Bonsai in Zone 10....

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Author Message   Cmdiesing  Posted on Wednesday, March 05, 2008 - 12:45 am EST :    Hello, I am interested in starting some bonsai on my lanai. I live in zone 10 and would like some suggestion for some flowering trees that make suitable bonsai trees. After attempting some of my favorite trees, from the north, I found it to be very difficult for me as a beginner to keep them alive. Now, I am trying some trees native to my area :-) (Im very stubborn sometimes) I want to start some trees from seed as well as cuttings. Any info would be appreciated about "flowering" tropical bonsai....For the beginner! Thanks!! Cmdiesing - FL, Zone "10"   Vpal  Posted on Wednesday, March 05, 2008 - 01:18 am EST :    why not try bougaivillas they are quite tough Vpal - kerala, Zone "?"   Treelover  My Favorite Photo My Garden Posted on Wednesday, March 05, 2008 - 06:47 am EST :    Unless youre prepared to wait 10-20 years I'd avoid the seed method. Once the seed has germinated and ready to transplant it will will have to go in a regular plant pot; just forget bonsai at the moment, treat it as a regular plant. Then eventually you will have a decent sized plant with a thin stem. What you need to do then is either plant it out in the garden for a few years or a very large pot so that it can just grow away like a regular plant. The one thing you need on a bonsai is a thick trunk in proportion to its height, or it just looks like a plant in a bonsai pot! Usually the trunk should be a third of the overall height, and again you need to know what that original height is going to be. So before you start you need to know what size bonsai you want. So lets say you go for a 12 inch high tree. You will want it to have a stem of at least 31/2 - 4 inches thick to look good. And to get a stem that thick takes time, years. If its kept in a pot it wil never get thicker, just bushier. Of course the trouble is when selecting a non -hardy species is that you cant keep it outdoors all year and have to bring it in or keep it in a very large pot until its ready to begin training. So many come into this hobby expecting instant results and get disappointed when they hear the truth, but the thing is, it does take time, hence why bonsai are so expensive to buy. So forget seed and go for cuttings, reduce the time to less than 10 years perhaps, or even better learn to do air layering cos then you can use thicker material to start with and have a real head start. Also with air layered material if its a flowering tree then the maturity is carried over to the air layer so it will probably flower ther following year! Now I said 12 inches but thats a big heavy bonsai, but you can go for a much smaller tree, say 6 inches(the size of most of mine) and only need a stem thickness of 1 1/2-2 inches to look good, and that can be achieved a lot quicker! I have a tree that I started in 2003 and only got to look like a bonsai in 06. Its now in the garden thickening up a bit more. Its about 3 inches tall but is like a 6 inch tall tree on its side. This is in april 07 and using weights to train the branch horizontally I will get updated pics in the spring. Treelover - County Durham,UK, Zone "8/9"

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