For Bonsai, every season brings a new type of care, as you will see from the following information:
WINTER
If you li
ve in a region that experiences hard freezes during the winter, then some species of Bonsai will require extra protection from the elements. This would include Bougainvillea, Elephant’sFood, Ficus, Lantana, and Natal Plum and so on. The best option would be to move the Bonsai close to the house or under a deck or porch prior to the sun setting.
Place each of them on a table, bench, blocks, or something else, as a way of elevating it. Next, take a piece of newspaper and cover the pots. To make sure the newspaper does not blow off, use clothespins or some other type of anchor. This way, you will eliminate damaging, vertical drafts. Keep in mind that you do not want to use plastic for the insulation.
If you have a garage, crawl space, or some other place that is not heated, that too would work. In this case, you would still place the newspaper on top of each pot. If your Bonsai does experience damage from frost, wait to trim it until you begin to see new frost.
Additionally, you want to reduce the amount of watering you give the Bonsai during the colder months. Typically, you would coordinate your watering with the current dew point so if you generally water your Bonsai once every two weeks in the winter but the dew point is exceptionally low for several days, then you might want to water more often, just during that time.
It is important that your Bonsai not be fertilized in the winter. Instead, you want to wait until you see the beginning of buds.
Freeze Damage
When roots and stems freeze, there is both chemical and physical change. First, it is important to understand the three phases of freezing:
1. Water freezing in the Bonsai’s soil
2. Inter-cellular water freezing in the Bonsai’s tissue
3. Intra-cellular water freezing in the Bonsai’s tissue
Frozen Water in the Soil
Typically, this occurs when the water in the soil when the temperature of the three phases is the highest. In nature, water rarely freezes at a temperature of 32 degrees. However, in soil when ice forms, small particles are left that solute. In other words, the soil is not actually frozen, but the ice crystals in the soil.
While some people will tell you that freezing does tremendousdamage to Bonsai, the truth is that the cells of the plant or tree are quite rigid and used to this type of pressure. Considering that the plants and trees generally used for Bonsai have been around for more than 1,000 years, it should provide you with some reassurance that your Bonsai will not die.
Now, if the roots are frozen for long periods and at extremely low temperatures, it is possible that some damage could occur. If you were worried about this, remember that plants to have built in mechanisms that keep them from freezing completely.
Freezing Inter-Cellular
Plants have another natural mechanism in which they expulse water from the cell protoplasm, which is located in the inter-cellular spaces. What happens is that changes in the cell membranesallow water to leave the cell, and instead, go into the spaces. Therefore, the water that does freeze is within the space and not the actual cell.
Freezing Intra-Cellular
Finally, when freezing occurs in the intra-cellular portion of the plant, the cells will die since they freeze. You would typically see few branches the following spring from this happening. The plants and trees however do have a built in mechanism referred to as,
“Supercooling.” With this, the sap will stay at liquid temperature so it does not freeze.
Temperature Ranges
Each of the three stages has its own freezing point, as shown below:
1. 32 to 23 degrees F
2. 23 to 14 degrees F
3. -4 to -40 degrees F
Keep in mind that the root systems of plants do not necessarily go through the same level of hardening. For this reason, you will see that some trees have their roots underground where they are not subjected to rigid temperatures and other trees have their roots above ground.
When a tree is taken from the ground and then placed in a pot to be trained as a Bonsai, you need to remember that depending on the type of plant or tree, you could be subjecting the root system to temperatures and an environment that it has never experienced. When this happens, the tree could die.
For this reason, it is crucial that Bonsai be protected during the in wintertime, especially in the first few years of change. The best way to provide protection is to place the Bonsai in the ground outdoors during the winter so that it is in its natural protected state, or if you do put it in a pot, add mulch. As long as the roots are not exposed to killing temperatures, it should thrive. However, if the plant or tree does die, do not be overly surprised.
Tissue Dehydration
Another problem relating to frozen soil is that while typically this is not a problem for the Bonsai, there are exceptions. First, if the temperature of the above ground tissues should rise dramatically where the soil water stays frozen, then transpiration of the water
might occur from the shoots.
