Tip! If you already are experienced in caring for bonsai plants, looking after a mini bonsai could give you that extra little challenge. Make sure you look after your mini bonsai as it will help you develop your pruning skills further than you can with a regular sized bonsai.

If you are a beginning bonsai artist then you might want to select and Juniper for your first tree. This is a beautiful species of tree which tolerates a wide range of conditions and is a good species for the cascade or kengai style where the branches in the trunk grow out over the container and below the horizontal edge.

Junipers like to be kept in the full sun and they are rather forgiving when it comes to water although the soil shouldn’t be allowed to dry out and you should make sure there’s adequate drainage. they should be planted in the soil mixture that is 10% peak, 60% soil and 30% course sand.

Fertilize your juniper once a month starting in the early spring and straight through the summer. Inorganic fertilizer will be more gentle and your plant but if you do go with a man-made chemical fertilizer you want to ensure that it has the proper amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus and potassium. The Juniper will probably do best with a 20-20-20 NPK mixture. Refrain from fertilizing when it is very hot and the first two weeks after you repot the plant.

Repotting should be done every two years until your juniper reaches 10 years of age and then you want to spread out to every three or four years. This is a good time to trim the roots but don’t go overboard with this as gradual trimming his best. You can also take this time to prune unwanted branches. Keep your Juniper out of the full sun for two weeks after repotting.

Tip! Feeding your bonsai with the right fertilizer at the right time of year is imperative for keeping it in good health. The best types of fertilizers for bonsai are the pellets that slowly release nutrients into the soil, with these, you can make sure that it’s not all washed away when you water your tree.

While wiring should be done in the late fall you will get quicker results if you do it during the act of growing season. However you probably want to wait into you have some experience under your belt as you need to be careful to avoid scarring. During the act of growing season you can remove new shoots by pinching them off gently with the thumb and forefinger. One doing this you want to be sure not to bend the tree or any of the branches.

Just like any other plant, the Juniper can have pests. The most common is red spider mites. symptoms of these mites includes yellowing foliage and if you see this look under the branches for tiny spots then hold a white sheet of paper underneath and they give the branch at tap. If the docs volunteer paper and are moving about then you know you’ve got red spider mites.

Tip! Since bonsai trees are typically grown in pots, like many potted plants, they need to be watered often. This is for the simple fact that water can quickly drain from pots leaving the plants dry.

You can get rid of the red spider mites with a nicotine solution that can be prepared at home by soaking tobacco and water or you can buy commercial insecticide. After you have treated the Juniper for spider mites and let the solutions it for a day spray the foliage down with water each day during the growing season allowing it to dry in the sun.

With proper care, your juniper can live for years or even decades and can be enjoyed as a living work of art that you’ve lovingly sculpted, pruned and cared for.

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Do you know what the most common cause of death for bonsai trees is? Believe it or not, it is improper watering.

Most people think that watering should be the simplest of matters when, in fact, for bonsai trees at least, it is the most important thing that you can do and not do it correctly can kill your tree. In fact, improper watering kills more bonsai’s than anything else.

Bonsai trees root in special soil that is rather porous and has quick drainage. For this reason the bonsai must be watered frequently, however, care mus be taken to not overwater as standing water can cause fungus to grow and contribute to root rot.

Here’s some steps that you can take to avoid under watering or over watering your bonsai:

In order to determine if your bonsai needs water or not you must test the soil to see how moist it is. Touch the top of the soil with your finger and if it feels dry dig a little deeper to see how far the dryness extends. If you want a more precise method you can buy a moisture gauge which takes into the soil and we’ll tell you what watering is needed.

Tip! Today, bonsai is the act of training a miniature tree to look similar to its larger counterparts. Bonsai trees are actually not miniature trees by nature, but stay that way through constant trimming and binding.

