Indoor bonsai for office environment?

[hierophant]

Hi folks,

I'd like to pick up a bonsai that will thrive in an indoor office environment.

I'd prefer to stay away from ficuses and succulents.

Environment is warm-ish (69-75), dry, no natural light. I could theoretically get a lamp in.

Open to suggestions! I'd be especially pleased with something leafy, not conifer.

 

[music~maker]

Hi folks,

I'd like to pick up a bonsai that will thrive in an indoor office environment.

I'd prefer to stay away from ficuses and succulents.

Environment is warm-ish (69-75), dry, no natural light. I could theoretically get a lamp in.

Open to suggestions! I'd be especially pleased with something leafy, not conifer.

Unfortunately, you don't have too many options. Tropicals are going to be the easiest to keep alive indoors. No natural light is a pretty significant problem, and limits your options more. My go-to options for indoors would be jade, ficus or chinese elm, but not sure how those will do in 100% artificial light in an office. I moderate the reddit /r/bonsai sub, and we see a lot of dead trees come out of that situation.

You'll need a serious grow light imho to have a chance at keeping whatever you get healthy. I would experiment with some cheap plants to make sure you can get it to work before you invest in anything expensive. If you can keep something alive for a year inside, and it actually looks better a year later, then try something nicer.

Growing indoors is a lot more difficult than growing outdoors imho. No natural predators for pests, poor humidity, poor light, etc. The only time I bring my tropicals in is when I don't have any other choice because of weather, and they definitely don't like it very much. Well, maybe except for jade (crassula ovata). Those seem to thrive no matter what I do. Maybe start with one of those.

 

[Melospiza]

If you have no natural light at all, a tropical house plant, like Pothos, philodendron, haworthia, Sanseveria etc, might be a best bet. Most woody plants I can think of would need additional light, but be warned that this might annoy your officemates. Additionally, the full-spectrum LED lights that emit in red and blue visible and invisible spectrum can cause eye strain and loss of vision (while researching these lamps, I found many indoor growers, usually for pot, complaining about temporary and permanent vision loss). It's not fair to inflict this on your coworkers. Unless you can put the plant in a grow box, which defeats the purpose of having it. That said, how do you feel about Pachyra aquatica, Snowbush (Breynia disticha), Ming aralia or Chinese privet?

 

[GrimLore]

I have a Spring project at the Firm Crystal has her Office. It is to design and have two Tokonoma made. One for the foyer to sit on a really nice antique table. And another which will be in the conference room. Both will be lighted and being boxed in will not be brutal but pleasant. They will be on a 8hr on 4 hour off light schedule(timer) giving them 16 hours of light.
One is getting a Bougainvillea and the other a Brazilian Rain tree as I find them both to do just fine in a proper controlled inside situation...

EDIT: I made it sound easy but the design of the box, the type of an amount of light is tricky. I might add that when you test or try plants indoors to change the light cycle for January, February, and March to 6 on 6 off for those months giving them 12 hours of light. Makes a serious difference for continued growth and longevity.

EDIT 2: It also requires a far different water and fertilizing method.

Grimmy

 

[Melospiza]

I have a Spring project at the Firm Crystal has her Office. It is to design and have two Tokonoma made. One for the foyer to sit on a really nice antique table. And another which will be in the conference room. Both will be lighted and being boxed in will not be brutal but pleasant. They will be on a 8hr on 4 hour off light schedule(timer) giving them 16 hours of light.
One is getting a Bougainvillea and the other a Brazilian Rain tree as I find them both to do just fine in a proper controlled inside situation...

EDIT: I made it sound easy but the design of the box, the type of an amount of light is tricky. I might add that when you test or try plants indoors to change the light cycle for January, February, and March to 6 on 6 off for those months giving them 12 hours of light. Makes a serious difference for continued growth and longevity.

EDIT 2: It also requires a far different water and fertilizing method.

Grimmy

What sort of lighting?

 

[JudyB]

I would suggest getting more than one plant, so you can rotate them in and out of the non-optimal situation that you have.
Olive and BRT do well for me in an inside situation.

 

[GrimLore]

What sort of lighting?

T8 Florescent in a enclosure work fine if the enclosure is white. I prefer Full Spectrum but standard T8 works just as good seeing what others use for Wintering. I will use a mold and mildew proof white satin finish on the interior. We will be framing it thick enough at the front so the lights and fixtures will not be seen. The framing on the Exterior will match the table color being stained.
Watering/misting will be with distilled water only. Fertilizer will be applied low dose 20-20-20 with micronutrients with daily watering. Think Mini- Greenhouse and study what they do in detail... The distilled water is being used for aesthetics - when watering and/or misting it will not leave minimal buildup on the pots, none if the pots are treated correctly. Also, it does not leave marks on the white finish I described if sprayed.
There are other details as well - growing indoors is painstaking and requires a lot of logic.

