Bonsai question for beginner

geoffraffe

Hello fellow peeps with green fingers. I got a bonsai tree a few months back and I have no idea what I'm doing with it, so I'm looking for any help that you may be able to give me.

I watered it as instructed by the shop (I.e. watered the soil over the top). This seemed to pretty much kill the plant. You can see all the withered leaves on the branches from the pic. I then started to water it from underneath. This seemed to rejuvenate the plant and it started to sprout again. In fact the the branches have grown wild. There's also a small fungus-like thing on the soil. I'll post another pic of this below.

Does anyone have any advice on how I should be caring for it. Should I trim the new leaves back, and if so by how much. Should I chop off the old withered ones. I don't know how much I should do in case I cut off too much and kill the plant outright.

Any help would be very much appreciated as I really do love the plant. Thanks in advance.

geoffraffe

Here's a pic of the fungus on the soil.

geoffraffe

Here's a pic of how much the tree has sprouted.

Thanks again.

looksee

Firstly I am not a bonsai expert, but I have read a good bit about it in the past, and I suggest you go online and do a bit of research on care of bonsai.

The general idea is that you restrict the root growth (which is why it is in that tiny bowl) and clip the branches back to force them to remain small and in keeping with the size of the tree you are trying to cultivate. Because it is in such a small container it will need to be watered frequently, but at the same time not drowned. I don't think you need to worry about the fungus, except to the extent that it probably indicates too much water.

Training bonsai is regarded as an art form, and you really need, as I said, to do a bit of research on the methods and principles.

You also need to know whether the tree is suitable for keeping indoors the whole time. Mostly the trees are kept outdoors and only brought in for display. You need to identify the tree, it looks a bit like wisteria, but it is hard to see what the scale is. If it is an outdoor tree it will not thrive for very long indoors.

Good luck with it, it looks like a nice tree.

geoffraffe

Thanks so much for your help. I really appreciate you taking the time to reply. I'll continue to research online. Those little trees need more time than little humans.

doccy

Maybe try identify your plant online, and seek specific instructions for that particular bonsai. I know the instructions that came with my plant were completely wrong. I binned them after some quick internet reasearch.

I put some stones from the beach in the pot below the plastic container, and keep it filled it water. My plant seems to like the humidty. I rarely water the soil (unless it gets dry), and I mist the leaves (although I don't know if this does anything). The Bonsai looks well and healthy so far (after five months later).

Best advice I can give is to identify the bonsai, and see what the experts say about it. Bonsai isn't big here (a shame) but there is tons of sites on teh net. Lovely Bonsai btw!

Oldtree

Watering from underneath will keep the pot at field capacity, the optimum for potted plants, provided the tray is not too deep relative to the poet height.