Questions from a noob (that may be helpful to others, too)

[keninmac]

My fantastic wife bought me exactly what I wanted for my birthday -- a brush cherry bonsai. She ordered it from Bonsai Boy (is this a good thing or a bad thing) and it looks like a healthy, three inch tree. But I have a few questions.

For reference, here are a few pictures so that you can see what I'm talking about:

[img]https://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ltwo4chWPk1r3c9fxo1_250.jpg[/img]

[img]https://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ltwo4chWPk1r3c9fxo2_250.jpg[/img]

1) I have a window that gets indirect sun all day. Will this be enough, or will I need to get it a grow light?

2) Is it usually necessary to repot a new bonsai after you purchase it? I'm curious to check out its roots, but don't want to if that's a bad idea.

3) What sort of pruning should be done? There are some much darker, larger leaves deeper further inside with smaller, much brighter leaves on the outsides of the branches.

4) If it should be pruned, how far to I cut back? I can tell what is new growth and what isn't, but don't know how much of the new branch growth should be trimmed off.

5) If I want to encourage upward growth should I cut away the lower branches?

6) Tray of water -- that means a full tray of water that constantly supplies the soil, via a hole in the pot, effectively creating a moat around the pot, right?

7) How in the world do I keep my cat away from this thing? Some sort of spray? Catnip about two foot away from it? She's already swiped away a few leaves, and I'm afraid that as small as it is she could completely destroy it in short order.

Along that same vein, is it OK to move the plant somewhere away from the cat at night? That's when she really goes to town on our other plants.

I have a million more questions that will surely follow. But thank you all so much for whatever help you can give.

[TomM]

Before getting to your specific questions I would send you over to the "BONSAI LEARNING FORUM & LIBRARY". Spend some time there searching tidbits offered. All newer people (getting into bonsai) should do this. I still do from time to time.

IMO your big problem will be your feline friend. I've had 3 of them and, oh boy, they can be quite pesky around small plants. I have no easy answers either. They are trained to stay away or they are not.

That's all for now.

[rainbowgardener]

Tom is right it would be hard to give you a whole course in the art of bonsai and you need to do some reading.

But just to keep you from killing it immediately while you get up to speed,

NO point 6 re watering is totally wrong. You do NOT want to keep it a little bit moist all the time, it will rot and die that way. You want to get it thoroughly wet, like flushing water through several times (put it in a sink so the water can drain out, run water through until it runs out the drain hole, wait until it quits draining and then do it again) or just put it in water in the sink and let it sit in there until it has absorbed all the water it wants and then TAKE IT OUT and let the excess water drain off. Then don't water any more until the the top inch or so of the soil has completely dried out. And don't use hard water (with salts/ minerals in it) to water it, use rain water or distilled water.

Type chopstick method into the Search the Forum Keyword box to find more information about watering methods.

I'm not a bonsai grower, but I do grow lots of houseplants including trees and shrubs and I know you can kill almost anything leaving it sit in water all the time.

If your home is dry as most of ours are in winter with furnaces running, you can mist the foliage in between waterings.

It looks like a pretty little tree, have fun reading and learning about your new hobby!

[tomc]

6) Tray of water -- that means a full tray of water that constantly supplies the soil, via a hole in the pot, effectively creating a moat around the pot, right?

Actually no the pan has gravel or such to raise the pot above water level, this is to humidify air near your tree. Many people use a hand held spray bottle instead.

7) How in the world do I keep my cat away from this thing? Some sort of spray? Catnip about two foot away from it? She's already swiped away a few leaves, and I'm afraid that as small as it is she could completely destroy it in short order.

Keep the tree, sell the cat.

[keninmac]

Thanks to everyone who has replied so far. It seems that a lot of the things I had been told and had accepted about bonsai were completely wrong!

-The tree is out of that water. It had been in it for about a day, so I'm hoping that it will be just fine, just a nice, long drink after a dry ride to my house ...
-I feel like I'm understanding the watering tray better now. I take a tray, fill it with gravel, and then put a little bit of water (below the top level of the gravel, so that it does not reach into the tree's roots) to humidify, correct?
-I'd gladly wrap the cat up and send her right to you, tomc! Unfortunately, my wife rather likes her, and so I'm afraid she has to stay. I know some people have addressed this with other houseplants with bitterers, but that isn't the problem here. I just need to keep her from batting at it. I suppose I'll just have to try the catnip and see where that goes.

Upon a little research, it seems that my wife and I were naive in believing the dealer that this tree does well indoors. How can I compensate for this? I live in Kansas, so it's clearly too cold to put it outside. What do I do with it over the winter before I take it outside for the spring and summer?

[tomc]

My current housemates cat is indiferent to figiting with my trees when indoors.

A past housemates parrot was a harder sell, to leave my tree babies alone. Almo the parrot would have long conversations with TX Ebony and mammaria cactii. he was pretty sure they were "bad" plants, and said so to all and sundry.

If I have any advice, its to circle the tree babies with thorny plants.

