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During our club's Annual Show we sell starter bonsai.
Below is a copy of the owner's manual that
accompanies each tree we sell. It is a short summary of the
history of Bonsai and the basics of caring for your tree.
For more detailed information, visit our
A Year of Bonsai Tips page.
Evergreen and Deciduous Bonsai Trees
Bonsai is the Japanese word for a miniature potted tree
shaped and styled to give the illusion of a miniature
version of a large, full-grown (or even ancient) tree, or
group of trees. To be a good Bonsai, the illusion must also
be accompanied by artistic beauty achieved primarily by
shape, form, and composition, as well as by color. Thus the
art of Bonsai is akin to sculpture using living material.
The major "trick" of making the miniature version of a
tree, which would otherwise grow to be 20, 50, or even 100
feet tall in nature, is simply to grow it in a small
well-drained pot and to prune its branches every year to
prevent overgrowth and loss of a desirable shape. The
horticultural problem is how to keep the tree healthy and
vigorously alive in such an artificial environment year
after year. The artistic problem is how to shape the tree
for beauty and the miniature tree illusion and how to
maintain such form and appearance once achieved.
The Bonsai tree that you have just purchased is a
"starter" Bonsai, which has been carefully selected from a
large quantity of commercial nursery stock to have certain
desirable characteristics that will permit it to become an
excellent artistic Bonsai tree. It is appealing even in its
initially formed state, but after three to five years of
growth and continued maintenance of its form, it will become
a much better Bonsai tree. After 10 years of such growth and
maintenance, it will be a remarkable specimen of the ancient
art of Bonsai.
Daily and
Seasonal Care
Your Bonsai tree is an outdoor plant and must be kept out of doors
in order to grow properly. It can occasionally be brought indoors
for several days for viewing and enjoying, but should then be
returned to its normal spot outside. (There are indoor Bonsai, but
this is a specialized topic about which you can obtain further
information from the Kusamura Bonsai Club.)
The
location of the plant should be chosen based on the species. For
Winter and Spring, your tree should be in a position to get full sun
at least half the day (preferably all day). Most evergreen (trees
that keep their leaves all-year long) species such as pine, spruce,
and juniper can tolerate full day sun all Summer. After leaves are
open and matured in the Spring, your deciduous (trees that loose
their leaves in the Winter) Bonsai should be moved to a position for
morning sun and afternoon shade (or mixed partial shade such as
under a large tree or sun screen).
Daily care consists of checking your Bonsai for moisture content of
the soil mix in the pot. Your Bonsai soil should not be allowed to
become completely dried out, nor should it be kept overly wet and
soggy. Its drying cycle is variable, dependent upon weather,
position in your yard, and the season (dormant or in leaf). To
check, wiggle your finger into the top 1/2 inch of soil -- or use a
chopstick. If the soil seems moist don't water. If the soil seems
dry water. If the soil is WET, then let it dry out more before
watering again. You may even need to move the plant where it gets
more sun.
When
you are ready to water use a watering can that produces a fine
spray. Water so that the drops wash the leaves and soak into the
soil. Continue watering until water runs out the bottom of the pot.
During the summer you will often need to water every morning. When
it is very hot you may even need to water morning and late afternoon
or early evening.
During the Spring and Fall you'll need to water less than during the
summer -- perhaps every second or third days. During the winter you
may not need to water at all depending on the rains. However, you
can't ignore your trees during the winter. You must still check
whether they need water. And, strange as it may seem, you may need
to water a bit more during the coldest weather.
That's because when it is near freezing there is less moisture in
the air so your trees' soil will dry out quicker.
Fertilizer
The soil mix in your Bonsai pot has been prepared by
the Kusamura Bonsai Club using several ingredients mixed in proper
proportions chosen for your particular species. This is done to
provide the correct amount of moisture drainage and retention, air
circulation, etc. for your species in the type of pot used. This mix
contains no actual soil itself so that fertilizer must be used --
but in a controlled manner.
Watering a potted plan washes away fertilizer so it is important to
fertilize more often -- but in small amounts. The kind of fertilizer
you use will vary by season. When your tree is putting out lots of
new leaves and branches it needs nitrogen. Other times it needs less
or even no nitrogen in the fertilizer.
