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Indoor perennials 7 years 8 months ago #23466

  • Claudiu
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Hi there! I have a question. I am new to the bonsai art for about 2 years.
I live in a flat and my bonsai trees pretty are much doing very well during spring, summer and fall. The problem I have is that I can't get Deciduous bonsai's to live during the winter. Some of them I know I watered too much, took out a chinese elm out of the pot in spring and saw that it was root rotted. (maybe it's a usual error for the beginners to water too much when the plant looks dry).
I must tell you that I live in Romania and here, the real bonsai soil (like akadama) is pretty damn hard to get. Just one online sells it and it pretty expensive.
The trees sit on a window enclosed terrace that never drops below 12-13 C* during the winter.
OK. so to summarize it, I think the question is how do I know how much to water deciduous during winter (because I think that is the cause that is killing them.

Thank you very much and I hope you much more experinced people can help me with some advices.

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Last edit: Post by Claudiu.

Indoor perennials 7 years 8 months ago #23471

  • leatherback
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I would venture to say you are keeping them on the warm side. Besides that, if a plant does not have leaves, it uses very little water: The pot can be very dry.

Try alternative materials. Go to a hardware store and see whether they have clay-based fillers for in houded/floors. Look for baked kitten litter products, look for lava. Akadama is certainly not the only thing you can use.

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Indoor perennials 7 years 8 months ago #23473

  • BonsaiLearner
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This should be useful.
It tells you about the different sources of a baked clay product called ''Moler clay''

www.bonsai4me.com/Basics/Basicscatlitter.htm

Ed

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Indoor perennials 7 years 8 months ago #23474

  • Claudiu
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There is no such thing here. I have a cat and here you can find only silicone and plain sand for cats.
I found this thought www.dedeman.ro/ro/gradina/gratare/acceso...a-vulcanica-3kg.html
volcanic rock.
Maby I can crush it.

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Indoor perennials 7 years 8 months ago #23475

  • Auk
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Maybe this is a good place to ask about what's available in Romania:

ro-bonsai.ro/forum/index.php

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Indoor perennials 7 years 8 months ago #23496

  • Claudiu
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Ok sorry we took the topic into materials. That was not the issue.
So basically the I understand that the idea is that I can keep them pretty dry during the winter.
Or I can use spraying because the air can get pretty dry in the cold season. In latest years we got very little snow, just plain dry cold.
I have a hygrometer on my terrace and in wintertime I saw that the humidity can drop to 30 %.

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Indoor perennials 7 years 8 months ago #23498

  • Samantha
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we just keep them outside in the freezing cold, insulate the roots though.

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Indoor perennials 7 years 8 months ago #23506

  • Auk
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Or I can use spraying because the air can get pretty dry in the cold season.


When it's cold, there won't be much evaporation. I never spray in winter. In our dutch climate, I hardly even water them in winter.

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