What's the perfect species for me?

[delfiend]

Alright, hey guys. It's been a while since I've been on. Probably because my rosemary bonsai died from an outbreak of mildew I didn't notice in time and my boxwood bonsai I was starting died too because of some extremely dry weather.

So I looking into getting back into the bonsai hobby, but I want to ask some advice before I dive in again. I'm looking for a species that will do well with what I have to provide it with. So far, I'm thinking Chinese Elm or Flowering Tea Tree, leaning heavily towards the latter. This is what I've got.

• indoors
• 7 feet from window, no obstructions between window and where bonsai would sit (direct sunlight..?)
• western sun, from about 1:30PM to either 5:00PM or 8:00PM depending on time of year
• need something hardy to mistakes
• not too demanding with a watering schedule, more forgiving to too little or too much water

I'm totally willing to get a tool to measure soil moisture, pH, and lighting. However, I have yet to find someplace to tell me what these levels should be for the Flowering Tea Tree, which is the species I have found to be the best suited to my environment.

Also, I was wondering if the larger the tree, the hardier it is. Is that true? If not, what helps determine what tree can take more beatings than the next, besides species? Specifically because on easternleaf.com, they sell the Flowering Tea Tree (Fukien) in four sizes: mini, 8" to 12" tall; normal, 10" to 14" tall; large, 13" to 15" tall; and grand, 16" to 19" tall. I was looking mainly at trunk thickness, and the mini has a smaller trunk than the other three, but there's not much difference (at least in the pictures) in the trunk thickness for the normal, large, and grand sizes.

What's your opinions? Thanks!!

 

[Poink88]

None of the above...sounds more like a ficus territory.

Bigger trees are not hardier. The best water monitoring device is a chop stick. Note that water intake by your trees is most influenced by the room humidity and amount of foliage the tree has. Of course bigger pot may give you longer time between watering also if that is a criteria.

Good luck!

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Fukein tea is very temperamental. I would avoid that and go for a green island ficus in your situation.

 

[tmmason10]

From what you've described, your best bet is portulacaria afra or dwarf sheffelera. I have found that it is much easier to keep smaller trees indoors and growing as compared to larger trees.

 

[lordy]

Distance from a window is a problem as well. And if the window is not south-facing, even worse.

This from About.com: It's important to know that natural sunlight coming through a window is not as strong as sunlight outside, and the intensity of the light drops rapidly the further the plant is moved from the window. A simple move of two or three feet away from a window can reduce the light intensity by more than 50 percent.

You may want to think about artificial lighting. See the Tropicals forum and look at Redwood Ryan's threads regarding his indoor setups.

 

[edprocoat]

You are going to need a light setup, it does not have to expensive. You will need to really monitor the soil moisture too, indoors the heating/cooling dries out plants real quick. As for species really any Ficus or Chinese Elm can be grown indoors with a ton of care but its best to move them outdoors in the summer sun when you are able. None of them will grow really well indoors but they will stay alive and grow slowly as long as you really put the effort into the watering and ferts etc. Ryan indoors setups are enclosed so the plants are kept from the harsh environment the HVAC in your house creates.

ed

 

[Paradox]

I just got a couple of ficus a month ago and bought this light stand you can put in a counter or table. It includes a light fixture for bulb. If you dont have some place to hang a fixture, which would be cheaper to buy, or the means to build a stand, this works well. My ficus are now both putting out new leaves under this setup.

One problem with this fixture is it seems to use non standard bulbs but you can get replacement on Amazon. It was missing the clips to attach the lights to the stand. I called the company and they sent replacements for free.

This is the 2 foot version, they also make a 4 foot version. You can put 2 medium sized trees under the 2 foot.

Stand and light fixture
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0006856EQ/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?qid=1388760205&sr=8-3&pi=SY200_QL40


Replacement bulbs
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00004R9UR/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?qid=1388760822&sr=8-3&pi=SX200_QL40

The other thing with ficus is they like to be at or above 65 deg F preferably. They can take colder for short periods though.

 

[aphid]

7 feet from a window is way too far. A south facing window is ideal, but west would be fine, too. I have been growing tropical bonsai trees indoor for 15 years. The easiest is Schefflera arboricola. Ficus and dwarf jade will survive, but will look sickly. Fukien tea will probably die from insect infestation. Willow leaf ficus gets spider mites a lot and will look sickly with no leaves on the inner branches. Chinese elm isn't really good indoor because it needs cooling in winter.

Schefflera arboricola has no pest and is very forgiving with water, light, and abuse. However, it will appreciate being outside every summer. That's when I defoilage the whole tree and put it in a sunny spot. Shoots will come out everywhere. You can do that indoor too, but it won't respond as well. And yes, bigger trees are easier to take care off because the pots will be bigger. They won't dry out as fast. The plant shouldn't be too big though or the inner branches won't get enough light since the tree will be indoor.


This is what one of mine looked like growing inside on a sunny window.



The same tree a few months later after it was outside for the summer.




Here's one I made from a 5-foot house plant. This one is variegated and can't take the full sun as well outside and does really well indoor on a sunny window. You can make this by getting a nice big one from Home Depot and chopping off the top. Put it in the sunniest spot you can find. Two shoots will break out at the tip. If you put it outside in the sun, sometimes you get 4 shoots from each tip. Good luck!

 

[aphid]

If you just want to buy a finished one, check out http://www.fukubonsai.com/. There's no other bonsai store with better arboricola bonsai trees.