During the spring and summer months we recommend using a granular
fertilizer like Osmocote (14-14-14) or Osmocote Plus. For small
trees (pots less than 8") sprinkle about 1 tablespoon over the soil
each month. For larger trees use about 2 tablespoons each month. Or,
you may use a liquid fertilizer such as Miracle Grow at half
strength once a month. Just mix into the water you use for watering.
During September, October and early November your tree still needs
fertilizer but less nitrogen. During this time we recommend using
Whitney Farms Lifelink fertilizer (5-5-5). For small trees use 1
tablespoon each a month. For larger trees use 2 tablespoons.
During the winter, November thru March, your tree doesn't need any
nitrogen. If you wish, you can use an 0-10-10 fertilizer, bone meal
and/or Super Phosphate. These fertilizers are usually slower to
dissolve so you may only need to use these in late November and then
early February.
Root Pruning and
Repotting
Your Bonsai tree should be repotted in one, two, or three years --
depending on how fast it is growing. The test is to see if you can
insert a chopstick gently into the soil an inch or two from the edge
of the pot. If the chopstick goes in easily there's no need to repot
yet. Most plants are repotted during their dormant season, typically
late-January to early-March.
If
you don't repot when needed excess roots can clog the pot and water
won't drain properly. This also means that air won't be drawn into
the soil as the water runs out -- and the roots are more likely to
rot. During repotting excess roots root are pruned. This also causes
faster development of the twiggy branch structure desirable for the
tree-like appearance of your Bonsai. Old soil mix is thrown out and
the tree is repotted into the same pot (or a slightly smaller one
for better artistic balance) with new soil mix.
It
is repotting and root pruning that renews root tips. This enables
the Bonsai tree to live in a healthy state for many years in the
same pot. Repotting isn't complicated but requires more instruction
than we can cover here. Instead, we recommend that you come to a
Kusamura Bonsai Club meeting as our guest for further information
and demonstrations.
Branch Wiring and Shaping
Most Bonsai have trunk and branches wrapped with wire
when they are first formed. This permits bending of trunk
and branches to achieve an artistic shape and form, without
cracking of branches or damage to the tree. Your Kusamura
Bonsai tree may have one or several such wires.
These wires cannot be left on the tree indefinitely
because the growing tree bark will eventually begin to grow
around the wires. If the wire is removed too late, "wire
marks" appear in the bark, which may be unsightly. The time
to remove wires, by carefully uncoiling or snipping with
wire cutters, is after a number of months so that the branch
shape is "set" as much as possible, but before "wire marks"
are formed. The number of months is not accurately
predictable because it depends on tree growth, which is in
turn dependent on species, weather, sun, fertilization,
watering, etc. Thus one should look closely at wire and bark
once a month to choose the proper time for wire removal. For
most slower-growing evergreen trees, such as pines, spruce,
juniper, you will find that Spring wire removal is usually
indicated in three to five months after new needles are out.
For faster-growing deciduous trees, such as maple, elms,
etc., you will find that Spring wire removal is usually
indicated in two to four months after leaves are out. Wires
applied in the Fall or Winter to Bonsai may not need
removing until late Spring or mid-Summer.
The wiring cycle may need to be repeated several times
before the form is set into the tree. Then wiring can cease.
We invite you to bring your Bonsai to the Kusamura Bonsai
Club for instruction in wire inspection, removal, and
rewiring, since certain non- obvious techniques make the
task easier and nondamaging to the tree.
Bonsai Age
The illusion of age is generally desirable to Bonsai.
This can be achieved without great actual age that, though
interesting, is not of major importance to achieving the
fine Bonsai.
The illusion of a mature older tree is achieved after
several years by complex twigging of branches, thickening of
base of main trunk and mature texture of trunk bark. The
characteristics improve over the years and are enhanced by
proper daily and seasonal care described in the proceeding
paragraphs.
The actual age of your starter Bonsai can be estimated
for you by members of the Kusamura Bonsai Club. It is
probably somewhere between three and five years.
Bonsai can, and often do, achieve great age. Kusamura
club members have many Bonsai they have raised for 20 years
or longer. Bonsai collected from the Sierra mountains or
high deserts of the western United States are often 50, 100,
or 300 years old and can be kept alive and healthy as Bonsai
for many more decades and even hundreds of years. A large
number of privately owned Bonsai of Japan have been alive in
the pot for over one hundred years and many for several
hundred years. Several Bonsai owned by royalty are known to
exceed 300 years in age. | 
About Your New
Tree
