I am proud to say that I have officially killed my first two bonsai!((sarcasm) Hopefully the last?

Well my question is more about growing bonsai indoors. I live in an urban town. No nurseries...city life. So the only alternative I have is to grow indoors bonsai. Any tips on how to not kill the little things...I'm brokenhearted.

CushionJack wrote:

I am proud to say that I have officially killed my first two bonsai!((sarcasm) Hopefully the last?

You can only be sure that you never kill a bonsai again, if you never acquire one again.
I'm quite happy that only one of my trees (a pre-bonsai) did not survive winter.

Well my question is more about growing bonsai indoors. I live in an urban town. No nurseries...city life. So the only alternative I have is to grow indoors bonsai. Any tips on how to not kill the little things...I'm brokenhearted.

I cannot tell you how not to kill them, as I do not know what species it concerned, where you placed them, and how you took care of 'm.

The natural habitat of all trees is outside. Indoor bonsai do not exist. I do not have any indoor bonsai.
The exception is a jade tree I have - hardly even a pre-bonsai yet. I do not take care of the indoor plants, my wife does, and I often notice the soil is bone-dry - for days. It's never repotted, still in old soil. I break of new shoots regularly to make the 'tree' more compact, to try and make it look more like a bonsai. These shoots I just drop in another pot - and they make roots and continue to grow. I now have loads of little jade plants. Don't know how many... more than 30 I think. Maybe more.

I've put a few of them in tiny accent pots. Note: this is is just for fun and NOT a serious attempt to create bonsai! Picture:




Look for examples of real jade bonsai via Google.

They will need sufficient sunlight, but other than that they can tolerate a lot and won't mind if you neglect them (as long as you don't forget them too often).

I too have a had a very similar experience with a jade plant. My wife too gives it the same love and attention. They are certainly a plant that can take a lot of punishment.

There may not be special indoor bonsai, but if you live in a colder area you can grow (sub)tropical trees inside. However, they do need extra light and sometimes a higher humidity, so it won't be an easy job.
A greenhouse or serre/orangery with warmer, constant temperatures should do fine for most of 'em.

Auk wrote:

The natural habitat of all trees is outside. Indoor bonsai do not exist. I do not have any indoor bonsai.
The exception is a jade tree I have - hardly even a pre-bonsai yet.

What about a Ficus?

I have a Nandina Domestica 'Firepower' outside. It has three trunks and I reckon if I got rid of the middle one opened the gap and thinned out the foliage at the bottom and left the top, I could make a pretty thing. Could some time indoors benefit a Nandina Domestica?

BonsaiMackem wrote:

What about a Ficus?

Ficus are a tropical species that grow continuously all along the year, yes their growth is diminished in winter, but still they do not stop growing. Ficus cannot withstand long periods of temperatures dropping below 15 celsius degrees, if so, its health would commence to decay. Also they need elevated levels of light and while they also require rather high levels of humidity to develop aerial roots they generally endure just fine a scarce watering regime in winter. However they are very fond of regular sprinkling of their foliage. So, a good rule of thumb would be to water it when the soil gets a little dry but it is not bone dry just yet and to keep it in a room or a window sill facing preferably east or south. But, anyways to prevent that the tree's health might eventually decay it is still mandatory that during the months or seasons where temperatures remain above 15C degrees the tree remain outdoors receiving plenty of fresh air and loads of direct sunlight. So, no... It is not an "indoor" species, but a species that can't survive low temperatures and it needs living in warm environment during winter months

Alain

alainleon1983 wrote:

BonsaiMackem wrote:

What about a Ficus?

Ficus are a tropical species that grow continuously all along the year, yes their growth is diminished in winter, but still they do not stop growing. Ficus cannot withstand long periods of temperatures dropping below 15 celsius degrees, if so, its health would commence to decay. Also they need elevated levels of light and while they also require rather high levels of humidity to develop aerial roots they generally endure just fine a scarce watering regime in winter. However they are very fond of regular sprinkling of their foliage. So, a good rule of thumb would be to water it when the soil gets a little dry but it is not bone dry just yet and to keep it in a room or a window sill facing preferably east or south. But, anyways to prevent that the tree's health might eventually decay it is still mandatory that during the months or seasons where temperatures remain above 15C degrees the tree remain outdoors receiving plenty of fresh air and loads of direct sunlight. So, no... It is not an "indoor" species, but a species that can't survive low temperatures and it needs living in warm environment during winter months

Alain

Heavenly Bamboo can certainly also be kept indoors. I have just read about it on Bonsai4Me.

It seems although it isn't a bamboo it can be trunk chopped to a low level where after 6 weeks growth does happen. But don't do it all the time at the same point or a bulge occurs. That's how I understand it. It does benefit from light like a sunny windowsill.

So that is another option I feel for the OP as far as indoor trees go.

BonsaiMackem wrote:

Heavenly Bamboo can certainly also be kept indoors. I have just read about it on Bonsai4Me.

Unfortunately they are near-impossible to grow bonsai from.

leatherback wrote:

BonsaiMackem wrote:

Heavenly Bamboo can certainly also be kept indoors. I have just read about it on Bonsai4Me.

Unfortunately they are near-impossible to grow bonsai from.

Yeah, but...surely you can make something attractive from it. Ok, it won't be a bona fide bonsai but aesthetically somehing can be created that's pleasing to look at.

It is fair to say I have experienced many dippointments. Isn't there anything I can do to salvage something from my mistake?