Hi everyone. I just wanted to direct all you "indoor" bonsai enthusiasts over to the "general" bonsai discussion area to check out the thread on Bankok bonsai. You will enjoy seeing what the folks in Thailand are doing these days, many of them being ficus trees.
This must be shared with all.
Tom
A spring/summer (and fall if they can take it) greenhouse can work wonders and easily make up for bringing them in during the winter. For myself, I work mostly Shohin and some Mame, so I'm not developing those ridiculously huge trunks and what not. But I do think I'm doing pretty well of it with just my greenhouse window. The only problem is that it's getting cramped.
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TomM
- Greener Thumb
- Posts: 749
- Joined: Sat Feb 06, 2010 7:28 am
- Location: Cedarville (SE of Utica) NY, USA
Exactly right. One of our club members has a greenhouse attachment built off a small barn which houses her pottery shop. It's the greenhouse which really gives her the advantage for growing tropicals - bright light, high humidity, neutralized temperatures, wind protection, but with fans for air movement and circulation. All these things added up will 'mimic' the native environment of a tropical land. Just makes sense.
Walk into a good greenhouse and (other than the visual impact) what you probably notice first is the humidity. The very same is true when you first arrive in a place like Thailand. The plant life loves that. But our homes are so dry by comparison, especially in winter, when the "indoor" plants come indoors. Our heating systems suck all the moisture out of the air making it like a desert. Hard to replicate the conditions that tropical plants need.
Make good use of your little mini greenhouse window. It's good for your shohin and mame bonsai. But for bigger bonsai you will need something more. Every tropical lovers dream!!
Walk into a good greenhouse and (other than the visual impact) what you probably notice first is the humidity. The very same is true when you first arrive in a place like Thailand. The plant life loves that. But our homes are so dry by comparison, especially in winter, when the "indoor" plants come indoors. Our heating systems suck all the moisture out of the air making it like a desert. Hard to replicate the conditions that tropical plants need.
Make good use of your little mini greenhouse window. It's good for your shohin and mame bonsai. But for bigger bonsai you will need something more. Every tropical lovers dream!!
Ah, but now I have something "in the works"... Besides my greenhouse window, we also have a a very old bay-style window that also protrudes outward in the center, and also has a "glass ceiling". As it happens, this window also faces south, east, and west. My wife is actually the handyman, I'm just the hired labor. As soon as she's done with the chicken coop and run, that window's "sill" is being tiled and shelves are going in, providing another greenhouse-like environment. I have an advantage, I guess, as well, in the the blessing-in-disguise of our middle daughter requiring higher humidity in our home. If it falls much below 40% she gets chronic, profuse and long-lasting nosebleeds. So, the humidity, home-wide, is never under 40%. In the greenhouse window, it generally sits around 50% or better.
For those who know, Nepenthes pitcher plants are a good judge of humidity. If your Nepenthes can't keep its pitchers, the humidity is too low for it. Unfortunately, these living hygrometers require a much more humidity than almost all tropical bonsai. However, a particularly "difficult" species of "tropical" pitcher plants, Cephalotus follicularis, IME (which seems to differ greatly from keeper to keeper), likes free moving air and a humidity of just about around 50%. Most carnivorous plant keepers strive for humidity levels much higher than that, which would, IMO, explain why they (by and large) find Cephalotus to be near impossible. SO... my Cephs are my hygrometers. So why mention Nepenthes? Well, they like light, just not as much light as MOST carnivorous plants. If a Nepenthes is "burning" in its location, it's a fair bet that you've just the right amount of light to kep almost any tropical or subtropical.
For those who know, Nepenthes pitcher plants are a good judge of humidity. If your Nepenthes can't keep its pitchers, the humidity is too low for it. Unfortunately, these living hygrometers require a much more humidity than almost all tropical bonsai. However, a particularly "difficult" species of "tropical" pitcher plants, Cephalotus follicularis, IME (which seems to differ greatly from keeper to keeper), likes free moving air and a humidity of just about around 50%. Most carnivorous plant keepers strive for humidity levels much higher than that, which would, IMO, explain why they (by and large) find Cephalotus to be near impossible. SO... my Cephs are my hygrometers. So why mention Nepenthes? Well, they like light, just not as much light as MOST carnivorous plants. If a Nepenthes is "burning" in its location, it's a fair bet that you've just the right amount of light to kep almost any tropical or subtropical.