Tree species : Ficus Religiosa / Peepal Tree
Cutting taken on : June 21, 2016
I got fantastic growth in 1.5 months after brutally pruning my 1 yr old ficus religiosa mini bonsai, which is being grown as a bottle cap bonsai. To prevent the leafless pruned trunks from drying up, they were misted 3-4 times a day and I was rewarded for the extra care with many new branches. They were kept in shade for 2 weeks & then exposed to filtered morning sunlight.
I am using a hybrid-ponic setup (roots in soil & water) to get fast growth in a compact space. The roots in the water bottle are sacrificial. Water is changed weekly once and liquid NPK is added to it. The soil too is fertilized with it. Pests, their eggs & spidermites were regularly cleaned off the leaves.
Read previous part
Cutting taken on : June 21, 2016
I got fantastic growth in 1.5 months after brutally pruning my 1 yr old ficus religiosa mini bonsai, which is being grown as a bottle cap bonsai. To prevent the leafless pruned trunks from drying up, they were misted 3-4 times a day and I was rewarded for the extra care with many new branches. They were kept in shade for 2 weeks & then exposed to filtered morning sunlight.
I am using a hybrid-ponic setup (roots in soil & water) to get fast growth in a compact space. The roots in the water bottle are sacrificial. Water is changed weekly once and liquid NPK is added to it. The soil too is fertilized with it. Pests, their eggs & spidermites were regularly cleaned off the leaves.
Read previous part
Bottle Cap Bonsai - Fantastic Growth In 1.5 Months !
Tree species : Ficus Religiosa / Peepal Tree
Cutting taken on : June 21, 2016
This is a 1 yr progression of a ficus mini bonsai from cutting, growing hydroponically in a bottle cap. The roots in water are sacrificial and will be eventually cut off but they give me a much faster growth than possible in my soil-mix of the same volume.
Periodic pruning of the water roots & the Kratky Hydroponics technique have resulted in a dense root structure that can absorb more nutrition, when fed correctly & regularly. It is fun, educational & something new to me. But hydroponic growing does need more maintenance than traditional growing. The biggest kick I get is from repeatedly proving wrong the popular wisdom that trees do not like wet roots ! My trees roots thrive in water !
The perforations on the bottle cap allow multiple roots to escape into the water below in the bottle. Traditionally, a bonsai is allowed to grow big in a large pot or ground and then reduced in size to fit into a smaller pot. In this experiment of mine, I grew the tree in a tiny pot from the very beginning. Since I live in an apartment, i have very limited space & sunlight. So, by keeping the bonsai size small, I can have more plants in the same limited space. After getting tired of frequently watering such a tiny pot, I decided to convert all my bottle cap bonsai into self watering setups in Feb 2017. And it proved to be a really great decision ! Both me & the trees are happier now :-) I just replace water every Sunday & add some liquid NPK to it. The soil in the cap is also fertilized with diluted liquid NPK, roughly once in 2 weeks.
I usually collect the green stem cuttings of this ficus and root them easily in water. That is my preferred method for mini bonsai projects. For thicker trunks, air layering is a far better & easier technique than taking traditional cuttings, not only for this but for other species too. Read next part.
More Bottle Cap Bonsai
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sW2C9Qk6fU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maztHAeJ1NA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfQRq0M-zyI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVuFm3yvNyU
More resources on mini bonsai (mame bonsai) :
http://instantbonsaiforeveryone.blogspot.in/search/label/mini%20bonsai
Cutting taken on : June 21, 2016
This is a 1 yr progression of a ficus mini bonsai from cutting, growing hydroponically in a bottle cap. The roots in water are sacrificial and will be eventually cut off but they give me a much faster growth than possible in my soil-mix of the same volume.
Periodic pruning of the water roots & the Kratky Hydroponics technique have resulted in a dense root structure that can absorb more nutrition, when fed correctly & regularly. It is fun, educational & something new to me. But hydroponic growing does need more maintenance than traditional growing. The biggest kick I get is from repeatedly proving wrong the popular wisdom that trees do not like wet roots ! My trees roots thrive in water !
The perforations on the bottle cap allow multiple roots to escape into the water below in the bottle. Traditionally, a bonsai is allowed to grow big in a large pot or ground and then reduced in size to fit into a smaller pot. In this experiment of mine, I grew the tree in a tiny pot from the very beginning. Since I live in an apartment, i have very limited space & sunlight. So, by keeping the bonsai size small, I can have more plants in the same limited space. After getting tired of frequently watering such a tiny pot, I decided to convert all my bottle cap bonsai into self watering setups in Feb 2017. And it proved to be a really great decision ! Both me & the trees are happier now :-) I just replace water every Sunday & add some liquid NPK to it. The soil in the cap is also fertilized with diluted liquid NPK, roughly once in 2 weeks.
