Bonsai Tree Care Tables by Ken Goebel
(printed in MBS newsletter September 2008)
After looking up and reading many articles on the internet about bonsai tree care, I've put together care tables for the more common bonsai trees. They
include soil, lighting, fertilizing, re-potting, and winter storage conditions. The tables are recommended only as guidelines for actual practice, as the
information for each tree summarizes several internet articles, and every article usually says something slightly different. So I used my best judgement on
the care conditions trying to reasonably include the information from all articles.
The tables are separated into categories of indoor trees and outdoor trees. A few of the trees will be found in both tables, such as azalea or crape myrtle,
since these can be grown both outside or inside depending on the particular species. And if some of the species of a given genus have widely differing
conditions, such as for maple genus, these species are broken out as separate listings in the tables.
A bit of explanation about the table entries:
Soil - damp, moist, etc. refers to moisture content of soil. F is degrees Fahrenheit. pH is soil state, acidic being pH less than about 6.5, neutral is pH
6.5-7.5, and basic being pH greater than about 7.5. Most trees prefer acidic or neutral soil.
Fertilize - when to fertilize by season.
Repot - the best time to transplant by season.
Light - partial sun is the same as mostly shade, mostly sun same as partial shade, etc.
Winter Storage - indoor cold means garage storage, outdoor cold means outside storage, etc.
(printed in MBS newsletter September 2008)
After looking up and reading many articles on the internet about bonsai tree care, I've put together care tables for the more common bonsai trees. They
include soil, lighting, fertilizing, re-potting, and winter storage conditions. The tables are recommended only as guidelines for actual practice, as the
information for each tree summarizes several internet articles, and every article usually says something slightly different. So I used my best judgement on
the care conditions trying to reasonably include the information from all articles.
The tables are separated into categories of indoor trees and outdoor trees. A few of the trees will be found in both tables, such as azalea or crape myrtle,
since these can be grown both outside or inside depending on the particular species. And if some of the species of a given genus have widely differing
conditions, such as for maple genus, these species are broken out as separate listings in the tables.
A bit of explanation about the table entries:
Soil - damp, moist, etc. refers to moisture content of soil. F is degrees Fahrenheit. pH is soil state, acidic being pH less than about 6.5, neutral is pH
6.5-7.5, and basic being pH greater than about 7.5. Most trees prefer acidic or neutral soil.
Fertilize - when to fertilize by season.
Repot - the best time to transplant by season.
Light - partial sun is the same as mostly shade, mostly sun same as partial shade, etc.
Winter Storage - indoor cold means garage storage, outdoor cold means outside storage, etc.
