scienceguy288
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Location: Binghamton, NY

Suggestions for Indoor Bonsai for Temperate Climate?

Hey all,

Me being in a dorm room and all, I figured a bonsai would be optimal to green up the room. I just wanted some help getting off the ground, and I apologize if this is repetetive.

1.) What kind of tree should I get? I want to get one from the wild (bit of a cash flow problem) and I live in a temperate climate.

2.) How do I go about selecting a tree in the wild (what size) and how do I find the one I am looking fore (of course, here only tips can be given).

3.) How do I repot and begin care for this tree.

If you don't want to do all the writing, just posting a helpful link would be great.

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Gnome
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scienceguy288,
Me being in a dorm room and all, I figured a bonsai would be optimal to green up the room... I want to get one from the wild (bit of a cash flow problem) and I live in a temperate climate.
There is a problem with this scenario. While you can certainly collect trees from the wild, temperate trees are not really good subjects for indoor bonsai. Indoor bonsai are generally tropical or sub-tropical and you are not going to find these species growing wild in NY. Species that you will find locally might make good outdoor bonsai but in your situation I don't imagine that this is practical.

If you really want to grow inside I suggest that you look for a Ficus, Schefflera or perhaps a Chinese Elm. Even then, unless you have a good southern exposure, you will almost certainly require supplemental lighting of some sort. You can probably find a ficus and some fluorescent lighting at any of the large home centers. These are usually youngish trees but many enthusiasts start out this way.

If money is that tight perhaps someone in your dorm has a Ficus or Schefflera and would consider allowing you to take a cutting. This is not an ideal situation as such young material will lack character and would require years of just growing out. If you are lucky enough to find an older specimen you might be able to work with that. An over grown Schefflera (Umbrella Tree) can be cut back hard and can make a good indoor bonsai.

You ask about re-potting; to do this you will need to purchase some prepared bonsai soil. Bonsai medium (no actual soil) is very different than generic potting soil. There would be little point in re-potting into the peat heavy potting soil to be found at most garden centers.

By the way, the point of collecting trees is to locate a specimen that is superior to material that can be purchased, not just to save money.

I'm not trying to be negative just trying to get you off on the right foot rather than having you act first and later be disappointed. Once you rethink your situation we will be glad to offer further advice. In the meantime here are some links to get you started.

https://www.bonsaihunk.us/cultural.html
https://www.bonsai4me.com/Basics.html

Norm

scienceguy288
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Joined: Sun Mar 08, 2009 10:00 pm
Location: Binghamton, NY

Thanks for the help. I will definitely look into purchasing a small ficus. But perhaps I will just start off with a windowsill garden type thing, just to get my feet wet. I'll let you know how that goes.

JTred
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I know that the Wal-Mart store around here have small ginseng ficus for like $10. They, are not true bonsai, but its a start. If you monitor the soil very carefully they will probably survive in the poorly draining potting soil. Repotting right away can sometimes be a bad thing. All of the relocation and moving about puts stress on the tree and repotting could push it over the edge (I know from experience my ginseng lost all of its leaves). A cheap pre-made "bonsai" would be good to get you started, then you could get it into a proper medium after it has had a chance to get used to its new environment.

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bonsaiboy
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Another possibility is a Fuken Tea. I have heard they can survive lighting of just 150 lumens (less than that of a north facing window) and they have some of the smallest leafs avalible for an indoor bonsai. Just thought the more possibilities to choose from, the better.



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