Grimmy

 

[Melospiza]

T8 Florescent in a enclosure work fine if the enclosure is white. I prefer Full Spectrum but standard T8 works just as good seeing what others use for Wintering. I will use a mold and mildew proof white satin finish on the interior. We will be framing it thick enough at the front so the lights and fixtures will not be seen. The framing on the Exterior will match the table color being stained.
Watering/misting will be with distilled water only. Fertilizer will be applied low dose 20-20-20 with micronutrients with daily watering. Think Mini- Greenhouse and study what they do in detail... The distilled water is being used for aesthetics - when watering and/or misting it will not leave minimal buildup on the pots, none if the pots are treated correctly. Also, it does not leave marks on the white finish I described if sprayed.
There are other details as well - growing indoors is painstaking and requires a lot of logic.

Grimmy

Sounds like a lot of research went into it. D you have any experience with the pink and blue (+ invisible UV) LED lamps that are available on Amazon and elsewhere? Noticed any eye issues if so?

 

[GrimLore]

Sounds like a lot of research went into it. D you have any experience with the pink and blue (+ invisible UV) LED lamps that are available on Amazon and elsewhere? Noticed any eye issues if so?

Only experimenting with a single small panel right now in a terrarium. No eye issues as it not in a position you can look into it easily - it is bright though and I don't feel a need to So far everything I toss in there does good BUT looks dead, grey and brown under the light. Shut it off and all is lush green... I would never use it for display purposes but find so far it works for common plants. Adding several Ficus this week so time will tell.

Grimmy

 

[Melospiza]

Only experimenting with a single small panel right now in a terrarium. No eye issues as it not in a position you can look into it easily - it is bright though and I don't feel a need to So far everything I toss in there does good BUT looks dead, grey and brown under the light. Shut it off and all is lush green... I would never use it for display purposes but find so far it works for common plants. Adding several Ficus this week so time will tell.

Grimmy

Yeah, that's what I have found. I have one that actually kept my ficuses, cacti, crassulas quite happy last winter. I didn't look into the light but I would see spots everytime I looked at the light's reflection off the leaves. Try taking a picture of the plants under the light with your cellphone and you'll see patches of over-exposed areas which are clearly radiation that your eyes cannot see. This year I am going to buy a black polymer tent and put the lights and plants inside them. Hope my neighbors don't think I am growing something illegal.

 

[GrimLore]

Try taking a picture of the plants under the light with your cellphone and you'll see patches of over-exposed areas which are clearly radiation that your eyes cannot see. This year I am going to buy a black polymer tent and put the lights and plants inside them. Hope my neighbors don't think I am growing something illegal.

The plant room has over 10K lumens in it now of Full Spectrum florescent lighting in it and adding 12 - 14K in the Spring. That does not include the Lights for the Desert Tortoise or that LED... The other lights are bright enough that the LED panel is not annoying otherwise it would be for certain. If I do not do some adjustments to the camera all looks lavender in there but white to the eye.
We are at the entrance to the townhouse community here and only have a shear curtain on the window since 2013 when we bought the place where all the lights are. The Police Chiefs Mom lives across the street and likes the plants and tortoise, her Son has also been here to see all and we have no problems. A few have asked in the past though if I had Reef Tanks as a Hobby. Being a bit offended by them being nosey I simply replied "NO" and walked away... Those people don't talk to me and I am pretty certain it is best

Grimmy

 

[Melospiza]

The plant room has over 10K lumens in it now of Full Spectrum florescent lighting in it and adding 12 - 14K in the Spring. That does not include the Lights for the Desert Tortoise or that LED... The other lights are bright enough that the LED panel is not annoying otherwise it would be for certain. If I do not do some adjustments to the camera all looks lavender in there but white to the eye.
We are at the entrance to the townhouse community here and only have a shear curtain on the window since 2013 when we bought the place where all the lights are. The Police Chiefs Mom lives across the street and likes the plants and tortoise, her Son has also been here to see all and we have no problems. A few have asked in the past though if I had Reef Tanks as a Hobby. Being a bit offended by them being nosey I simply replied "NO" and walked away... Those people don't talk to me and I am pretty certain it is best

Grimmy

Hmm, reef tanks as in, a tropical aquarium with corals and clownfish?

 

[Vin]

 

[hierophant]

This has been an incredibly useful thread; thanks folks!

 

[Michael P]

Dwarf schefflera, Schefflera arbicola, is the bonsai species most likely to survive office conditions. But you will want to send it to summer camp every year, LOL.