Do I remove this moss around base of chinese elm?

[TeleJoe]

Hi, so I recently purchased this Chinese elm bonsai from a nursery. It came with some brown stringy moss (clearly placed there) around the base of it. I didn't think much of it (it's been doing very well imo) until after submerging it the other night; the moss detached from the little mound of soil it's on, and floated up. So after some searching on this forum and others, I discovered it's pretty common to not use moss at all; except for during showcase situations. I emailed the nursery but without response so I'm hoping someone here can help me out.

Should I have removed this moss after receiving the bonsai (was it only there for shipping purposes)? Now, that it's detached, and possibly will do so everytime I submerge it, should I get rid of this moss/soil around the base? Should I replace the soil/moss there, or just leave it clean at the base?

Thanks for your time. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

 

[ConorDash]

Hi,

In terms of the moss, not sure if it's sphagnum or not cos of the pic but yes most of the time they will post it with moss on for water retention during transit. It can be removed once it arrives.

Some general stuff, keep it outside and start reading up on info for watering and taking care of it.
Bonsai4me.com is a good place to start but there are many places online to give you more info.

Your tree probably doesn't need any kind of moss around, but this is dependant on your climate.
You said submerge.. you don't need to submerge the tree at all. I assume you are talking about the technique whereas you put the whole pot in a bucket of water.
This is not something that's needed, only in extreme circumstances. Read up on the technique, you'll find out more about it. Not something I've ever done or hope to need to do.

Just start reading up on care for trees and your tree species in particular. Research and read as much as you can, learn.

 

[clive bennett]

It looks to me to be planted very high in its pot, with some exposed roots showing , the moss will keep those roots moist and alive, I would leave it on the soil. keep the tree outside , no need to submerge it water normally and let it dry out a little (not bone dry) between watering's. You will probably find it has a lot of field soil under the trunk which will need removing next year so watch it drains after watering I wouldn't do anything else this year possible a light prune come Autumn. Good luck and have fun.

 

[TeleJoe]

Hi,

In terms of the moss, not sure if it's sphagnum or not cos of the pic but yes most of the time they will post it with moss on for water retention during transit. It can be removed once it arrives.

You said submerge.. you don't need to submerge the tree at all. I assume you are talking about the technique whereas you put the whole pot in a bucket of water.
This is not something that's needed, only in extreme circumstances. Read up on the technique, you'll find out more about it. Not something I've ever done or hope to need to do.

Ok well I removed the moss/mound of soil the moss was sitting on, and covered the area with gravel like the rest. The tree does look a bit naked now, hopefully it continues to do as well as it was with the moss.

As far as submerging, the nursery which I purchased it from provided the instructions for such. They have online videos demonstrating that's how they water their bonsais. I've also read a couple other things about doing so. Perhaps it's not the correct meta, but since doing it, my awful-looking scraggly ginseng ficus has grown significantly, and that chinese elm is growing like a weed as well.

Perhaps there is too much conflicting information online, or rules are mostly general. I.e. You told me to take the moss off (which I did) and I just see the next response says to leave it on. Or the first few things I read suggested submersion. Now I'm finding out that submersion is apparently not recommended.

 

[TeleJoe]

I

Here she be after removing the moss that it came with.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Perhaps there is too much conflicting information online, or rules are mostly general.

Welcome to the site!

Yes there is a lot of conflicting information available, and part of the problem is that the best answer is often "it depends". It depends on the tree, it depends on the location (where you live), it depends on the environment the tree is located in, etc.

Good bonsai soil is going to be a mostly open inorganic mix with only very little organic material. There should be no reason to submerse your tree because with a hose or watering can you should be able to water your tree and the water should pass right through the soil and out the bottom of the pot almost instantly - leaving thoroughly wet, but not saturated, soil behind. However because many retail bonsai trees are NOT sold in perfect soil, and are often planted in very bad (rock hard) poor soil with just a scattered of peddles on the top as top dressing, the soil is almost impermeable, so the only way for water to reach the roots is for you to soak the pot in a tub of water until (after a few minutes) water has been absorbed into a rock hard root ball. This is not good watering practice - it is a sign you need to repot your tree.

Having sphagnum moss as a top dressing again doesn't really "harm" the tree, but if you have a healthy tree in good soil there is no need for it. If you have an unhealthy tree in bad soil, you can place sphagnum moss on the soil to maintain humidity in the bad soil - but it is much better just to have good soil and not worry about it. In this case the sphagnum moss is just acting like a wet blanket.

Note - sphagnum moss (like you have) is a completely different thing than a layer of live moss that might grow naturally on the top of your soil when the soil is healthy and your tree is outside getting good sun and rain.

 

[ConorDash]

Ok well I removed the moss/mound of soil the moss was sitting on, and covered the area with gravel like the rest. The tree does look a bit naked now, hopefully it continues to do as well as it was with the moss.

As far as submerging, the nursery which I purchased it from provided the instructions for such. They have online videos demonstrating that's how they water their bonsais. I've also read a couple other things about doing so. Perhaps it's not the correct meta, but since doing it, my awful-looking scraggly ginseng ficus has grown significantly, and that chinese elm is growing like a weed as well.

Perhaps there is too much conflicting information online, or rules are mostly general. I.e. You told me to take the moss off (which I did) and I just see the next response says to leave it on. Or the first few things I read suggested submersion. Now I'm finding out that submersion is apparently not recommended.

Bonsai Nut's reply is best you'll get on this at the moment, stick to what he says .