Why I love Bonsai

Hello everyone, I hope you are having a pleasant day 😉

Today, I would like to discuss my dabbles in bonsai.
I’ve always been fascinated by bonsai. Everything from junipers to maples. All of it was so fascinating. I guess as a kid, I was attracted to the “zen – like” care that is necessary to take care of them. When Amy and I finally moved into our own place, I decided to take on the challenge. Being something of a research geek (like the rest of the world these days) I studied and pored over bonsai videos, articles, and books.

I was confident. I knew that if I was careful and put the principles I learned into practice, I would be able to make these tiny trees flourish.

R.I.P

R.I.P

But like many seasoned bonsai enthusiasts will tell you, a newbie bonsai grower will likely kill his first few plants. Not to mention that the quality of many bonsai you find in garden stores are mass produced, cheap knockoffs like the two above. But Instead of getting discouraged by the deaths of these two innocent trees, I researched more so that I would not make the same mistake again.

This one here is a Coral Bark Japanese Maple.
It started off pretty bad. The leaves were scorched, certain branches had severe reverse taper. But for some reason, this is the one that I chose.

Dont worry, this one is still alive.

The first thing I did was set it in a big, plastic training pot. I filled the pot with lots of organic material, vermicompost from our vermicompost bin, microbial innoculants, and a handful of earthworms. My plan is to let nature take its course with this plant. Of course I will be pruning and guiding new growth but I want to nurture this to- be bonsai plant to be healthy and beautiful before it goes into another bonsai pot.

Now it is healthy and vigorous!

Many say  things like “You guys shun organic material, how is that life?”
I think bonsai is amazing because despite the lack of organic material or beneficial microbes, a well taken care of bonsai could live much longer than it would naturally. Why? Because bonsai growers LOVE nature! Bonsai growers love admiring their living works of art. Bonsai growers use inorganic substrates so that the roots can breathe. A proper bonsai gets should be fed nothing but organic fertilizers. When the tree outgrows its pot, we prune the hell out of the roots just to re-invigorate the growth. I will be sure to post step by step tutorials in the future.

I have other bonsai plants that I will have to feature for other posts so be sure to subscribe for more updates!

Hope you guys have a great day 😀

listening to:
WHAM! 8)