Bonsai - How To Grow Your Own Bonsai - Preparing Seeds

Article Details

Bonsai - How To Grow Your Own Bonsai - Preparing Seeds

Date Added: March 13, 2007 02:50:55 PM

Author:

Category: House & Garden: Gardening: Bonsai Growing

Most beginning bonsai artists will purchase a tree at some stage of development and gradually learn to care for it. The novice will graduate later to pruning, wiring and other more advanced practices. At some point in his or her education, the temptation to take on the challenge of growing a bonsai from seed will seem irresistible.

Here are some tips on how to grow your first bonsai from scratch.

Trees grow from seeds. True, many begin as seedlings, prunings or offshoots of mature trees. But the whole enterprise begins with seeds. In order for those seeds to become trees they pass through a stage called germination.

Sitting in the cold, wet soil of winter spring slowly softens the seed's shell or coat and stimulates early growth. Soil bacteria help the process along. Nature provides the clues the bonsai artist should follow in order to give the young plant a proper beginning.

Planting in the fall allows the seeds to experience this process, slowly and naturally. An artificial, and perfectly valid, method of seed preparation is known as 'cold stratification'. It consists, in essence, of preparing seeds artificially by placing them in a container in the refrigerator to simulate natural conditions.

Whether preparing the seeds artificially or allowing nature to do it for you, this breaks the seed's dormancy and leads to germination. It often happens that this will take a year or longer, with seeds beginning to germinate in the spring a year and a half after the fall sowing.

The length of time will vary by species, climate and even individual seed. Plants, like any other species, is composed of individuals with their own timetable.

You can give your seeds some help by proper fertilization, but exercise moderation. Once per month in early spring to mid-summer with 10-10-10 NKP (nitrogen (N), phosphates (P) and potassium (K)) is plenty. Fertilization should begin when the soil begins to warm. If you maintain the pot indoors, this can be controlled artificially with a heat lamp, but this is more effort.

It's important that the soil be kept moist, but not too wet. Moisture is important, but excessively wet soil will kill a developing plant as quickly as soil too dry.

Naturally, finding the right balance will take some experimentation. Those experiments can be sharpened by the use of a moisture gauge, a thermometer-like device that measures water content in the soil. In fact, it's helpful to have a thermometer, too!

Sow them in a container of good soil, then monitor from time to time as the year progresses. Seeds should be planted about 1/2 inch to 1/4 inch under the surface in soil with good drainage.

Once you have a little tree poking a tiny trunk above the surface you are on your way. But keep in mind that developing a bonsai from seeds takes several years. Be prepared for a long term project!

Ratings:

Rate the article: �� Average rating: ( votes)

Comments:

No Comments Yet.

Site Main Menu:

Submission Guidelines
Article Submission Rules
Online Resource Sites
Software and Product Reviews

Permanent Links From $1.00

Bookmark This Site:

Stumble Our Directory

Site Partners

Language Translation Services | Interpreting
We specialists in providing highly qualified, reliable interpreters and translators to leg

Endowments
sell endowment policies for their top value with Endowment Express, UKs leading Endowment

Web Hosting and Domain Names UK
Cheap domain names and web hosting provider. FREE domain name with premium hosting.

Cheap Web Hosting
Cheap Web Hosting plans and Domain Registration. Affordable UK hosting service providers

SEO Services
Affordable SEO Services and packages. Visit us now or call 877-LazyURL

TV Brackets TV Wall Brackets TV Bracket sony
Specialist UK supplier of TV Brackets, TV Stands, Plasma Wall Mounts, TV Arms, Mounts

TV Wall Bracket
TV Wall Bracket 32, TV Wall Bracket 42, TV Wall Bracket.

Cheap Hosting
Secure cpanel hosting starts from $4.95 no overselling

Buy Gnld natural vitamin supplements products
Gnld Distributor brings you best natural whole food Vitamins and anti aging supplements.

tv brackets
best cheapest tv wall brackets and tv wall bracket uk london discounted tv brackets

Easyspace Domain Names
UK domain name registration service.

Free Human Edited Directory
Powerful human edited web directory of quality, family-friendly, and spam-free sites

SEO Marketing
UK SEO Marketing Company with Proven Top10 Results

Escort Girls
Amsterdam Escort

Striptease Amsterdam
Striptease and Escort Club Amsterdam

Send Gifts
Send Gifts and Flowers with Simply Thank You. UK Flower delivery & Corporate Gifts.

Bam Website Directory & Link Directory
A link directory where you can browse the Internet's best websites and submit your own.

TV Brackets
Mountright.com offer a fantastic range of Plasma/ LCD TV Brackets and Mounts

Beds
Click 4 Beds sell the finest quality beds, mattresses and bedroom furniture at low prices

Lighting from Chandeliers & Mirrors
choose from a gorgeous selection of chandeliers, lights and decorative mirrors

London SEO
Totally Internet Marketing deal with London SEO & SEO London

Add Your Text Link Here

Site Statistics