My Bonsai Curse.

[Clement]

This is probably a bit of a long shot, and it may not make great conversation so if it needs to be locked my apologies, i'l just go google.

But! any of you guys know anything about bonsai's? i bought a fully grown one some years back, it was my pride and joy as far as plants go, even had its own tiny leaves that it would drop in autumn, then one day after a year and a half of loyal service it mysteriously died, i used to enrich the soil with some kind of spray i bought for it and looked after it best i could, but i have no idea why it died, to be honest it was a while ago so i don't remember much about it.

Then a couple of years ago i grew a small pine, it grew for a year and was almost a foot tall, it was green and healthy then one winter's day, tragedy struck again, it died too, i still have no idea why, i seem to be very unlucky with Bonsai's for some reason.

I recently decided to have one last go at growing my own, i'm taking no chances, i've bought quite a few seeds, from acacia to baobab, 2 of them have sprouted after a month of nothing much happening, not sure which ones they are but i'm hoping they are actually trees and not the imposter watercress.

I posted just on the off-chance that there were any budding bonsai or garden enthusiasts among ye I water often and dont forget them, but i've had little luck with Bonsai's so far it seems, for my own part i think its winter that killed them even though i kept them indoors, but how do you warm a tree? cant wrap a blanket round it.

 

[de Maistre]

I thought “Bonsai!” was something the Japanese yelled during World War 2? In all seriousness, have you bought a book for your particular plant or bonsai in general? Aside from meticulously following a comprehensive guide, I don't know what else you can do. I imagine there are a lot of ways a little tree could die so it's difficult to speculate.

 

[Clement]

I thought “Bonsai!” was something the Japanese yelled during World War 2? In all seriousness, have you bought a book for your particular plant or bonsai in general? Aside from meticulously following a comprehensive guide, I don't know what else you can do. I imagine there are a lot of ways a little tree could die so it's difficult to speculate.

I do indeed have a bonsai book, problem is it mostly filled with photographs of Bonsai's who's owners managed to not kill them, i followed the basics, but for some reason they just seem a lot more fragile than any other plant in my house, maybe i over irrigated with the nourishment spray perhaps, but the second pine tree's death was a complete mystery.

 

[Holycannoli]

I thought “Bonsai!” was something the Japanese yelled during World War 2? In all seriousness, have you bought a book for your particular plant or bonsai in general? Aside from meticulously following a comprehensive guide, I don't know what else you can do. I imagine there are a lot of ways a little tree could die so it's difficult to speculate.

That's "Banzai!"

Watch The Karate Kid III and you'll learn all you need to know about bonsai

 

[SuperJay]

Bonsai are notoriously difficult to maintain and care for. They're just fragile plants that are very sensitive to even minor changes in nutrient, environment, etc. Don't worry, it's not you - they're just prone to sudden unexplainable illness.

I know that doesn't help much, but I've killed a few in my time too. Maybe we're both cursed.

 

[Clement]

Bonsai are notoriously difficult to maintain and care for. They're just fragile plants that are very sensitive to even minor changes in nutrient, environment, etc. Don't worry, it's not you - they're just prone to sudden unexplainable illness.

I know that doesn't help much, but I've killed a few in my time too. Maybe we're both cursed.

Thank you Superjay i appreciate the morale boost, it is indeed depressing when a tree dies, maybe i'l have more luck this time, i'm growing about 8 at the same time hehe

 

[Mr Blue]

Did you up the pot size or trim the roots back?

I highly doubt that you over feed it if you followed the instructions on the bottle. Plus it would of shown signs of being over feed before dieing off.

 

[Clement]

I never did change the pot, was too scared to break or injure the roots of the first tree, i purchased it fully grown so perhaps after a year it needed a new pot, sadly i dont think i'l ever know, as for the pine i grew myself that just turned dry and died, after a year of watering and normal looking after, hmm, maybe i should grow a geranium instead or a cactus hehe

 

[Abaddon]

I imagine you either under or over watered it.

With such a small root ball, drying out even for just a few hours is very damaging. Flipside, too wet and the roots will drown.


