It has been to long

For those of you who actually read my blog I thank you and I would Like to let you know that soon I will be updating. Thanks for your patience.

Over feeding

I Have tried different feeding schedules on different trees and today I want to talk about overfeeding your them. The best thing to do is some research because every tree is different. Now on my trees, I have schedule of feeding every other week, to once every 1 and a half months. I just tried to feed my youngest tree in my collection (fukien tea) once every 2 weeks and it looked to be doing very good. About a month and a half later the leaves started to turn yellow and wilt. to recover from this all i did was water every day until the nutrients had flushed out through the bottom pot and the soil went back to normal. When you start to see signs of overfeeding such as - leaves wilting and turning yellow, leaves glossiness disappears, branches losing there sturdyness, you want to flush out the soil and just wait it out. I will expand on this matter more in the future. As I am late for school and need to get out.

Dallas bonsai

I just wanted to take the time to talk about dallasbonsai.com. Not that im trying to promote them or anything as they are not paying me to to do it. But if your local to Texas or even if you live in Dallas, this is a good place to start for all your bonsai needs. This company has a catalog of over 2500 items from soils to all kinds of tools. I give them two thumbs up. The variety of items is outstanding. The only drawback is that this more of a warehouse, so if you wanted to walk-in "You must know what you want before visiting us in order for you not to be disappointed. You can't come in and just look." -dallasbonsai.com. If you have any questions, you can call them at 1-800-982-1223. They pick up phones 1-5pm monday thru friday.

Mealy Bugs ewwww

A big problem that some people might have with there trees is the infestation of pests. Especially if your tree stays outside most of the time. My biggest pest problem would be from the mealy bugs. Mealy bugs are tiny cottony-looking insects with piercing/sucking mouth parts. They suck the fluids from leaves and stems, robbing plants of essential nutrients. Leaves will start to wither and turn yellow. Also fruits may drop prematurely. Nobody like these little buggers so to get rid of them I first start to use a light spray of water to push as much as I can off. Be careful though as to not destroy your trees. After ward go in with some fine point tweezers and pick off as many as you can from the fruits and leaves. They do leave behind a silky white webbing of some sort which in concentrated in little pockets. This stuff is really sticky and disgusting. Now for majorly infested areas extreme methods must be used. Branches that have more then one site of infestation might leave you resorting to cutting it off. One thing I noticed that seemed to make a difference was the Sun. I don't think they like heat or light which is usually why you find them underneath the leaves and fruit if your tree has it. If all else fails you can always try an pesticide. I would definatly look for something that takes care of mealy bugs. that means make Sure the label says mealy bugs. Don't just go and grab any generic pesticide. Ill make another update on this post in a little while as I wanted to get this out as soon as possible since I have had the worst problem with Mealy Bugs this summer. Be right back.

Sphagnum Moss

There seems to be a new trend growing bonsai with sphagnum moss instead of soil. For the begginer this a great medium to grow in. Sphagnum moss is approximately 350 different types of species of peatmoss usually found in bogs and mires. This medium is truly acidic and the bonsai trees love it. Its very easy to work with and not nearly as messy as messing with soil. I just learned about this method and plan to use it on some of my upcomming trees. Ill report back when I know some thing in the mean time this video is full of information on sphagnum moss. The guy really did a great job but if you would like to know more watch his other videos there all great.




this video is great to watch for learning how to grow with sphagnum moss.

Tree Strengthening

With Texas weather being so unpredictable it is wise to check on your outdoor bonsai at least twice daily. Maintain the soil of your tree by making sure that it is always moist. I usually water my trees in the morning before I go to work and then spray them with my spray bottle in the afternoons. Although some of my trees can be considered indoor plants I like for them to get natural light in the mornings. When I come back from work I Will bring them in. It might seem like a lot of work, but leaving the plants outside stimulates them by strengthening the trunk and branches. This occurs as the wind is blowing. The trees will then fight back against the wind, building up trunk mass. This happen in all plants.

I Found Myself Looking

This is my first blog post and I thought I would Create it to get feedback from other beginners starting there first Bonsai trees. What I plan on including is maybe some daily tips and other resources to help the beginner raise there trees to its fullest potential.

Tip #1 - I find that on any of my plants the hormone supplement Super Thrive gives any tree a good start. Not only have I found that it will help the bonsai grow twice as fast but gives the branches a more fuller look. I first tried this on a 2 year old Fujien Tea. I must say I am quite please with the results. Now it is up to the user how frequently SuperThrive is used. I found the supplement at Lowe's for $9.99. Since it is highly concentrated I mix one droplet of Superthrive with ten drops of liquid Miracle-Gro Houseplant food into one liter of water. I then flood the tree with the mix and let it drain. I have been doing this for about 6 months and the tree already looks like it has done a full year worth of growing.