A mistake that I was to make early in my journey for the care of bonsai trees was watering. I thought it was just watering. How difficult could it be? With my first bonsai, I treated it just like my other house plants and along with it being located inside with them, it meant that I was watering my bonsai when I "remembered" to water the house plants. I was about to find out the hard way that this seemingly simple step in the care of bonsai trees was not as easy as I thought when my tree started to look ill.
I did some research and found out that there was a lot of differences between the care of bonsai trees and house plants and in particular - watering.
I found out that dehydration is generally the most frequent cause of death in bonsai trees in a new owner's care. If a tree is under watered and there is not enough moisture left in the soil, leaves can die within hours!
Watering a bonsai tree correctly is not so much about quantity but about frequency.
A bonsai's whole world is bound in one little pot. Because they are in shallow pots and have less roots than normal , bonsai trees are particularly vulnerable to dehydration so knowing just how much to water is crucial. Not enough water and the tree could be quickly fighting drought conditions.
Proper care of bonsai trees involves a careful watch on the soil to make sure it hasn't dried out - but overwatering is also a definite no-no as it can damage plants nearly as quickly. But I was also to find out that if you give it too much water it will be at risk from fungal infections and root rot.
So it seems that too much water and it's suffering a flood - too little and it's a drought, and going from one to another is a vicious cycle will quickly kill a bonsai. Too wet for long periods could mean rot and infections and not wet enough for too long can mean dehydration, both extremes can lead to the ill health and eventual death of the bonsai tree.
I found that there are many and varied 'rules' for watering from different sources and that watering depends on a number of variables, such as, soil, the tree's location, temperatures, light and the time of the season.
Different soils dry out at different rates, different shaped pots also lose water at different rates, and different species of trees have different watering requirements. The trick is finding the right balance for your individual tree and its unique requirements when planning your care of bonsai trees. Getting the watering just right will help develop a healthy root system to ensure your bonsai remains healthy.
To determine this, a moisture meter can be used, but you might want to hold off buying one of these until you decide if you are wanting to continue to invest time and money into this new hobby. I found that as a beginner to the care of bonsai trees, the best way to test if my tree needed water, was to simply dig my finger into the soil up to about an inch depth and to see what state it was in. Of course, the trick here is to feel if the soil is damp without disturbing the roots.
Watering is only one of the steps to take into account in the care of bonsai trees. We must remember we are keeping our trees to artificially miniature proportions by keeping them in pots. This is not their natural state, so it is up to us to maintain the appropriate conditions for them to grow in this controlled environment.
I now have a greater appreciation of the importance of watering and the effects it has on my individual tree. I still have a number of things to understand about how, when and the type of water to use and I am working on this.
There are many steps yet for me to master in my care of bonsai trees.
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