Ornamental PlantsPlant Care Instructions

How to Grow Bonsai Trees for Beginners

It’s easy to get started to get started as a bonsai grower. Follow these basic steps and choose a variety recommended for first time growers and you’ll be ready to go.

Cultivation

The first step is choosing a bonsai that fits your requirements. Do you want to keep your tree indoors or outdoors? If you want an indoor variety your options will be limited to sub-tropical trees that can only survive indoors. There are varieties of indoor bonsai that are easier to keep than others. Ficus and jade are two indoor bonsai that that easy to care for and maintain that work well for beginners. Outdoor bonsai are easier to keep than indoor varieties because they are grown in the natural environment that trees normally grow in.

Styling

You can begin styling your bonsai with some basic pruning and wiring. Pruning is probably the single most important technique in bonsai. Pruning keeps bonsai trees in shape and helps control their overall size. Branches that have unnatural twists should be removed and if two branches are the same height remove one and keep the other. Thick branches at the top of the tree should always be removed.

Care

Proper care is one of the most crucial aspects in growing a bonsai tree successfully. The first thing you need to consider is watering. Be careful when watering the plant; too much can result in root rot and even death. Fertilizing regularly is also a key to keeping a bonsai healthy as the trees are in small pots with limited space and nutrients available.

3 Good Beginner Plants

Ficus Bonsai Tree

One of the easiest bonsai trees to maintain is the Ficus. They come in a variety of sizes and do not require a lot of light to do well. They are strong and grow very quickly.

Chinese Elm Bonsai Tree

The Chinese Elm is one of the most common choices for indoor bonsai. They offer easy maintenance due to their small leaves and are fast growing.

Juniper Bonsai

Juniper is another bonsai tree that offers easy maintenance and is ideal for a beginner. It is one of the traditional bonsai species and comes in small, medium and large sizes.

Graham Potter was provided background information for this article by KaizenBonsai.com.

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