It’s a good practice to keep the container you’re bonsai within into a buck of water so that water can be soaked up from the bottom about once every four weeks. let the water soak In for 20 minutes or so and then remove the pot. Be sure to always left by the container and never by the trunk of the tree.

your container should have a drainage hole In the bottom and a tray underneath to catch the excess water. If you find water pooling of a tray for too long you might want to make sure to remove the water so that it doesn’t collect from the roots causing rot and contributing to the buildup of mold.

when the bonsai is growing during the spring and summer you want to water daily making sure that water flows through the entire container and out the bottom but not so much that it is standing in water. You may actually have to water more than once a day depending on the soil in your climate as well as the species of tree. In the fall and winter when growth has slowed you will not need to water so much.

Tip! If you already are experienced in caring for bonsai plants, looking after a mini bonsai could give you that extra little challenge. Make sure you look after your mini bonsai as it will help you develop your pruning skills further than you can with a regular sized bonsai.

some types of bonsai like flowering and deciduous trees need more water and other types such as conifers need a bit less. You’ll need to experiment to find out what the right amount of water for your bonsai is. Be on the lookout for wilting flowers and curled leaves which can indicate lack of water and adjust accordingly.

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Tip! If you already are experienced in caring for bonsai plants, looking after a mini bonsai could give you that extra little challenge. Make sure you look after your mini bonsai as it will help you develop your pruning skills further than you can with a regular sized bonsai.

The elements contained in a work of art need to have a certain harmony and cohesiveness. Since a bonsai tree is a work of art the bonsai containers chosen to house your trees must be purchased with the thought of coordinating with the type and style of tree.

when selecting a bonsai container you should consider the color and the material as well as the shape and size. The pot should be selected to match with the particular tree that will be in it. There is no hard and fast rule to this but go with a sense of symmetry and also consider bonsai tradition when selecting your container. Be sure to take into consideration will the tree will look like when pruned and make sure that the container gives a sense of balance to the overall design.

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In addition to aesthetics you must think about the practical side of bonsai containers:

In addition to balancing your work of art to be pleasing to the eye, the container must also physically balance the weight of the tree in the soil. One size can be easily tipped over if the pot is too small for the tree so be sure that you get a pot that is having enough to withstand a little tippiness or you might find your tree laying on the ground.

The style of your container also needs to be managed with the style of your bonsai. A cascading bonsai design like a kengi or han-kengi has a trunk and branch is that the below the rim of the container. This is to look like a tree that is growing off the side of a cliff or hanging over under heavy snowfall. Therefore, you want a pot that is wide and can hold a lot of soil to offset the hanging of the treaty so it does not tip over.

Tip! So I though that I would provide a number of tips to newbie bonsai fans about how to enjoy this great way to relax.

In addition to sell considerations of course we’ll make sure that your container is large enough for your bonsai roots to spread out and grow. A bonsai should be transplanted every two years so you want to make sure that when you put it in its new container is enough room for two years of growth.

It’s also important that your bonsai container have the right drainage so sure that the plot as a whole the bottom along with a mesh screen to allow water to escape. Also make sure the screen is not too small as it can become clogged or not too big as then it can allow soil to leak out.

It’s important that your container have a tray underneath to catch the overflow of water. Over watering or under watering your bonsai can easily kill it and in fact is attributed to most bonsai deaths. Therefore, having appropriate drainage and a tray to catch the extra water will allow water to drain out and then some to be soaked back if the soil is too dry. It’s important, however, to make sure that the tray is not always in a puddle of water as this may contribute to root rot of your bonsai.

Tip! Today, bonsai is the act of training a miniature tree to look similar to its larger counterparts. Bonsai trees are actually not miniature trees by nature, but stay that way through constant trimming and binding.

The size of container you need is affected by the species of bonsai tree. Trees that flower and bear fruit need more water and can tolerate wet conditions better but conifers like the White Pine prefer to have the soil dry out between watering.

It may take a little experience and a good design eye to pick out the best bonsai container, but luckily there are many good examples out there to help guide you. Remember, some bonsai trees can live as long as 200 years so you should be able to find many examples of beautiful trees and their containers to stimulate your imagination.

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