Bonsai: How often should I water my bonsai?

3 comments

It is said by experts it takes three years to learn how to correctly water bonsai.
I assume this is due to several factors: The species of tree; The size of the pot; The growing medium; The vigour of the tree.

The biggest problem I found was not so much the amount of water so much as how well it drained through the grow medium.
The growing mediums I (and many other beginners) make/use are usually not free draining enough. Even if I used bought bonsai ‘soils’ this problem still occured especially after a few months where soil compaction began.

I Found that all the books I’d read never really addressed this problem except to mention how water should flow through the mix.
Then one day whilst surfin’ the net I happened upon a bonsai forum site which addressed this issue in the following manner.

Take a wooden skewer/unpainted pencil push it well into the root area of the mix and leave it for 5 minutes. Remove the skewer, if its dry/nearly dry water the tree. If its wet/quite damp don’t water the tree.

I personally found this method excellent. So simple yet so effective.
Many thanks to the team of www.bonsaitreeforum.com

I found the above method works best of all using cat litter as a grow medium [see my blog: Plants in pots (outside)].

Ians Insights Thoughts of a hopeless gardener.
#13. It’s best not to do any gardening in a hurricane.

• 1 Feb, 2016
• 0 likes

More blog posts by stjohntongue