AusBonsai

Hello everyone

I recently purchased some plants for my new bonsai collection and was wanting some advice on general care specific to my purchases. I have grown one or two bonsai in the past but had to give them up early on, so whilst i have some limited basic knowledge from books etc, I felt i should ask some veterans before i do anything with them so as not to make any mistakes.

I obtained the following varieties:

-Escallonia Macrantha Rubra Nana
-Azalea Splendens
-Cotoneaster Horizontalis
-Sempervirens English Box

I managed to get some information via the internet on all but the Escallonia. However, I wanted to get some first hand advice for all my plants, as after looking as some different sites, i have found that advice can sometimes be contradictory.

In particular, i was looking at the following information for each plant:

-Likes or dislikes direct sun
-Watering
-Feeding/Fertilising
-When to prune
-When and how often to repot

Also, I'm interested to know if i will outright kill any of the plants if i repot them now. I bought them from the nursery and so they are not in Bonsai pots as yet. I would like to get them in some pots ASAP but at the same time, it would be a pointless exercise if they die a week later.

Thanks

Hi Krusty,

I am fairly new to Bonsai, but what I have been told is that plants do not grow quickly in Bonsai pots. If your trees are the size you want them, fine. If not, plant them in the ground (best) or large tubs (2nd best) for a while until they reach the trunk size you want. Most of the more experienced growers tend to plant them in large wooden crate-like boxes.

Glenda

krusty,

trees are in 99.99999% outdoor specimens (there are obviously the houseplants and shade plants that can tolerate indoors but generally arent suitable for bonsai as such) so for a mjority full sun is best, at least 6 hours, sometimes those low lying shrubs like buxus can do better in dappled sun, but still get it.
depending on your location weatch for the hottest part of the days, the sun can cause major damage especially during hot weather, if you can get some protection during the midday sun that wont hurt, my trees get good morning sun, about 5 hours, then protected from the miday sun, then they get the afternoon sun for a few hours, say 3-4 hours, they love it

feeding/fert is important as they cannot get the nutrients from the ground like a ground grown tree. we need to replace this with ferts, look for an all round fert for now depending on where the trees are at.

pics would help

when to prune depends on your location where i am i am not overly phased in queensland because i have a near continuous growing season. repotting also depends on where you are and what climate, smaller younger trees if all is well every 2 years or so, older specimen trees that are in refinement only can be anywhere from 5 years or longer for repot as they arent growing vigorously, they are just refining so root growth isnt huge.

post some pics and we can help ya further. what i have given is very BROAD GENERAL ideas for help

jamie