Taking Care of Bonsai

A bonsai is a living plant and will therefore require regular care and attention. In some ways bonsai is almost like a pet: it cannot be left for long periods without water, food and attention, but it is, of course, much easier to care for than a pet animal.

If you are given a bonsai as a present, all you need to do is to ensure that bonsai tree is watered regularly so that it never dries out completely, and to remember to give it a little fertilizer from time to time. An occasional trimming of the growing shoots is perhaps all the basic care that is required. However, if you wish to create your own bonsai from various types of material, then it is important to understand some of the basic principles underlying the horticulture and aesthetics that combine together to make successful bonsai.

All bonsai are grown in a container of one kind or another. This can be a classic Japanese or Chinese bonsai pot, an improvised pot, or even a flat piece of slate. A bonsai should never be taken out of its container and planted in a garden flower bed as bonsai would soon revert to an ordinary garden shrub or plant.

Bonsai pots come in many shapes and sizes. The size of pot is determined largely by the size of the bonsai tree that you wish to grow, and the shape is determined by the style and the general aesthetics of the bonsai in question. The shape of the pot is dictated largely by one's aesthetic sense. If it looks right to you then it is probably right. All bonsai pots should have adequate drainage. This means that they must have large drainage holes. Some of the larger bonsai pots in fact have as many as six to ten holes. There is no need to make drainage holes on flat pieces of stone or slate because the water will simply run off.

• Air, humidity, and temperature
• Containers, soils and location
• Feeding
• Repotting
• Watering
• Light
• Diseases and pests
• Healthy bonsai