Anyone on here into bonsai?

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Elmigo
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At the beginning of last year my father gave me one of his bonsai trees. This illustrates how everything is possible; You can grow a tree at home without a garden! This is his pine tree bonsai and it is about 20 years old now, I am not sure about it...

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Shortly after I started my own bonsai tree. This is its second year now and it's a walnut tree. Chances are it won't ever produce walnuts because it requires cross pollination with another walnut tree close by. I may put another walnut in this pot soon.

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Anyone else on here who does something unusual? I figured this might be fun to share with each other!
Westi
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I love the Pine. I'm not into bonsai but have bought a few for mother-in-law over the years with a book given with the first one. They are all doing fine with her giving them the manicure scissor trim now & again. I've no idea how old they are as they were already established & shaped when I bought them & it must be near 20yrs ago I gave her the first one, which was also a pine.
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Primrose
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I have a sort of sweet chestnut bonsai but it,s in an 8" deep pot rather than a shallow one but it sadly looks as if it may be dying. I just rescued a fallen chestnut from trees which were sadly being chopped down in a garden near our house to make room for three houses to be built. I just thought I would,like to have a souvenir of those trees. It has thrived for about 6 years but now the leaves are sadly shrivelling for some reason despite the earth being kept moist so don,t know what,s gone wrong.

I suspect bonsai trees need careful watching on the water front to ensure the shallow trays dont dry out. They have some really splendid specimens the Royal Horticultural Society Gardens at Wisley which are pretty ancient. They are stored on concrete display pillars in the summer. I don,t know if they are movedto more sheltered accommodation in winter. Wouldn,t frost and very low temperatures kill the roots if they're left outside with the roots barely covered and thus exposed to the cold?
Elmigo
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Westi wrote:I love the Pine ... was also a pine.


Were those Ficus varieties? They are cheap and easy for every beginner! I can imagine some bonsai trees are really expensive... :o

Primrose wrote:I have a sort ... exposed to the cold?


I think all trees can be turned into bonsai trees so also the chestnut. It would be the best souvenir ever, it has a story! If you want to know for the chestnut (below):

For all I know, bonsai trees are just plants like any other; it needs a temperature, lots of sunlight, nutrients and water. The difference is watering like you said. When watering I just take the bonsai pot and pour water all over the surface, wait some for the water to sink in, then pour some more, wait and water once again to be sure the entire pot contents gets moist. That bcause on a bonsai pot the soil is hilled (is that even a word?) and all water streams off the surface. The pots dry out quickly so you may put a block of wood or a brick in front of the pot as protection from the sun. I just use moss I found in nature and put it on the entire soil surface. Moss holds a very large amount of water and it can dry out completely yet still survive everything.
Stravaig
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Ah, moss! Your idea of using moss might have inadvertently helped me a lot with the problem of my apartment being very dry for my plants. Thanks. (I tried to give you a thumbs-up thanks but the system timed out.)

Great to catch up with you, Elmigo. I'm also living in an apartment with no garden. I'm just doing windowsill gardening at the moment, although I do have a couple of small balconies - one north-facing and the other south-facing.
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Primrose
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My semi Bonsai sweet chestnut tree, the leaves of which had totally shrivelled and died has miraculously grown a small new stem with fresh green leaves. I have no idea what caused the leaf die back but is now ins a lightly bigger pot with some fresh earth added so am hoping it will keep going. So glad I didn't prematurely throw it onto the compost heap.
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