I usually collect the green stem cuttings of this ficus and root them easily in water. That is my preferred method for mini bonsai projects. For thicker trunks, air layering is a far better & easier technique than taking traditional cuttings, not only for this but for other species too. Read next part.
More Bottle Cap Bonsai
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sW2C9Qk6fU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maztHAeJ1NA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfQRq0M-zyI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVuFm3yvNyU
More resources on mini bonsai (mame bonsai) :
http://instantbonsaiforeveryone.blogspot.in/search/label/mini%20bonsai
Bottle Cap Bonsai - Amazing Ficus Roots !!!
Tree species : Ficus Religiosa / Peepal Tree
Seed sprouted around : mid Sept, 2015
Read Part 1
This is a 2 yr progression of a ficus mini bonsai from seed, growing hydroponically in a bottle cap. The roots in water are sacrificial and will be eventually cut off but they give me a much faster growth than possible in my soil-mix of the same volume.
Periodic pruning of the water roots & the Kratky Hydroponics technique have resulted in a dense root structure that can absorb more nutrition, when fed correctly & regularly. It is fun, educational & something new to me. But hydroponic growing does need more maintenance than traditional growing. The biggest kick I get is from repeatedly proving wrong the popular wisdom that trees do not like wet roots ! My trees roots thrive in water !
The perforations on the bottle cap allow multiple roots to escape into the water below in the bottle. Since I live in an apartment, i have very limited space & sunlight. So, by keeping the bonsai size small, I can have more plants in the same limited space. After getting tired of frequently watering such a tiny pot, I decided to convert all my bottle cap bonsai into self watering setups in Feb 2017. And it proved to be a really great decision ! Both me & the trees are happier now :-) I just replace water every Sunday & add some liquid NPK to it. The soil in the cap is also fertilized with diluted liquid NPK, roughly once in 2 weeks.
The seed of this ficus happened to be in my soil-mix and germinated on its own. It was not intentional. But to see this ficus germinate from seed is a new thing for me. I usually collect the green stem cuttings of this ficus and root them easily in water. That is my preferred method for mini bonsai projects. For thicker trunks, air layering is a far better & easier technique than taking traditional cuttings, not only for this but for other species too.
More Bottle Cap Bonsai
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0F_Px_qtA6U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maztHAeJ1NA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfQRq0M-zyI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVuFm3yvNyU
More resources on mini bonsai (mame bonsai) :
http://instantbonsaiforeveryone.blogspot.in/search/label/mini%20bonsai
Seed sprouted around : mid Sept, 2015
Read Part 1
This is a 2 yr progression of a ficus mini bonsai from seed, growing hydroponically in a bottle cap. The roots in water are sacrificial and will be eventually cut off but they give me a much faster growth than possible in my soil-mix of the same volume.
Periodic pruning of the water roots & the Kratky Hydroponics technique have resulted in a dense root structure that can absorb more nutrition, when fed correctly & regularly. It is fun, educational & something new to me. But hydroponic growing does need more maintenance than traditional growing. The biggest kick I get is from repeatedly proving wrong the popular wisdom that trees do not like wet roots ! My trees roots thrive in water !
The perforations on the bottle cap allow multiple roots to escape into the water below in the bottle. Since I live in an apartment, i have very limited space & sunlight. So, by keeping the bonsai size small, I can have more plants in the same limited space. After getting tired of frequently watering such a tiny pot, I decided to convert all my bottle cap bonsai into self watering setups in Feb 2017. And it proved to be a really great decision ! Both me & the trees are happier now :-) I just replace water every Sunday & add some liquid NPK to it. The soil in the cap is also fertilized with diluted liquid NPK, roughly once in 2 weeks.
The seed of this ficus happened to be in my soil-mix and germinated on its own. It was not intentional. But to see this ficus germinate from seed is a new thing for me. I usually collect the green stem cuttings of this ficus and root them easily in water. That is my preferred method for mini bonsai projects. For thicker trunks, air layering is a far better & easier technique than taking traditional cuttings, not only for this but for other species too.
More Bottle Cap Bonsai
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0F_Px_qtA6U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maztHAeJ1NA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfQRq0M-zyI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVuFm3yvNyU
More resources on mini bonsai (mame bonsai) :
http://instantbonsaiforeveryone.blogspot.in/search/label/mini%20bonsai
Self Watering Bottle Cap Bonsai
Assinar:
Postagens (Atom)
