Best trees suited for indoor bonsai?

[boss]

I was wonder what are the best trees suited for indoor bonsai?

[tomc]

I was wonder what are the best trees suited for indoor bonsai?

Why do we grow trees that are not hearty in our biome? beats me, but we do. I know this is going to seem like not an answer to your question, but let me digress.

Littered on every bonsai forum I have read over the past 15+ years is filled with the failures of new growers who don't know what the horticultural needs of their trees are.

The mummified corpses of ficus and juniper I have taken out of pots, in order to recycle the pots exceed a hundred.

Trees don't live in the absence of temperature, seasonal, and precipitation cycles.

The shortest and most direct line to your success isn't going to be in two hundred word replies on the internet; but to visit your closest arboratum or bonsai nursery, and do nothing but ask questions or wash pots for them for a year or two.

Every thing you think you know about gardening does not supply a trees needs indoors.

Bonsai growers who persist kill a lot (often hundreds) of trees learning how. And that is with growers who keep their trees out of doors. The toll in dead trees isn't less indoors.

Bring your eyes the first time you go to an arboratum, it should suggest whether beer or coffee will be your best bribe on second and subsequent visits.

Every municipal, state, or federal, garden that houses a bonsai collection is under funded and is very suseptible to the offer of volunteer labor.

You both got what the other needs, make it work.

[rainbowgardener]

that's a pretty discouraging response. Tom is a bonsai grower and I am not. So I will just tell you what they say, which is if you want to grow your bonsai tree indoors, you need a tree from a tropical climate. Those trees don't expect to go through cold dormancy, dropping leaves, etc. Temperatures down near the equator do not fluctuate much year round (I lived in central Costa Rica for awhile - it is pretty much between 70 and 80 all year round) and even the day length and day vs night temps don't change much.

So equatorial/ tropical trees are at least more possible to grow indoors. That includes woody shrubs as well, things like bougainvillea and hibiscus.

[manofthetrees]

get yourself a ficus and not one you find in a box or grocery store. there are many varieties to choose from and most are very tolerant to anything you want to do to them.
they do well indoors under supplamental lighting . the only issue I have run into is leaf reduction ...the lighting I had just wasnt strong enough and the new leaves would get bigger than the last set
if you are a newbi they make a great starter tree and in my expeiriance are hard to kill. I have one that was knocked off its windowsill and layed on the floor with no soil for a day...5 years later its still growing

[linlaoboo]

I grow ficus macrocarpa kinds, Brazilien hibiscus and Scheffleras indoors however they spend their time outdoors between April to October. Scheffs aren't traditional bonsai but you can google up some Scheff bonsai pictures to see for yourself if you're into it or not.

[tomc]

Chances are good, some kinda fig (ficus) will be your candidate.

But its the everything else around your tree, its soil, suplimental light, watering technique, fertilizer schedule. That needs to evolve almost before you get your first tree.

Like all those long ago immegre' arbor-men who came to us from Omya (Japan). Start at the base of your tree, where they already grow.

There is a bonsai area at your local city garden, or arboratum, that needs a young person to take out the trash, and you need what they already know. Go git some.

[SvetSad]

I have had a lot of luck with my Premna tree being kept indoors (it's outside now while it's warm)

in many ways, it's close to a ficus. Grows really fast, and very easy to make cuttings. The only bad thing about it, is the very limited info that's available online, for such a great tree. Also, it's not the easiest tree to find, although a pre-bonsai Premna can be found on Wigert's Bonsai website.

The leaves will grow large if it's not getting enough light (but I guess that's same with all "indoor" trees)

Oh and there are not many pests that could attack the tree, because it's sap is kind of peppery (which you can smell any time you do anything to the tree)

[silverdollar]

I had a Hawaiian Umbrella Tree - a 3-some in an oval-shaped dish I bought online at Bonsai Boy and it lasted for years. They have a special section for indoor bonsai plants. It was in an office with a huge window so it got plenty of indirect sun. When I transferred, I had to bring the plant home, and we were having a severe heat wave at the time and needless to say, it didn't take long of being in a home with no a/c before it died. I'm looking to buy me another Hawaiian Umbrella Tree from them soon, hopefully.

[rainbowgardener]

Here's a thread I did on the same topic, that came up with more suggestions:

https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/vi ... hp?t=51127