Hello there! New to forum (and bonsai)

[Joshaeus]

I am a young man living in New England. It's a funny story how I recently became interested in bonsai...I am also an aquarium nut, and I was looking for substrates for a planted aquarium that had a good CEC but which are inert (the organic matter in soil frequently causes algae problems if mismanaged). A lot of the resources I found were regarding bonsai soils, and so I'm now intrigued...I have a number of houseplants, but no bonsai. I wanted to give how I grow houseplants to see what tweaks I would need to make to keep a bonsai...here we go...

All my houseplants are being grown in passive hydroponics; I am growing them in pots filled with expanded clay media (which I haven't measured but appears to have an average particle size of around 1 cm) sitting in a pool of weak nutrient solution (twice seedling strength for most of my plants...my orchid is at seedling strength). I am also growing them under LED light bulbs (the incandescent replacements, though I am thinking of trying BR30 bulbs with my plants) which I turn on when I wake up and turn off when I go to sleep. The pots are rinsed with tap water and the solution is replaced about once every 7-10 days. All my houseplants are thriving (and blooming, where applicable) under this setup. My question is, what modifications would I need to make to this setup to keep bonsai? Obviously I would need to stick with a tropical bonsai for keeping indoors, as air temperatures in my room seldom dip below 65. Thanks

 

[DonovanC]

I’m not completely familiar with this method. Are you using a wick system?
Can you post some pictures of your set up?
What house plants do you have?
A Ficus would likely be a good candidate.

 

[JudyB]

Hi and welcome. The one thing I would suggest is to start with a ficus, they are easy, and you may already have experience with them as a houseplant. As far as the hydroponic growing, I can't imagine doing a bonsai like this, but experiment and find out! Please put your location in your profile so good advice can be given for your climate. Ficus can live inside all year, but do enjoy outdoor summer if you have a space out there. And after you become addicted, you may want to add some other species.

 

[sorce]

Welcome to Crazy!

You can get away with some "untraditional" things in your setup. It will be untraditional because the pot used as a display will always look so.

If you can water daily, go traditional, you know the soil!

Please share the fishes!

Of Toads and other Pets

Hopefully this will keep us going thru..... Oh hell no. Show your dogs, frogs, and snakes on a log. Tigers? Chimps!? Horses? Sheep? Sorce

www.bonsainut.com

Sorce

 

[Joshaeus]

I’m not completely familiar with this method. Are you using a wick system?
Can you post some pictures of your set up?
What house plants do you have?
A Ficus would likely be a good candidate.

Hi and welcome. The one thing I would suggest is to start with a ficus, they are easy, and you may already have experience with them as a houseplant. As far as the hydroponic growing, I can't imagine doing a bonsai like this, but experiment and find out! Please put your location in your profile so good advice can be given for your climate. Ficus can live inside all year, but do enjoy outdoor summer if you have a space out there. And after you become addicted, you may want to add some other species.

I can look into ficus...funny enough, I have not kept any (I was under the impression that they need a lot of light). My houseplants consist of an African violet (has been blooming since I purchased it and transitioned it to hydroponics in January of this year), a Phalaenopsis orchid (has been blooming since we were gifted it in January), two Pepperomia caperata (originally one, but I divided the first one about 2 months ago, and both now look in need of dividing...also constantly blooming), a Clivia miniata (currently blooming for the second time this summer), an Anthurium (blooming), two coleus that I grew from seeds (they are water hogs, by the way...they usually drink all the solution I give them well before a week has passed), and a chinese evergreen. Here is the Clivia as of a few days ago;



I can post pictures of the other plants later, but here's a sketch of what my setups basically look like (sans lamp);

The brown is the pot (with hydroponics media), the pink is the solution, the grey is the container holding the solution (which can be more ornamental than this picture implies...the Clivia above is in an orchid pot, the grey pail is just a cache pot for the solution). I rinse the pot with tap water every 7-10 days and replace the solution with fresh solution at the same time.

Thanks for replying so soon, by the way

 

[DonovanC]

It seems that you have enough knowledge and experience to dive in. And like @sorce said, if you can, go the traditional route. You’ll likely want a bit of a smaller substrate. And if you can flower an African violet indoors, you can manage a microcarpa. Use a free draining substrate as you have been, water when it starts to dry and give it as much light as possible.
Are you using fish tank water?
Start with doing some research on root pruning. It’ll be the bonsai specific methods like this that will start your transition from house plants to bonsai.
I think it’s best to start with a nursery stock ficus like microcarpa or benjamina.

 

[Joshaeus]

It seems that you have enough knowledge and experience to dive in. And like @sorce said, if you can, go the traditional route. You’ll likely want a bit of a smaller substrate. And if you can flower an African violet indoors, you can manage a microcarpa. Use a free draining substrate as you have been, water when it starts to dry and give it as much light as possible.
Are you using fish tank water?
Start with doing some research on root pruning. It’ll be the bonsai specific methods like this that will start your transition from house plants to bonsai.
I think it’s best to start with a nursery stock ficus like microcarpa or benjamina.

