Summer: Seasonal
Care Information
Article courtesy of the Phoenix
Bonsai Society.
 Keeping
in mind the variations due to each tree's size, variety, age, health,
and microclimate positioning, the following are tips to help your
bonsai survive during a long, hard summer.
Grow native or naturalized plants.
Use the recommended coarse soil mix.
Keep your plants healthy and pest-free. Rotate each plant a quarter
turn every week. This gives even exposure to the sun and fresh air,
plus allows you to check on the health or disease from all sides.
Don't let your plants get out of control, especially the faster growers
like junipers and elms.
Keep new growth pinched after it gets only so long. Don't lose the
shape you've spent time working on. Thin any tight growth to allow
air and light flow.
Be aware of the water-retention of each pot of soil mix. Slight differences
in soil materials when each plant was potted up, the requirements
of each type of tree, the siting of each pot -- all these prohibit
a "one-method-fits-all" watering. Learn to customize to
your plants' needs.
Provide shade cloth overhead, especially after noon. Or site your
bonsai under landscape trees or shrubs.
Set pots on low stands or slatted workbenches over a lawn, mulch or
gravel; less preferable is over concrete or desert landscaping. Soak
the ground thoroughly in the morning. Give the trees an occasional
good-strength shower.
Over-pot your trees in the springtime. The extra room will be much
appreciated. Or, sink your potted trees in a layer of mulch or sawdust.
Check every now and then that the roots haven't grown out the drainage
holes and into the ground!
Set pots near a swimming pool or pond, or above but not in pans of
water. Be aware of reflected sunlight. (Keep trees a little way away
from south or west facing masonry walls or windows.)
Group plants together, but not touching one another. Allow room for
good air circulation.
Don't let your more delicate trees get unfiltered west/afternoon sun
or a monsoon dust storm.
Have your plants spend the summer in a growing bed, not in their pots.
Prune vigorous top growth.
Water maples and other plants bearing thin-edged leaves with distilled
or reverse-osmosis (RO) water. Remember to fertilize half-strength
regularly.
If a bonsai has wilted leaves, put it in the shade and give it a little
water. Give it a little more water later that day. Let the roots recover
slowly -- don't drown them.
When established -- not recently repotted or root-pruned -- larger
specimens of the following can take full sun: bougainvillea, elephant
food, fruitless olive, lantana, lysiloma, Texas ebony, junipers, dwarf
myrtle.
In the late summer and throughout the fall use a high phosphate fertilizer,
such as a 10-60-10 blend, for the flowering trees. This allows the
plant to build up reserves and rudimentary buds for next spring.
Sketch or photograph your trees. Determine what kind of tree would
be right -- or wrong -- for that empty container you have. When traveling,
study full-grown trees. Notice their shapes: what is it that gives
them "character?"
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