How To Water

By Author: Darran Mansfield
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Watering:

When it comes to watering your bonsai tree the main aim is to keep the soil your bonsai is in moist all the way through to allow the tree to grow but not too wet to rot the roots which happens quite often with beginners resulting in their tree unfortunately dying.
You will have to use your own judgement when it comes to watering your bonsai tree to ensure it gets enough water which could be up to twice a day in the height of summer but only once a month in winter, you see it can vary a great deal and there are so many other factors to take into consideration like the type of soil it’s in, the drainage system, the pot it’s in and the tree its self so there I no one golden rule as every case is different.
So what happens if your bonsai doesn’t get enough water, well it will start to shed it leaves in a bit to save nutrients and energy to stay alive and the branches will start to droop a lot and looks as though they are heavy for the tree to hold. You will also notice that the bonsai is to dry from the soil and the pot, as the soil and roots dry out ...
... the root ball become more compact that normal which pulls the soil away from the edge of the pot creating a space between the two, at this stage it is very dangerous and damaging to the root hairs which will soon be killed off if not watered as soon as possible.
Now the first course of action would be to run off get some water and water your bonsai wouldn’t it? But no wait just one minute there is something important that you need to know and understand. You remember when i mentioned that space between the soil and the pot well if you were to water your bonsai tree now the way it is i have no doubt in saying that all the water you pour on will run down that gap and straight out the drainage hole, which gives the impression that the tree has been water but in fact it really hasn’t and in no better off than it was.
If you have a bonsai that is really dried out then the best course of action right now is to stand the tree with its pot into a bowl of water for a couple of hours and then place it in the shade for a few days to recover, this is the best thing to do for a bonsai in this state.
The main rule to remember when watering any tree be it a normal full size tree or a bonsai tree is that it must be thoroughly watered all the way through not just the surface.

Feeding:

Before we talk about feeding your bonsai tree I must first point out that you should NEVER feed a sick tree as this will only make things worse for the poor tree! Only feed health bonsai trees.
Now when it comes to feeding a bonsai tree most people especially beginners don’t even think about it and the ones that do don’t totally understand how they should do it that’s why they tend to get it wrong which can have dramatic consequences for the bonsai, what you have to understand is that you are not actually feeding the tree, what you are really doing is replacing all the nutrients that the tree has used because it’s growing.
The last thing that you want to do is starve your bonsai as it could double the amount of time to get it to the desired size you want.
During the growing season (early spring to Midsummer) your bonsai tree needs to be fed about once a fortnight with an appropriate feed for the tree you are growing. Feeds with high nitrogen content are great for developing trees, for more mature bonsai trees a balance feed is much better than the high nitrogen feed as they are no longer growing new shoots/branches unlike the younger trees. As autumn arrives reduce feeding to about once a month up until winter and then only feed them a few times throughout the whole of winter until spring arrives.
As we know indoor bonsai trees continue to grow through the whole of the year and should be fed accordingly to keep up with this growing rate. When reporting your bonsai tree make sure you don’t feed it for at least three months as doing so may not allow the roots recover the move and can permanently damage them.
As mentioned above feeding is to replace nutrients the tree has used throughout the growing process, overfeeding a bonsai trees is one of the worst things that can be done as it is a chemical based product to much will slowly kill the roots which will result in the bonsai tree dying. If you feel you have overfed your tree the best thing to do is to try and wash as much of it out as possible over the next few days with normal fresh clean water as this will help reduce the damage to the roots.
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