They shouldn't just die, trees are pretty hardy,, thats the natural bonsai! A tough little bugger growing somewhere nutrient poor! (I am a bit confused why you are feeding it)

 

[Bugfatty300]

Accept your utter failure, accept that future failure is inevitable, get a chia pet and move on.

 

[Clement]

I imagine you either under or over watered it.

With such a small root ball, drying out even for just a few hours is very damaging. Flipside, too wet and the roots will drown.


They shouldn't just die, trees are pretty hardy,, thats the natural bonsai! A tough little bugger growing somewhere nutrient poor! (I am a bit confused why you are feeding it)

Thats a good point, it could well have been overwatering, as for the spray it came with the Bonsai tree, it was some kind of earth nourishment that i used once every 6 months.

Accept your utter failure, accept that future failure is inevitable, get a chia pet and move on.

Well, maybe after i see what happens with my current Bonsai clone factory, i got 8 pots going at the same time, whats a Chia pet? some kind of hamster? i dont think my budgerigar would approve

Edit* i think i may have fixed any possiblity of over/under watering, i've been told that with half a 2 litre coke bottle turned upside down into its other half, so there are two chambers, a strip of cloth sticking out the upside-down bottle neck draws up water from the second chamber keeping the earth in the first chamber moist but not drowning, hopefully this will help me.

 

[Perfection]

Link to video.

 

[Clement]

Link to video.

Never seen that before, i had something cheaper but similar as a kid, was a potato with a face that grew grass as hair on its head

 

[Patroklos]

The answer to this question will tell me most of what I need to know:

Are you keeping indoors or outdoors?

 

[Clement]

The answer to this question will tell me most of what I need to know:

Are you keeping indoors or outdoors?

I always kept them indoors, there's roving gangs of mad-max style pidgeons that descend upon anything green on my balcony, even had a poor tomato plant that fell victim to them last year, so i thought best to keep the trees inside.

 

[Abaddon]

Indirect or direct sunlight?

 

[Holycannoli]

Never seen that before, i had something cheaper but similar as a kid, was a potato with a face that grew grass as hair on its head

You've never seen Chia Pets?

Really?

I would think you'd have to have been living in a cave the past two decades to have never seen them.

 

[Abaddon]

Not American perhaps? I've never seen them before either.. heard it... assumed it was a Japanese thing..

 

[Clement]

You've never seen Chia Pets?

Really?

I would think you'd have to have been living in a cave the past two decades to have never seen them.

Yeah i must have missed them, although the name itself does ring a faint bell.

Indirect or direct sunlight?

Mostly indirect, near a window but living in the UK there's not really that much full on sunlight to go around, hmm, maybe it didnt get enough direct sunlight, something else i'l make sure doesn't happen this time, i'l keep them all on the window sills.

 

[Patroklos]

I always kept them indoors, there's roving gangs of mad-max style pidgeons that descend upon anything green on my balcony, even had a poor tomato plant that fell victim to them last year, so i thought best to keep the trees inside.

This is probably your problem. Despite what we see in movies and TV bonsai trees are by and large NOT indoor plants. They are miniaturized (or simply chopped down in most cases) versions of trees you see growing outside which for obvious reasons are not indoor plants at their regular size. You can bring them indoors for brief periods as decoration or to do maintenance on or during truly extreme weather which would be damaging to normal trees too, but by and large they should be outside

Everything from humidity to air pressure is different in an indoors environment. Furthermore, most tree species actually require a harsh environmental period like such as winter or a drought season to keep their natural biological clock ticking. Just like how unexpected cold or hot spells kill trees in nature, a bonsai tree already stressed from pruning or miniaturization will fall victim to a constant environment out of its natural norm.

Another thing you need to be mindful of is foliage pruning. You can miniaturize a tree's trunk and branches via pruning, but this will normally not miniaturization the leaves correspondingly. This is done by repeatedly cutting off portions of each new growth of foliage. This is very ascetically pleasing and creates a true look of miniaturization but is VERY stressful to the tree. If you are already keeping it in a stressful indoors environment this will probably do your specimen in.

If you do a basic google search you will discover the above easily enough, not trying to be combative but before you kill a truly special (and expensive) real bonsai someone has already trained for years you may want to do more than cursory research. If you take a look at the truly amazing bonsais from Japan they are all outdoors.