How to Grow Bonsai Trees

Starting New Bonsai



starting new bonsai
is not a difficult job. As explained in earlier section the growing bonsai trees is more a art, therefore for a good bonsai you are required to be patience and systematic. The question 'how to grow bonsai trees can be divided into following parts -

1) Preparation of Soil to grow bonsai trees

how to grow bonsai trees A) good soil is the life line of to grow bonsai trees. Take some sweet earth and mix 30% manure and 15% river sand and 5% small bricks. Mix it properly and leave it to dry completely.
Now take sheave of 1/4 inch mesh, 1/8 inch mesh and 1/32 inch mesh and filter the sand
how to grow bonsai trees i) Throw the mixture which is more than 1/2 inch and less than 1/32 inch
ii) Base Mixture - between 1/2 to 1/4 inch
iii) Middle Mixture - between 1/4 to 1/8 inch
iv) Top mixture - between 1/8 to 1/32 inch
These soil will be used for growing new bonsai as well as for bonsai trees development.

2) Preparation / Collection of Plants to grow bonsai trees

A new bonsai can be developed by - You can grow bonsai from
bonsai trees 1) Seed : Take some sand in a pot and then place seed on it. Cover with few more middle sand. Keep the pot in a bigger container as shown in figure. Keep the container outside the house, but in a shade. Seed will gets generated in 3-10 days. When the plants are 3-4 inch long, pick the good once for growing bonsai . Neem, Gulmohar, Amla, Pepal, Banyan etc. can be developed by seed.
how to grow trees
2) Branch Cutting : During rainy season many bonsai trees and be developed by branch cutting e.g. Moonbean, Powder Puff etc.

grow bonsai tree 3) Grafting : Many plants like Nimbu etc. be developed by grafting process. Please refer to the photo. Cut he 'V' shape in a well established plant and a reverse 'V' shape on the tree you want to develop as bonsai. Put the twig on the established plant and cover with mud. Keep on applying water on it and after about one month you will found root developed. Remove it just below the root developed and put in to a pot for bonsai development.
trees 4) Layering : Few plants like Bottle Brush, Moonbeam etc. can be grown into bonsai trees by layering process. In this take the plant and press and cover it's one branch in to mud of other pot. Keep on watering it. After 30-45 days the pressed / embedded twig will get developed into a new plant. Cut it from original plant and develop it into a new bonsai.
bonsai 5) Collected from Nature : Since these plants are newly grown therefore it will require lot of time (few years), before you can give it a Bonsai look. Collection of old under-developed plant from nature is a good idea for bonsai development
Look at the figure left to this text. This is a Pipal tree (may be 10-12 year old) growing on a rock, very good choice for Bonsai trees.
Visit the rocky / forest area and find out a plant growing on a rock or seem to be under developed due to any reason. Collection of plants from nature will give you advantage of time .the plant you collected may be 2-10 year old. Please take all care in collecting these plants. Root should not get damaged during removal from it's parent place. Trim the branches and leaves. Don't cut roots, but you may carefully cut the extra / damaged portion of root. Wrap it in a bag with wet soil and bring home. This should be a very good collection for starting new bonsai
grow trees

3) Planting a new plants

starting new bonsai grow trees grow trees bonsai development trees development

1. Place a mesh piece on the hole of the pot.(Fig-A)
2. Put some base mixture in the pot
3. Take the plant and place it in the pot(depending upon your plan you may place it in the center or towards one corner- this you can do during re-potting also). Fill 2/3 of the pot with middle mixture. Fill the balance pot with top mixture. Use niddle to provide some ventilation in the top mixture. (Fig-B)
trees development 4. Now in starting do not water from the top, it will not reach to the base mixture. Place the pot in a bigger pot filled with water.(Fig-C). Leave it for some time till you find the water layer on the top layer.
5. if you find that any branch it going in the wrong direction (you want to give a particular direction to branch) then tie it up with the help of copper wire for some days. In Fig-D all the branches were going upward only. to give the Bonsai a wider look, these branches were tied up with copper wire. When you find that the branch has taken the required direction and shape, you may remove these copper wire.
6. If your plant is not stable/balanced in pot, you may use copper wire to tie it with pot. It will get balance in due course of time. However it's good to take care of balance at the starting new bonsai.
7. Some time you will find that there are some unwanted branches are growing, which will destroy the symmetry. You should remove these branches in the beginning only.(Fig-E).
8. Now don't disturb the plant for some months, so that it's roots gets developed and plant is stable for bonsai development to a real Bonsai

After starting new bonsai Visit next section for maintenance, shaping and care during Bonsai development.