Bonsai, 盆栽

Many of us who maintain a private garden or interested in gardening would have wished for having a bonsai at a prominent place. However buying a good bonsai is an expensive affair. A good bonsai need not be genuinely very old, but it should resemble an old and matured tree . A bonsai typically takes many years of careful nurture, often goes well beyond the limit of our patience. It is especially true when you try to make a bonsai by planting a seed or a small sapling in a Bonsai pot. Because of the inherent lack of freedom to grow in small pots, these saplings take many years to be considered as a Bonsai. However, this approach gives lot many options over many years, to control the growth precisely and the overall shape of the tree. Additional techniques will be sometimes required to make the branches look older than they actually are.

There exists an easier method to have a bonsai in every garden. Even though it may not look as beautiful as the one which has been nurtured over many years, it can still serve the purpose.

With some simple tools and time to spare, you can also boast of having a Bonsai in your garden.

Few things you ever need is a shallow clay or ceramic pot and a pair of scissors or a knife. Even though plastic dish will also do, it may look artificial and thus not preferred. But this plastic pots are having an obvious advantage of being non-porous and inexpensive.

Having these basic things ready, you can look for the right kind of sapling. This may appear as the most difficult job, but with good observation, this could be done in a day. Look around any ruins or old (government) buildings, you may find a ficus (Ficus benghalensis) tree growing in the creeks. It often starts it's life as an epiphyte on the crevices of other trees and then as it grows, strangulates the host tree.

Ficus is good for making Bonsai, as it develops aerial roots easily for that much desired "old" look. It is also tolerant to hard pruning and drought, in case if you forget to water it for a few days.

Care should be taken in selecting the sapling. The one with thick main branch and roots that have not reached the ground is preferred. Once the roots reach the ground this tree grows rapidly and the trunk becomes fleshy and fat and looses the appealing old trunk look. More than that it will be then hard to contain the plant in the limited space of the pot. Make sure you do not damage the main trunk and main root while dislodging the plant.

Once the sapling is ready, the next step is to prepare it for planting in the shallow pot.

To accommodate the plant, the thick older roots are cut leaving only the main root.

Pruning of the old roots stimulates the plant to produce smaller fibrous root, which are more efficient in absorbing the nutrients.

The main root is then bent around using the inner wall of the pot as boundary. If necessary the root is to be wound with a thick copper wire. This will help maintain the shape of the root once it is bent along with the wound wire.

As you can see in the above picture, all thick roots are not removed. The plant can now be easily accommodated in the limited space of the pot. It is not difficult to identify some roots which are more appealing when it is exposed above the soil. These when properly arranged, simulate the presence of aerial roots.

In the next step, an 80:20 mixture of top soil and farm manure is prepared. This is then filled in the pot while holding the plant upright or at any desired angle which may look more attractive.

Once the filling is completed, it is to be compacted around the root so that the plant will not get uprooted by any kind of small disturbances. Additional support can be made till the roots carry the weight of the plant by their own. Water it well regularly.Keep the plant in a shaded place till it develops a strong network of roots.

Generally the branches are not cut or bent till the plant recovers from the pruning of the roots. Once the plant develops a strong root system, it can be transferred to outdoor. It is observed that plants kept in the shade develop big leaves for absorbing all the available sunlight, while those are kept in the sunshine will have smaller leaves.

Once the roots are fully developed the branches can be cut, bent or modified.


Picture courtesy: Resmi K R