Hi everyone,

My name is Josh, I’m 23 years old and I live in Pennsylvania. So recently I found love online. I met a girl from Monterrey Mexico. Fast forward to now, we’re getting married and she’ll be moving to my small town in April! Anyways, I’ve always had a fascination and love for Bonsai trees, last week when I was visiting her, my fiancé and I were driving together and stumbled upon a bonsai tree place!! We decided to stop there to check it out. Inside we found different varieties of bonsai trees. We walked around inside for 30min until I found the right one. The tree I ended up buying was a small and beautiful Azalea with pink flowers (Im not sure how old it is maybe 1 year. I will leave pics below). I plan to keep this bonsai in Mexico with my fiancé’s family since I cant take it into the states. My fiancé’s younger brother will be taking care of the tree whenever I have to leave back to the states. I’m seeking help from a community of people who share the same passion of bonsai as I do. I have no idea how to take care of this tree but I want to learn. Any advice I can get from you guys I would greatly appreciate! I’m unsure about when to fertilize the tree, and what type of fertilizer to use, Im also unsure how much it needs watered. I’m both nervous and excited to start trying this with you guys!( The picture below Im standing with my soon to be brother in law).

Azalea do not like to dry out. So the soil should never go dry. That being said.. The roots also cannot swim. So taking care of this can be a bit like walking a rope.. Balancing act.

Put it in a place where it gets a few hours of sun in the early morning, but protect it from hot daytime sun, and dry winds.

Have yu asked for care recommendations from the store? Thing is, this is local climate dependent. So me saying, water the tree every other day, does not mean anything with your local weather. And Mexico is a big country, with loads of difference in weather patterns..

I have talked to the guy I bought the tree from. He said kinda what you said about the watering. To keep the soil from drying out. Right now the tree is in the backyard shaded by trees, It will be getting the right amount of sun for the day. Thanks again for the advice!

This looks excellent! Two trees at the price of one . Or rather at half the price in western europe prices.

Start to learn how to take care of it a year or so. When the time is right , air layer it right above the first set of branches and you will have two resonable good prebonsai to work with.

Thank you Tropfrog! I really like the tree so far, it seems to have a lot of potential.

Correct me if Im wrong, are you saying that I can turn this tree into two trees? Im also unfamiliar with air layering. I’ll have to google that.

As of right now, do you think its best to not prune the tree for a year?

Thanks

Well. Bonsai is about growing miniatures of natural trees. Do you think that it looks like a tree you would find in nature? As it is today it cannot be called bonsai. If you like it, its fine. Then there are no reason to do anything.

Now take a black bag and cover the lower part of the tree. Can you see something that looks like a tree in nature? Do the same again but cover the upper part. Can you see an image of a natural tree? I know I can from two dimensional photo. Have no idea what you see in real life.

If the straight part between the two levels have dormant buds, it might be possible to grow branches there, but it takes so much more time.

Read up on air layering. It is fun and not that hard.

I am not familiar with your climate. But I would guess that a full year without prunning will make it to a big Bush. So maybe some prunning will be neccesary. But a big operation as an air layering must wait until you understand your tree.

leatherback wrote: Azalea do not like to dry out. So the soil should never go dry. That being said.. The roots also cannot swim. So taking care of this can be a bit like walking a rope.. Balancing act.

Put it in a place where it gets a few hours of sun in the early morning, but protect it from hot daytime sun, and dry winds.

Have yu asked for care recommendations from the store? Thing is, this is local climate dependent. So me saying, water the tree every other day, does not mean anything with your local weather. And Mexico is a big country, with loads of difference in weather patterns..

I agree, there is no definite answer here as that plant is not that adaptive.