Why is my bonsai pot glued to the tray?

[MitchellFromCanada]

Im new to the forum, And bonsai. Bought this beautiful fukien tea bonsai ( for what i think was a pretty good deal 220 cdn, is this a decent deal?) about a month ago and im just wondering why the pot is glued to the humidity tray. Its getting dusty down there and i want to rinse it, also wondering how on earth the thing is repotted/ wired in. Its a 25 year old tree about a foot and a bit in height, seemed like a very reliable grower its the only bonsai store i could find anywhere near me in montreal, although there was a huge language barrier when purchasing, also upon getting home saw that its a very picky species. But i did a bunch of research and have just about worked out the watering, light and soon the ph balance will be good as well, still a little confused about fertilizing though and whether these tropical species stop growing in winter indoors. However my other indoor tree, a powderpuff or calliandra has been having some problems with yellow leaves on the lower branches. Not sure if it was overwatering or a fertilizer issue, or stress because i got that one in the mail and then pruned it because it seemed healthy and it was my first and only bonsai at the time( bad i know). Any advice on both trees is welcome, pictures should be attached. Did i just botch the wiring completely? It doesnt appear to be digging in anywhere and i cut the wire off that one branch and just put that piece to pull it down. Should i cut it all off?Any advice is appreciated, also im in montreal, Canada, not sure if my profile is updated. Cheers

 

[MitchellFromCanada]

To follow up, i didnt know the trunk was going to be split like that when i bought the little one, they said it was to promote horizontal growth when i asked over email but ive never really seen another tree split so high, thoughts? How can i achieve taper with it being split so close to the top? Doesnt seem to fall under any category of shape. Thoughts?

 

[Arlithrien]

because its a "mallsai" - a cheap mass produced tree that most people buy on a whim, get bored of and neglect and throw out after it dies. It's not meant to be truly functional, it's meant to look pretty long enough to sell it.

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[Bonsai Nut]

Doesnt seem to fall under any category of shape. Thoughts?

Welcome to the site!

We are here to help... and the first bit of help I would offer is to ask here first BEFORE you buy something That Fukien Tea is not a bad tree... but it ain't 25 years old. And more importantly - it doesn't matter how old it is... what matters is how old it looks.

Because trees are living objects, any of them can grow into anything you want them to be. You just have to provide the proper environment. Rather than comment on your tree I would ask if there are any Montreal bonsai societies you could join - simply because you could learn in one hour what I could type in 24 hours

 

[Tieball]

Well……at least the rocks aren't glued together on top.

 

[Lorax7]

Oddly enough, I have seen bonsai pots without anything in them being sold that way, with a humidity tray glued to the bottom. I don’t get it. What’s the market for this? Who is out there growing bonsai that knows enough to be aware that their tree needs to be repotted but doesn’t know enough to recognize that gluing a humidity tray to the bottom is a terrible idea? It’s really counterproductive for the merchant because it actively prevents anyone who’s been doing bonsai for a while from buying these pots. If it didn’t have the stupid tray glued to it, I would totally buy some of these cheap pots. Even a cheap ceramic pot looks nicer on the bench than a plastic training pot. But I’m not going to buy it and just hope that I can manage to separate the two without breaking the pot.

 

[Flowerhouse]

To address the question in your title.... Seems like this year most of the ceramic pots of any shape, in the big box stores anyway, have a drip tray attached. Some are glazed on, some are hot glued on. If your trays are hot glued on it should be easy enough to remove them. If they are glazed on, I don't know what you can do about that other than repot.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

I perhaps lost myself in my post. The point I was trying to make was simply - both trees have challenges, but both trees can be grown past those challenges.

And if a pot is glued or otherwise affixed to a tray - toss it.

 

[penumbra]

just hope that I can manage to separate the two without breaking the pot.

You cannot separate them. It is probably not glued on, it is fired on and glazed on. It's made to be "pretty" to those who don't know what a bonsai pot should and shouldn't be.

 

[MitchellFromCanada]

Well……at least the rocks aren't glued together on top.

They're not rocks haha its bonsai soil

 

[MitchellFromCanada]

Welcome to the site!

We are here to help... and the first bit of help I would offer is to ask here first BEFORE you buy something That Fukien Tea is not a bad tree... but it ain't 25 years old. And more importantly - it doesn't matter how old it is... what matters is how old it looks.

