One school of thought is that trees are outdoor plants and placing them into pots doesn’t transform them into indoor plants. Many believe that if you bring bonsai inside, they will die. While not necessarily true, you will most likely see much better results if you let your bonsai flourish outside instead of inside.
Just bear in mind that you’re going to be nurturing and growing a tree in a tray or pot. Trees need lots of sunlight and care to grow. Just because the trees are in a tray or pot rather than the ground doesn’t mean they don’t want the same care.
However, Bonsai are still trees and has to have outside living conditions. Trees need good light, good humidity levels, good air flow and importantly, many species want the cold of winter to go dormant. Inside our homes, trees receive comparatively poor light levels and the dry air with low humidity levels created by central heating systems can cause many problems.
There are species that will tolerate indoor conditions and with the correct positioning and care can flourish. There are also many species that are not hardy enough to tolerate the winter cold. But, all these are in the minority.
It is far more difficult to cultivate indoor Bonsai than outside Bonsai. External species very rarely die immediately when grown inside, they can survive for months. However they slowly lose their health and vitality in the adverse conditions they must deal with, and become susceptible to disease and pests until they eventually start to show outward signs of ill-health; yellowing leaves, lose of foliage and eventually death.
There are a number of varieties of plants that do well as an indoor bonsai like ficus, aralia, azalea, Norfolk pine, serissa, gardenia, or boxwood. Note that all of these are woody-stemmed plants and can have their limbs wired to direct the development.
Tropical and subtropical varieties can not tolerate tempers under 40 – 50 degrees F. These plants can be left outside when the temperatures stay above this. Light inside the house should be by filtered sunshine from an east, south, or west window. Grow lights 12 hours daily work well. Outside in summer place in partial shade
There’s not any coniferous species which can tolerate indoor farming for more than 2 or 3 decades. This is important to keep in mind as most successful bonsai trees are of the coniferous species.
In mild climates, temperate bonsai should remain outdoors year round. In cold climates, temperate climate plants should be grown outdoors during the warm seasons of the year, but will require winter protection. It’s likely to develop temperate climate plants inside in winter if they are first given the required period of dormancy.
The impulse is strong for beginners to grow their bonsai indoors. Although a few traditional species for bonsai could be grown indoors year round if they’re given a dormant rest period, you must remember that this requires some skills usually obtained from growing bonsai for a couple of years. We can safely say that as a beginner, you should begin with growing your bonsai outdoors.
Alright, then, how do you start your own bonsai masterpiece? Let us first consider the tools you’ll need.
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