perfect for growing your own mini-forest.

Beginners starting out in the world of bonsai usually think that the plants used for bonsai are special bonsai trees or mini plants; however bonsai trees are just normal trees or plants kept small through regular pruning. Bonsai trees go through the normal seasonal changes, flowering, fruiting and shedding leaves like any other tree.

Since all trees have evolved during thousands of years outdoors, keeping a bonsai tree indoors without the natural light, rain, wind and seasonal changes can be very challenging and usually results in death of the bonsai tree. This is usually due too not enough light and low humidity; I found that out after killing my first tree. However there are a few tropical species of bonsai that are more suitable for indoors than others, but in general it is good if you can keep your bonsai tree outdoors most of the time… but with proper bonsai care it can be possible to keep a bonsai indoors.

When you are starting out with your first bonsai trees, and maybe start to read and learn more of the subject you will find that there are many bonsai “rules”. My tip to you is to not let these guidelines limit you in your bonsai journey. The art of bonsai should be a fun, creative and very rewarding journey! Enjoy.

California Juniper bonsai tree
C photo credit: ragesoss

Japanese white pine bonsai tree

photo credit: ragesoss

Goshin Bonsai Tree

photo credit: ragesoss

]]> http://www.bonsaizenmaster.com/bonsai-culture/bonsai-introduction-bonsai-gardening/feed/ 1 http://www.bonsaizenmaster.com/bonsai-master/bonsai-master-masahiko-kimura/ http://www.bonsaizenmaster.com/bonsai-master/bonsai-master-masahiko-kimura/#comments Sun, 12 Oct 2008 09:39:05 +0000 Bonsai Master http://www.bonsaizenmaster.com/?p=70 Masahiko Kimura is a world renowned bonsaist and expert on all things bonsai.  Mr. Kimura’s bonsai education began at the age of 15 because it is what his mother wanted.  Masahiko became an apprentice in Omiya Bonsai Village and trained there for 11 years under his master Hamano Sensei.  Masahiko became an expert in bonsai care and bonsai artistry and now travels the world as a sort of bonsai celebrity.

As the art of Bonsai gardening has spread around the world, Masahiko has noticed that the variety of bonsais has decreased and that in some countries there are not enough trained people to look after special bonsais.

However, Masahiko believes that the art of bonsai should be unique to each country and culture.

Every country should see bonsai differently, since bonsai is something that can be easily linked to one’s own culture. So, I would like to see each country develop its own style and people express their own feelings about nature. It would be exciting to me if I saw something new to look at.

With this also comes the importance of education. Bonsais are a great gift to pass down across generations, but there must be apprentices that will know how to care for them.

So what advice does Mr. Kimura (aka The Magician) have for those of us still developing our bonsai care skills?

You must have the original desire to improve yourself. If the desire is not there, I can say whatever I want, it won’t make a difference. The desire has to come from within. If you really want to improve, you need to become very serious about practising it. Action should take precedence before talking. Doing it, is what will make it happen.

Smart man. That seems like the key to success in any area of life, not just in bonsai care.

Watch Masahiko Kimura in action below:
In this episode Lindsay Farr keeps travelling and we get to meet a true bonsai expert, Masahiko Kimura that shows us some extraordinary bonsai trees and bonsai gardens.

I hated bonsai, hated the business, wanted nothing to do with the whole bonsai world

Therefore she decided to go to university to study economics and marketing instead of following in her father’s footsteps. However, after a trip to France, and visiting some beautiful gardens she decided that maybe she could still do something in the bonsai world, in a non-traditional way.

After doing a market research project on her father’s bonsai business she saw an opportunity that could suit her.

I decided to see if I could develop the market, and start a bonsai school. I would respect tradition, but find my own space, develop my own way.

Yamada’s bonsai school has been a great success and has brought many women into the male dominated bonsai world. She has brought a feminine point of view and a softer side to the art form.  Her school has taught many women the technical and creative sides of bonsai care and bonsai gardening.  Thanks to Yamada there is a new generation of female bonsai artists.

Yamada has many old bonsais, passed down through the generations, in her garden. She says:

They’re like my ’sempai’ (elders). They talk to me, tell me how to live. Their “ki,” their life force, affects me, I can feel it.

I too hope that one day my 3 year old bonsai can pass on some wisdom too!

Here is an interview with Kaori Yamada, Lindsay Farr travels to Xu Xiaobai, Omiya, Kaori Yamada Bonsai festival.