WB049: Will my bonsai survive summer?

In November last year, I joined a bonsai (Japanese: 盆栽 ) class and brought home a Japanese Alpine Juniper (Japanese: いぶき) bonsai.

WB023: Trying the art of Bonsai

Bonsai (Japanese: 盆栽, lit: “planted in a container”) is the Japanese art of growing and shaping plants in a container. Because the plant is always growing, I guess bonsai is an art that is never complete. Everyday, you theoretically get a newer version of the original art piece. I like

Writer's BlockBoris

So far, my bonsai has survived (!!) winter and spring, albeit with the occasional scare. For example, while I was overseas for two weeks at the end of December, my bonsai's leaves started turning brown while being cared for by someone else in a different environment.

This brought back terrible memories of my first bonsai, which died a slow and painful death within a year. I was also very worried my new bonsai would die before the next bonsai lesson, which would be very embarrassing.

Thankfully, I managed to nurse my bonsai back to a pink of health, largely by reducing the amount of direct sunlight it received and having a consistent watering regime.

Last month, I happily joined my second bonsai lesson where the existing wire was replaced with a new, thicker one. The wire's purpose is to shape and bend the main branch. It needs to be changed periodically as the bonsai's branch grows thicker and stronger. Note what a lush green my bonsai was!

A week or so after the lesson, the weather took a turn for the worse as summer arrived early. The daily weather saw temperatures rising to a range of 25 - 35 degrees celsius, with humidity dropping significantly.

These had an adverse effect on my bonsai, whose leaves started turning brown and wilting. It was like replaying an episode of a bad dream.

Despite watering my bonsai twice a day, there were no signs of improvement. Short on concrete knowledge and ideas on how to salvage my bonsai, I decided it was time to visit the local library to find a book on bonsai!

From beginner ones to serious technical ones, there was no shortage of bonsai books. After a quick scan, I settled on two books:

1. "失敗しないミニ盆栽" - "How to grow mini bonsai without failing"
2. "初めての盆栽ずくり" - "Bonsai for beginners"

According to the books, the juniper plant needs a lot of ventilation and sunlight (not too direct), in addition to sufficient water.

As the juniper is planted in a small pot (like mine) of soil, less water is retained on a hot day, resulting in insufficient water for all the leaves.

In winter and spring, watering the juniper once a day or once every two days is sufficient. But in summer the juniper needs watering at least twice a day. I think this explains why the leaves on only certain branches of the bonsai are wilting.

I also learned that the bonsai's leaves need to be sprayed with water (in addition to watering), as the leaves get dried out during the day.

It's still early days on whether my bonsai will survive, as I just started experimenting this new watering and misting regime. Although only time will tell if I am doing things correctly, it is quite reassuring to be implementing an action plan based on knowledge gained from a book.

Sometimes, it is far simpler to learn things from a book, as opposed to Google or ChatGPT.

--Ends