Some may think I'm playing devil's advocate here. Let me explain. A few years back, at one of the Rochester symposiums, a well respected botanist from the Ann Arbor (Mich) Bonsai Society gave a lecture on growing bonsai indoors. For two hours he held the audience captive with his astounding account of how he defies all basic logic and reason by growing all his bonsai - including tropical and temperate indoors year round, and not just indoors but in his basement. That even includes junipers.
His name is Jack Wikle of Tecumseh, Michigan. He had many of his beautiful examples with him and believe it or not he always transports them in black cases closed on all sides so that the little trees are never exposed to natural sunlight - ever!
At the two day bonsai exhibit with accompanied this symposium Jack's display of mostly shohin bonsai his trees were side-by-side with those of many other bonsai artists and his were right up there with the best of them. But I must add this note - to my untrained eye the color of Jack's trees seemed to be a bit pale or perhaps an odd 'tone'. I can't swear to that but I do give Jack Wikle a huge credit for his very thorough experimentation.
Before you decide to try this at home you should read all about it here -
https://www.fukubonsai.com/2b2a2a.html
A companion article by Jerry Meislik is here -
https://www.fukubonsai.com/2b2a2b.html
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TomM
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Growing bonsai indoors - by Jack Wikle
Last edited by TomM on Sun Jun 17, 2012 6:23 am, edited 1 time in total.
Aw heck, I thought he was going to give up some secrets for keeping trees that require REAL cold and/or dormancy indoors. I noticed that he does not mention larch at all, or even any pines, just junipers (the easiest of needled evergreens). Still, quite impressive if he can keep them alive. I wish there were some detailing of his set ups though, images, so people could see exactly HOW MUCH effort, space, equipment, etc. is devoted to what he's doing, and daily details of each tree's care. You can't just put a shop light over a juniper and expect it to live, IOW.
I think the most important thing this illustrates is that it IS possible to keep trees inside. Some are better suited to this than others. If you choose one that is ill-suited to being kept indoors, you WILL have to devote time, effort, equipment, etc., just to keeping it alive, much as Jack and Jerry have (not Jerry's room, all those lights which I presume are very high output like metal halides or sodiums).
This is a great post and serves to illustrate that "easy" species indoors can be kept IN a sunny window without much more effort, but those that are not "easy" will require an investment the likes of an indoor "crop" grower.
I think the most important thing this illustrates is that it IS possible to keep trees inside. Some are better suited to this than others. If you choose one that is ill-suited to being kept indoors, you WILL have to devote time, effort, equipment, etc., just to keeping it alive, much as Jack and Jerry have (not Jerry's room, all those lights which I presume are very high output like metal halides or sodiums).
This is a great post and serves to illustrate that "easy" species indoors can be kept IN a sunny window without much more effort, but those that are not "easy" will require an investment the likes of an indoor "crop" grower.
Keeping the junipers alive is one of the things upon which I wish he would have elaborated a bit more. There are Juniperus species that CAN grow down in zone 9 & 10 (essentially no dormancy). Some accounts even list Eastern Red Cedar as one of these species. I've tried several species and cultivars and have yet to get them to live beyond one year in a greenhouse window. This includes temp fluctuations from day to night since the window is older and not well insulated (although it is double paned), as well as seasonal temps that drop low enough to send my subtropicals and tropicals into dormancy/semi-dormancy. This even includes 3 individual Quercus virginiana (Live Oak) specimens. I have not yet tried Bald Cypress (native conifer down to zone 10), but all of the conifers/needle evergreens I have tried have died. My guess as to why would be humidity and light more than anything, with the former being more important, I think, than the latter. Even at 35-40% (controlled because my middle daughter experiences nosebleed problems if it is not), it still seems to be too dry for some trees. This would also include "indoor" species like Fukien Tea, Sweet Plum, and Serissa.