You are considering getting a bonsai tree for your home. An indoor one seems like a better option since it can get cold outside at certain times of the year. But how do you take care of it?
When it comes to getting a bonsai, hydroseeding is not the best option for doing something indoors. That is better for grass outside. Instead, you want to get something from a nursery, perhaps.
If you are considering getting an indoor bonsai tree, you want to make sure that you are getting good soil for it. Otherwise, you risk shortening its lifespan by a good amount. The soils on the market have different properties and some of them are good for the bonsai and others are bad.
What Bonsai Plants Are Best For Being Indoors?
There are several types that you can grow indoors. They include the Ficus, the Dwarf jade, the Carmona, the Schefflera, and the Sageretia. These can thrive in an indoor setting, provided that you care for it properly.
The Best Soils
The first thing that you should know is that you are going to be getting things with a lot of substrate in them. They are going to include pumice stone, lava rock, and akadama.
- Hoffman Bonsai Soil
- Birch Seeds Soil All-Purpose Potting Mix
- Tinyroots Premium Blend
- Tinyroots Conifer Blend
- Bonsail Jack Universal Organix Bonsai Soil
Each of them have their pros and cons. Doing some research, like looking on message boards or even asking bonsai experts to chime in on social media sites, can help you find a wealth of information. Then you can choose which one of the above would be worth trying out on your indoor bonsai.
Here are the best fertilzers and soil that you can get for your bonsai in India.
You should only use this soil for bonsai trees since they are made for them. Other plants won’t benefit, since the “soil” is not actually dirt, but is made up of a lot of different materials. If you want to get another type of plant, make sure that the soil that you buy is right for it – otherwise you could find yourself having plants die from not enough nutrients.
Things Not To Do With Your Bonsai Tree
You need to make sure that you don’t make mistakes like this when you have put your bonsai tree in the soil:
- You Water It Too Much – If you see that the tips of the leaves are brown or black, this usually means that you have watered the bonsai tree too much. This won’t happen immediately, either. Only water your bonsai if you notice that the soil is hardly damp when you touch it.
- You Prune It Too Much – You don’t want to go overboard when it comes to pruning your bonsai tree. It can be easy to take off too much and accidentally wind up killing it. Be judicious when cutting certain parts of the tree off.
- You Prune It At The Wrong Time of the Year – This applies more to outdoor bonsai trees, when you should only do it from the spring to the fall. If you have an indoor tree, you have a lot more leeway. Don’t do it if there is a noticeable chill in the air.
- You Put a Temperate One Indoors – If you do this, you are going to throw off the tree’s period of dormancy during the winter. A tropical tree can handle being indoors all year round since it really doesn’t need that dormant period of time. Check with any plant experts if you are not sure if yours will be better off indoors or outdoors.
- You Don’t Repot a Rootbound Tree – You need to keep the roots from taking over the pot. Trim the roots every two years and then repot it if it is a young tree. You can wait up to five years if the tree is older to do that.
- You Work on Them When They Are Too Young – Like nearly every other living thing, a young bonsai needs time to grow and adjust before you start doing things like pruning them. Otherwise, you risk stunting its growth or worse
- You Don’t Give It Enough Time To Adjust to a New Pot – If your bonsai tree could talk at this time, it would be telling you, “Not so fast! I’m just getting used to this thing!”
Indoor Bonsai Tree Care Tips And Other Things to Keep In Mind
While bonsai trees are considered good beginner plants for people, there are still things that you need to do to keep them alive. They are not indestructible and could die if you do not take proper care of them. Here are some things that you need to do:
- Keep Them In a Humid Place. – You want your bonsai tree to have soil that is damp for a long time. If you put its pot in a humid spot, that will help keep it healthy. Try to check the humidity as often as possible.
- Keep Them In Light – You are going to have to be very diligent when it comes to regulating the light for your indoor bonsai. That is because they get a lot more of it when they are outside as opposed to indoors. If they don’t get enough light, their growth will not be to the levels that an outdoor one would reach – so add supplemental lights along with the sunlight that they get through the window.
- Keep Them Away From Direct Heat Or a Draft – You don’t want to keep your bonsai tree in front of a radiator or a cracked window that could let cold winter air in. In both cases, that could wind up drying out the water that your bonsai tree has in its soil.
- Don’t Water Them on a Strict Routine – When you first get your bonsai, it might have a guide saying to water on certain days of the week. No offense to the author, but ignore it. Water them when you notice the soil is not wet.
- Try to Keep Them at the Proper Temperatures – This might seem counterintuitive to one of the don’ts above. You can keep tropical bonsais in a room with a higher temperature … just not right in front of or on top of a heat source. Subtropicals can actually enjoy a winter cycle when the temperatures are a little lower.
Ultimately, if you put it in the correct pot and give it the right kind of soil, your indoor bonsai could wind up lasting for quite a while. It will make an excellent addition to your home.
Having a bonsai plant can be a very fun hobby that can keep you occupied for years while also making your place look great in the meantime. You just need to have the right equipment and patience, especially when it comes to pruning them. Perhaps you can start with one and then once you have mastered the art of caring for it, you can add more to your collection. Then you can continue to expand as much as you like and however much you feel you can handle. Using the right soil is the important first step to make sure that you can be a good bonsai owner.
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