Bonsai Tree Care: mini bonsai

Getting fine roots is easy but getting fine branches (branch ramification) takes a long time.

For full story, visit : English translation of the Japanese page

2 yrs ago when I got started, I desperately wanted to know this but wherever I asked questions, I only got vague answers.

I had asked various bonsai artists their time estimate to re-grow all the branches of their tree, if everything was chopped down to a vertical trunk today. Nobody gave me a straight answer. Probably bcos they did not grow all the branches themselves.

In the above example by the Japanese bonsai nursery, the branch ramification took 3 yrs probably bcos of the tiny pot and the cold climate of Japan. Maybe that time can be compressed to 1 yr in my climate, in a big nursery pot. The fine roots can be had in 2 months via air-layering or ground layering when used along with the air pruning technique. Surface roots take longer time but still it can be achieved faster than the time required for fine branches.

In most of the progression stories I have seen, the branch ramification took place in a bonsai pot and hence I straight away reject the time frame needed to achieve the result.

mini bonsai

Bonsai : Developing Fine Roots vs. Fine Branches

By Pedais Handmade quarta-feira, 3 de janeiro de 2018

Tree Species : Ficus Religiosa (Peepal tree)

This is a 4 month progression of my root over rock mini bonsai project using 1 year old cuttings of ficus religiosa / peepal tree.

Watch on YouTube

(Read video description also)

See Part 1 & Part 2

Root Over Rock Bonsai Progression - Part 3

By Pedais Handmade domingo, 17 de dezembro de 2017

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.

Watch on YouTube

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 ficus religiosa hydroponics mini bonsai peepal tree

Bottle Cap Bonsai - Fantastic Growth In 1.5 Months !

By Pedais Handmade sexta-feira, 8 de dezembro de 2017

Tree Species : Ficus Religiosa (Peepal tree)

My mini slab bonsai had 2 setbacks sometime ago and now a 3rd one ! So, this time I dived right in, for a heroic rescue :-) Enough is enough !

Watch on YouTube

(Read video description also)

cuttings ficus religiosa hydroponics mini bonsai peepal tree root-over-rock bonsai slab bonsai

Emergency Root Rescue On My Mini Slab Bonsai

By Pedais Handmade domingo, 3 de dezembro de 2017

Tree Species : Ficus Religiosa (Peepal tree)

This is a 3 month progression of my root over rock mini bonsai project using 1 year old cuttings of ficus religiosa / peepal tree. Fantastic trunk thickening happened due to regular feeding of liquid NPK and the wires brutally cut into the trunk. So I removed the wiring, did some pruning of roots & leaves, got rid of insects & their eggs. They should be fine in another 3 months.

Watch on YouTube

(Read video description also)

See Part 1 and Part 3

bonsai progression cuttings ficus religiosa mini bonsai peepal tree root-over-rock bonsai

Root Over Rock Bonsai Progression - Part 2

By Pedais Handmade quarta-feira, 29 de novembro de 2017

Tree Species : Ficus Religiosa (Peepal tree)
Cutting Taken In : May 2016

This is a 1 year progression of my Root Over Rock Mini Bonsai, started from water rooted cuttings. It also covers the making of the rock formation, my hybrid-ponic setup (roots in sand & water), trunk thickening, pruning, moss revival & self watering benefits. My hybrid-ponic setup is an adaptation of Kratky Hydroponics technique.

Watch on YouTube

(Read video description also)

cuttings ficus religiosa hydroponics mini bonsai peepal tree root-over-rock bonsai rooting in water

Root Over Rock Bonsai - Hybridponic Ficus Religiosa / Peepal Tree

By Pedais Handmade terça-feira, 24 de outubro de 2017

Tree species : Ficus Religiosa / Peepal Tree
Cutting taken on : June 21, 2016

Watch on YouTube

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 ficus religiosa hydroponics mini bonsai peepal tree

Bottle Cap Bonsai - Amazing Ficus Roots !!!

By Pedais Handmade domingo, 8 de outubro de 2017

Tree species : Ficus Religiosa / Peepal Tree
Seed sprouted around : mid Sept, 2015

Read Part 1

Watch on YouTube

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

bonsai from seed bottle cap bonsai ficus religiosa hydroponics mini bonsai peepal tree self watering

Self Watering Bottle Cap Bonsai

By Pedais Handmade domingo, 3 de setembro de 2017

Tree Species : Ficus Religiosa (Peepal tree)

One easy way to grow mini bonsai in tiny containers is to allow the roots to escape from the main pot to another bigger pot or ground or water. The roots outside the main pot are sacrificial and need periodic pruning.

Watch on YouTube

(Read video description also)

This video shows how I developed 3 ficus specimens, pruned their roots & trunk, created a root-over-rock setup, wired the trunks and planted into a bigger container.

See Part 2 and Part 3

bonsai progression cuttings ficus religiosa mini bonsai peepal tree root escape root-over-rock bonsai