[rainbowgardener]

Re the winter... This doesn't seem too bad as an indoor tree, though it will benefit from going outside in the warm season. But it is a sub-tropical evergreen, native to Florida. The trees that really have to stay outside are the temperate ones that need cold dormancy. This is a tree that grows in zone 10-11, where it is warm year round. In general what you are trying to do in bonsai is give the tree as close to the conditions it naturally grows in as you can. So this sub-tropical likes a bit of cool but not cold in winter. If you have a room in your house that is heated less (but not unheated), like a basement or enclosed sun-room, where the temps would be in the 50- 60 dF kind of range for a couple months that would probably be ideal, though it could probably tolerate a little warmer or colder. Definitely not outside in a Kansas winter!

(For starting seeds that need to be cool but not refrigerated, I have a coat closet right by the front door in the airlock entrance, that gets very little heat when closed. For your use, you would have to put lights in it, but that's the kind of space I am thinking about).

Note, highs are still in the low 80's in Miami right now, so no rush to winterize it! But it is used to a much higher humidity level than is found inside a heated house, so do mist it and/or put it on a humidity tray.

[kdodds]

First, bonsaiboy is just about the worst place to buy a tree.

From my experience with the species:

1 - Sunny southern window that gets at least a few hours of light per day. Otherwise, growth will be near to non-existent. At some point, the tree will die indoors. I've never tried a window that gets "some indirect light", but my guess is it would be a bad place.

2 - Sometimes you need to repot, sometimes you don't. Bonsaiboy sells import trees. They probbaly never work them themselves. And, they're probably potted up almost as they're sold. Repot? Only if it can't be avoided. Otherwise, wait until spring. Read in the mean time.

3 - The lighter leaves are new gorwth and will darken in time. When it comes to pruning, remember, it's very easy to remove, but difficult to impossible to put back. If this tree looks like most of bonsaiboy's stock, it's not ready for a pot and training anyway, except as maybe a tiny mame. Know what you want to do before you do it.

4 - depends on what you want to accomplish. This tree is currently stressed and out of growing season (northern hemisphere anyway). Nothing should be done until spring, at the earliest.

5 - Impossible to suggest anything without seeing the actual tree.

6 - IME, humidity trays are virtually useless. Ambient humidity will not change much. If your house is really dry (< 30%), consider a humidifier in the room or enclosing the tree. Bear in mind that enclosing the tree cuts light availability.

7 - Train the cat. Yes, it is as simple as that. I know, I know, this cat or that cat is special. No, it's not. Really. Trust me. Put the cat and the plant in a room. Sit and observe. If the cat goes near the plant and shows interest in it, hiss. If that doesn't work, use a water gun. If that fails, step in and become the boss. Remember, it lives in your house, you don't live in its house. Until it pays the bills, you rule. Only a fool lets a less intelligent being get the better of him or her.

8 - Moving the tree around is a bad idea in general. See number 7. If you think the cat can't be trusted, crate it or confine it to a single room. Cats and bonsai generally don't mix well. My daughter's cat started in on mine about 3 months after she got him. After another couple of months of her refusing to do anything about it, I trained the thing. He now stays off all counters, tables, couches, etc. It's really not all that difficult. You just have to commit to doing it EVERY time.

[keninmac]

Thanks again to everyone!

Everything that has been said so far sounds great. The only thing that has not become completely, unequivocally clear is where I should winter the tree. It seems pretty clear that I should get it outside come spring. Until then should I keep it indoors? Would it be inappropriate to keep it under grow lights in its off-season?

Thanks again!

[kdodds]

It will have to be kept inside. A very sunny southern, eastern, or western window will work as long as it gets a few hours of direct sun per day.

[rainbowgardener]

So how's your little cherry tree doing, now that you have had it a couple weeks? I noticed that your last question never got answered. You got the answer a couple times that definitely it has to stay indoors from now until well into spring. But you also asked about grow lights. That may or may not be necessary depending on how good a sunny window you have and how sunny it is in Kansas in the winter (here in Cincinnati, we tend to be quite lacking in sunshine, grey and overcast, all winter). But even if the tree could survive without the added light, it will probably do better with it. Remember it is a subtropical evergreen, so it is not expecting to have a winter dormant period as temperate trees do.

[SvetSad]

I know this post is couple of months old, I hope the tree is doing fine,
I use to have 3 cats at home (now I only have one) and when they are in a pack they are harder to train. so I've done a bit of reading on how to keep cats off counters and tables.... one of the options you can look up on youtube called blender defender, is basically a motion activated blender that turns on and scares the junk out of the cat, kinda funny...
spraying your tree or plants with bitters doesn't always work also I don't know if it would have any kind of effect on the bonsai.
another thing I've read once is that u can put some clear plastic wrap on the counter and the cats don't like the feel of it on their feet but I've never actually tried that.
then there are things like [url=https://www.amazon.com/Contech-StayAway-Motion-Activated-Pet-Deterrent/dp/B000DZFFN4/url]this[/url] . and of course there are [url=https://www.englishcreekgardens.com/Cloche1.htmurl]Glass Cloche Bell Jar[/url]

hope this helps