I can do that research. So pumice would not cut the mustard? (I had been researching pumice because my early research had suggested it had a decent CEC...I've found very conflicting research on that front since then, but everything I have read agrees that it holds a lot of water). Can I bottom water the tree and let it drink the water (or perhaps a very weak nutrient solution) over the course of the day, dumping out the rest at the end of the day? I am not currently using my old aquarium water for my houseplants, though my sister uses it for hers.

 

[DonovanC]

I can do that research. So pumice would not cut the mustard? (I had been researching pumice because my early research had suggested it had a decent CEC...I've found very conflicting research on that front since then, but everything I have read agrees that it holds a lot of water). Can I bottom water the tree and let it drink the water (or perhaps a very weak nutrient solution) over the course of the day, dumping out the rest at the end of the day? I am not currently using my old aquarium water for my houseplants, though my sister uses it for hers.

Pumice is good, but ideally a smaller size - 1cm is a bit large but that doesn’t mean you can’t experiment.
As far as bottom watering, I suppose you could give it a shot. But there are benefits to top watering, namely it helps introduce air. Others will have more to say about this I’m sure.

 

[Joshaeus]

So perhaps something closer to 5-7 mm pumice?

 

[DonovanC]

So perhaps something closer to 5-7 mm pumice?

Yup

 

[JudyB]

I think that what you are doing is so out of the norm for bonsai, that you'll probably have to find out how this works as you go. Just wondering why you want to go with the hydroponic as opposed to traditional methods? Just curious...

 

[Joshaeus]

I think that what you are doing is so out of the norm for bonsai, that you'll probably have to find out how this works as you go. Just wondering why you want to go with the hydroponic as opposed to traditional methods? Just curious...

I was awful with houseplants when I was keeping them in 'traditional' potting mix...I always overwatered the plants, with predictable results. I only became competent with growing houseplants when I started using hydroponics and artificial lighting (I was frequently giving my plants too little light). Of course, bonsai are not generally kept in traditional potting mix to begin with...so I may be OK doing it the 'ordinary' way.

 

[DonovanC]

A lot of people have a hard time with peat based mixes. It stays too wet and if it dries out it can be difficult to rehydrate. I’ve repotting plants that were in that stuff and only the outside of the soil was moist and the rest was bone dry.
I think with a proper bonsai mix and top watering will work out well for you.

 

[Joshaeus]

Cool! Here's a random question...can I use similar root pruning techniques to restrict the size of plants that are not trees?

 

[DonovanC]

Cool! Here's a random question...can I use similar root pruning techniques to restrict the size of plants that are not trees?

You would have to research each specific species. But root pruning is actually used more for thickening the trunk and for creating a “Nebari.” It also helps keep the tree balanced - left unchecked one or two roots could dominate and thicken up faster than others and wreck the look of the tree all around.

 

[sorce]

That pumice seems large. I'm not a fan of pumice. Though I was looking for the miracle.

Sorce

 

[Michael P]

You should go for it!

I've grown all the house plant species you mention by conventional means. If you can keep Clivia, African violet, and Phalaenopsis happy with your method, you can succeed with many tropical bonsai species. Ficus microcarpa would be an excellent choice. Even better might be Schefflera arbicola. I keep my schefflera bonsai on pebble trays during the winter, and the roots always grow out of the bonsai pot and into the moist gravel beneath.

BTW I also have planted aquaria. All of my tanks use the Walstad method, which you can read about here https://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/el-natural/ A lot of what you've learned about aquarium lighting is applicable to indoor bonsai, but the intensity of light needs to be greater for bonsai.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

@Joshaeus
Welcome to BNut and a life long hobby.
I want to second the approval of your method by @Michael P - what you are doing is not that different from "conventional bonsai"
Your expanded clay media is fine. Stick to the potting media you know. So I give a yes, to trying a few tree species. Your light is good if you are reblooming Clivia, Phalaenopsis and other houseplants. You have the "basics" down.

At least for the early phases of developing your bonsai, you will be keeping them in training pots, rather than expensive bonsai display pots, your system will work fine for early phases of training bonsai.

Species - look for shade tolerant tropical and sub-tropical trees. Oh, and to some extent, longer day length can compensate for lower light intensity. Keep your lights on about 18 hours and you will be able to grow some trees with greater light demand. Forget pines, you need very intense light for pines. Although, check out threads by @cmeg1 - he is proving me wrong about growing pines under lights. Use the BNut forum search function to find threads by cmeg1

Ficus microphylla
Wrightia religiosa - water jasmine
Grewia occidentalis
Fuchsia hybrids
Cupressus sp - Mendocino Cypress, and related species - need more toward full sun
Nashia inaguensis - Bahamaberry - I Dry, I Die Tree. (a tip on keeping healthy)
Malpighia glabra - acerola,
Eugenia species - many species of Eugenia are great, brush cherry is one common name (not related at all to cherries - Prunus, actually related to guava)

The list goes on.
One source for many of these in the young plant size,
Meehan's Miniatures.

https://www.meehansminiatures.com/index.html

another source is Wigerts, in Fort Meyers area Florida. Both do mail order.

 

[Joshaeus]

Thanks! How about this one; https://www.meehansminiatures.com/i...ndoor/murraya-paniculata-compacta-3-inch-pot/

 

[Michael P]

I've never grown Murraya, but have always wanted one.