Specimens suitable for indoors

[The Specimen]

Hi Guyz,

If you do know of suitable specimens for indoors.. please kindly list. Thank you in advance!

1. FIG

[Handy Mick]

You know the drill, check out the wiki.

[Anth]

I have a couple umbrella trees indoors. One of them is small and a young tree and the other is over 30 years old and are both doing fine. Watering the big one is a pain in the butt. I have also been told that fig varieties can do well indoor but Havnt had any experience with them.

[bodhidharma]

Logically, no tree thrives indoors. Some species survive but none do well. You can have a special setup with skylights etc but it is much easier to create a nice area for yourself outside. The problem is that we keep them in our environment, when it is hot we turn up aircon and when we are cold we turn up the heat. This destroys a trees natural rhythm and it suffers. I am sure man will engineer one soon.

[Bretts]

I reckon the umbrella tree is the best for indoors. Yes it will do better outside (atleast in the Summer) but is still very happy inside.

Although I haven't tried the jade tree which the wiki recomends

[Petra]

Jade tree does fine,and eamilys of jade. most vine plants will. some succulents suitable for bonsai will.
Ive ben told the tibishina can .norfolk island pine,euonymus japonica,pittosporums,dracenas,daphne,these a just some out of a indoor gardening book i have.

[Mojo Moyogi]

I am with Bodhi on the whole growing bonsai indoors thing, there are just so many impediments to growing bonsai indoors, that I think outweigh any benefit.

I reckon the umbrella tree is the best for indoors. Yes it will do better outside (atleast in the Summer) but is still very happy inside.

Although I haven't tried the jade tree which the wiki recomends

A secondary and quite important question from there is, does Umbrella Tree (Schefflera sp.) make good bonsai? I doubt that it does, but I would be happy to be proven wrong. My advice to anyone is always weighted by whether a tree is going to produce good results at in it's peak growing environment, let alone in a location that puts any limitation on it's potential beyond that?

Specimen, if you don't have any outdoor space to use and keeping bonsai indoors is your only option, Port Jackson Fig is probably your best bet, they are one of the best tree species for bonsai period.

Cheers,
Mojo

[Bretts]

Some may say it is not good bonsai but I like it.
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2815&p=78807

[The Specimen]

Thanks guyz.. and yes I am limited to space outdoors.

I also like to have tree's indoors ~ adds a bit of gree and bonsai's look great indoors because I get to see them more often and feel good

I have 2 figs.. one in the toilet and one in the bathroom and I can say that the one in the bathroom is growing very quickly shooting out buds and leaves everywhere compared to the one in the toilet.

My thought is that because there is moisture in the air plus heat because of the heater.. the fig (banyan fig) is thriving well

I would like to add others indoors.. they look great!

[kcpoole]

If you want trees inside, Get couple and rotate them from in to outside fro a recovery period

Ken

[bodhidharma]

If you want trees inside, Get couple and rotate them from in to outside fro a recovery period

This is an excellent idea and also creates the need to have a few more Bonsai. If you do this a tree can stay inside for 3-4 days (same as a show) then you take it back out. If a tree (even figs) stay in permanently they become very leggy and you cannot get ramification or leaf density.

[Anth]

Growing a tree inside is almost impossible. Keeping it alive is a challenge. The umbrella I have is old and doesn't realy need any more styling. In saying all that it has not been easy to keep inside it took a while to get it in the right position to get some what of a steady tree. I had issues of it dropping foliage at times and the constant fluctuation of temp in winter cause me some problems, we would have the heater on when home and the house would be warm then cold over night and moderate during the day. Feeding raigime was all over the place. When I first got it , it budded in the middle of winter and the leave would drop after about two weeks . This was due to the heater being on and the tree thinking it was spring and the we would switch the heater off at night and after a few realy cold nights the leaves would drop.
As far as umbrellas making a good bonsai, it can be debated untill the cows come home. It isn't my favorite tree , but when you find a tree that you like the beautiy is in the eye of the beholder.
I Havnt had much luck with my port Jackson fig inside so it now live out side and during winter I put it on the side of the house next to the hot water system to help keep it from getting to cold.