Hi, I'm new :)
And I'm also a bit new to bonsais (I made a few bonsais years ago in my back garden, but not in pots, so technically they were just trimmed down trees).
Right now I have a few different bonsai projects going on, and I'm really just waiting for stuff to even sprout.
But I dug up a little birch today and decided that I want to make a mini bonsai. I had a tiny bowl for it as a pot, but the thing is there is no whole in this pot/bowl, but its not very big and the tree fitted perfectly in it.
The question is - can I do without a whole when the pot is this tiny? I would guess the water evaporates quite fast anyway.
I put a little piece of fine holed metal net in the bottom to make a sort of drain, even in this tiny pot.- But I only think it allows 2-3mm of air between the bottom of the pot and the dirt.
Also, a birch is obviously an outdoor plant, so would it have any effect on how to care for a mini bonsai that its outdoor?
You need to purchase a good book on bonsai. Birch make poor mame specimens because leaf reduction will never be convincing. Also, mame (really tiny) bonsai are incredibly difficult to care for, usually. To make matters worse, the pot MUST have a hole and MUST be unglazed for it to be useful as a bonsai pot. If not, the tree WILL die. Birch are not suitable in the least for indoor bonsai culture, they MUST be kept outside.
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Geniusdudekiran
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Out of curiosity why must pots for bonsai not be glazed?kdodds wrote:You need to purchase a good book on bonsai. Birch make poor mame specimens because leaf reduction will never be convincing. Also, mame (really tiny) bonsai are incredibly difficult to care for, usually. To make matters worse, the pot MUST have a hole and MUST be unglazed for it to be useful as a bonsai pot. If not, the tree WILL die. Birch are not suitable in the least for indoor bonsai culture, they MUST be kept outside.
Sorry, should have stated that it must be unglazed on the inside. If the pot I glazed inside, the roots will not be able to gain enough purchase to balance and hold the tree in place. As well, pots that are glazed inside will reflect moisture back into the soil which can lead to root rot. IMO, the only suitable planting for a pot with no hole and interior glaze is a cactus that is watered only a little once every lunar cycle or so.
How mini is mini? Some of the best "trees" for indoor mame are Baby Jades, Portulacaria afra. Ficus can be done too, if you're very patient about reducing leaf size. Better Ficus species for indoor keeping are the many F. benjamina types, F. retusa typs, and F. nerifolia types. You might also consider experimenting with half a dozen small-leaved tropical species, see which ones do well for you. This is how I approach indoor keeping, buy some starts of a species I've never tried and see how it does. You can quickly rule out the following "indoor" trees: Serissa (any), Fukien Tea (any), Elms (any), all Junipers, and Sweet Plum (Sageretia). Those are, yes, besides Ficus, all of the most popular "indoor choices" at non-specialist bonsai shops and part of the reason why bonsai has the eternal reputation of being extraordinarily difficult.
In the pot you have, for what you want to do, I'd recommend only the Baby Jade, and even then, you're going to have to be very diligent about watering *just enough* without allowing the soil to go soggy and allowing it to dry almost completely in between waterings.
In the pot you have, for what you want to do, I'd recommend only the Baby Jade, and even then, you're going to have to be very diligent about watering *just enough* without allowing the soil to go soggy and allowing it to dry almost completely in between waterings.
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