Because trees are living objects, any of them can grow into anything you want them to be. You just have to provide the proper environment. Rather than comment on your tree I would ask if there are any Montreal bonsai societies you could join - simply because you could learn in one hour what I could type in 24 hours

Good point! Thanks for the warm welcome! I believe there is one or two for sure, i dont speak french is my only issue. Also, I think it actually is 25 years old, there were 50 year old, 10 year old and an 85 year old to compare it to but thanks. Certainly looks 25 to me either way!

 

[MitchellFromCanada]

I perhaps lost myself in my post. The point I was trying to make was simply - both trees have challenges, but both trees can be grown past those challenges.

And if a pot is glued or otherwise affixed to a tray - toss it.

Thanks! Yeah I want to eventually put it in an oval pot

 

[MitchellFromCanada]

You cannot separate them. It is probably not glued on, it is fired on and glazed on. It's made to be "pretty" to those who don't know what a bonsai pot should and shouldn't be.

Ok, thanks I will tread cautiously and see whether it is glue or not, if it is glue, do you think i could heat it up with a lighter and separate them?

 

[MitchellFromCanada]

Oddly enough, I have seen bonsai pots without anything in them being sold that way, with a humidity tray glued to the bottom. I don’t get it. What’s the market for this? Who is out there growing bonsai that knows enough to be aware that their tree needs to be repotted but doesn’t know enough to recognize that gluing a humidity tray to the bottom is a terrible idea? It’s really counterproductive for the merchant because it actively prevents anyone who’s been doing bonsai for a while from buying these pots. If it didn’t have the stupid tray glued to it, I would totally buy some of these cheap pots. Even a cheap ceramic pot looks nicer on the bench than a plastic training pot. But I’m not going to buy it and just hope that I can manage to separate the two without breaking the pot.

Yeah, so weird, I'm going to check closely tomorrow to see if its glue. Hopefully it can come off because the pot seems pretty nice would hate to have to trash it eventually when it just gets too mucky down there.

 

[Lorax7]

You cannot separate them. It is probably not glued on, it is fired on and glazed on. It's made to be "pretty" to those who don't know what a bonsai pot should and shouldn't be.

I’ve seen some that were obviously glazed and fired together, but have also seen some where it looked like it was hot glued together. The problem is, you wouldn’t know for sure until you got home whether it was hot glue or a clear glaze.

 

[leatherback]

with a humidity tray glued to the bottom. I don’t get it. What’s the market for this? Who is out there growing bonsai that knows enough to be aware that their tree needs to be repotted but doesn’t know enough to recognize that gluing a humidity tray to the bottom is a terrible idea?

Kindly going to disagree with a range of posts, and sorry @Lorax7 your post was most convenient to respond to.

Rethink humidity tray and think, drip tray: Protect your furniture against dripping water. And all of the sudden is makes a lot of sense. You cannot loose a tray that is glued on (or integral part of) the pot. So for the seller, less risk of being left with pots where the trays are missing.

My tropicals sit in trays all winter, and have near-continuous access to water. It is the only way I can keep them happy, living on top of our heaters. All tropicals that sit on the ground live in trays too. Empty/dry trays = watering time. As long as they empty the tray every few days, I have not seen any negatives of this.

 

[Mapleminx]

I have only encountered an attached tray once and I can confirm you cannot separate it. Most are fired on during cheap production, I broke a cheap pot using varying methods of trying to separate them as an experiment.

 

[Lorax7]

Rethink humidity tray and think, drip tray: Protect your furniture against dripping water. And all of the sudden is makes a lot of sense. You cannot loose a tray that is glued on (or integral part of) the pot. So for the seller, less risk of being left with pots where the trays are missing.

There are other ways to keep the pot and tray together that don’t require permanently affixing the tray, limiting the usefulness of the pot. It would be just as easy to hold them together with a plastic band that is easily removed by the customer. A twist tie would also work. It works to keep children’s toys positioned in their packaging throughout the container ship’s ocean voyage from China to anywhere in the world. Can’t see any reason why it wouldn’t also work for bonsai pots and trays.

 

[Mapleminx]

There are other ways to keep the pot and tray together that don’t require permanently affixing the tray, limiting the usefulness of the pot. It would be just as easy to hold them together with a plastic band that is easily removed by the customer. A twist tie would also work. It works to keep children’s toys positioned in their packaging throughout the container ship’s ocean voyage from China to anywhere in the world. Can’t see any reason why it wouldn’t also work for bonsai pots and trays.

I recently saw a nice deep pot from china advertised online that would have looked great with my big azalea. But guess what….attached tray so I didn’t buy. Shame as it was a lovely pot and not that cheap…the fired on tray was a dealbreaker.

 

[Shogun610]

Sigh…. A post about mallsai gets more response and activity than actual bonsai projects. Pathetic.