Spring is typically a season for letting bonsai grow freely. For black pines, some of the main tasks include fertilizing and removing young pine cones. Tea bag with cottonseed meal fertilizer Removing young pine cones Spring is also a good time for catching up on needle plucking and cutback. I generally don’t recommend working on […]
Bonsai Care
The bonsai care category includes topics like Watering, Fertilizing, Repotting and Bonsai Soil. You can also find information about the Pests commonly found on bonsai, and read Interviews with bonsai professionals.
Spring watering tips
Spring is my favorite time of year in the garden. It’s also a rather challenging season when it comes to watering. Without checking the soil, it can be hard to tell how much water a tree needs at a glance. Take, for example, the two young junipers below. Cutting-grown kishu shimpaku For the past week, I’ve been […]
Repotting a Jeffrey Pine
One of the newest trees in my garden is a Jeffrey pine. Jeffrey Pine Jeffrey pines are high-altitude trees native to California. Like the Ponderosa pine, the needles grow in sets of three. Jeffrey pine needle-bundle Unlike Ponderosa pine, which have bright green needles, Jeffrey pine needles are grey-green. Both have interesting bark. Trunk detail […]
Where do roots like to grow? A look inside the pot
For as important as roots are to healthy bonsai, we don’t often get a good look at how they grow in the pot. Few containers offer a view at what’s going on inside and we often disturb the roots with sickles or chop sticks when removing trees from their containers. I got a particularly good […]
Removing flower buds from satsuki azaleas
Removing the flower buds from satsuki azalea bonsai is a common technique for getting a tree to focus on producing new growth instead of flowering. Satsuki azalea – Momoka Although I’d love to enjoy the tree’s flowers this year, I’d rather it grow as much as possible and gain the vigor that will be necessary […]