As the Bonsai grower, you can help avoid the problem by creating some type of windbreak for the tree. Excellent options include using a greenhouse or coldframe. Even if you have an area in the garage or on a porch or deck, that too would work. If the Bonsai is outdoors, again, make sure it has plenty of mulch built up around the base.
Guideline
To keep this all straight, you can refer to this guide any time you need.
WINTER
If you li
ve in a region that experiences hard freezes during the winter, then some species of Bonsai will require extra protection from the elements. This would include Bougainvillea, Elephant’sFood, Ficus, Lantana, and Natal Plum and so on. The best option would be to move the Bonsai close to the house or under a deck or porch prior to the sun setting.Place each of them on a table, bench, blocks, or something else, as a way of elevating it. Next, take a piece of newspaper and cover the pots. To make sure the newspaper does not blow off, use clothespins or some other type of anchor. This way, you will eliminate damaging, vertical drafts. Keep in mind that you do not want to use plastic for the insulation.
If you have a garage, crawl space, or some other place that is not heated, that too would work. In this case, you would still place the newspaper on top of each pot. If your Bonsai does experience damage from frost, wait to trim it until you begin to see new frost.
Additionally, you want to reduce the amount of watering you give the Bonsai during the colder months. Typically, you would coordinate your watering with the current dew point so if you generally water your Bonsai once every two weeks in the winter but the dew point is exceptionally low for several days, then you might want to water more often, just during that time.
It is important that your Bonsai not be fertilized in the winter. Instead, you want to wait until you see the beginning of buds.
Freeze Damage
When roots and stems freeze, there is both chemical and physical change. First, it is important to understand the three phases of freezing:
1. Water freezing in the Bonsai’s soil
2. Inter-cellular water freezing in the Bonsai’s tissue
3. Intra-cellular water freezing in the Bonsai’s tissue
Frozen Water in the Soil
Typically, this occurs when the water in the soil when the temperature of the three phases is the highest. In nature, water rarely freezes at a temperature of 32 degrees. However, in soil when ice forms, small particles are left that solute. In other words, the soil is not actually frozen, but the ice crystals in the soil.
While some people will tell you that freezing does tremendousdamage to Bonsai, the truth is that the cells of the plant or tree are quite rigid and used to this type of pressure. Considering that the plants and trees generally used for Bonsai have been around for more than 1,000 years, it should provide you with some reassurance that your Bonsai will not die.
Now, if the roots are frozen for long periods and at extremely low temperatures, it is possible that some damage could occur. If you were worried about this, remember that plants to have built in mechanisms that keep them from freezing completely.
Freezing Inter-Cellular
Plants have another natural mechanism in which they expulse water from the cell protoplasm, which is located in the inter-cellular spaces. What happens is that changes in the cell membranesallow water to leave the cell, and instead, go into the spaces. Therefore, the water that does freeze is within the space and not the actual cell.
Freezing Intra-Cellular
Finally, when freezing occurs in the intra-cellular portion of the plant, the cells will die since they freeze. You would typically see few branches the following spring from this happening. The plants and trees however do have a built in mechanism referred to as,
“Supercooling.” With this, the sap will stay at liquid temperature so it does not freeze.
Temperature Ranges
Each of the three stages has its own freezing point, as shown below:
1. 32 to 23 degrees F
2. 23 to 14 degrees F
3. -4 to -40 degrees F
Keep in mind that the root systems of plants do not necessarily go through the same level of hardening. For this reason, you will see that some trees have their roots underground where they are not subjected to rigid temperatures and other trees have their roots above ground.
When a tree is taken from the ground and then placed in a pot to be trained as a Bonsai, you need to remember that depending on the type of plant or tree, you could be subjecting the root system to temperatures and an environment that it has never experienced. When this happens, the tree could die.
For this reason, it is crucial that Bonsai be protected during the in wintertime, especially in the first few years of change. The best way to provide protection is to place the Bonsai in the ground outdoors during the winter so that it is in its natural protected state, or if you do put it in a pot, add mulch. As long as the roots are not exposed to killing temperatures, it should thrive. However, if the plant or tree does die, do not be overly surprised.
Tissue Dehydration
Another problem relating to frozen soil is that while typically this is not a problem for the Bonsai, there are exceptions. First, if the temperature of the above ground tissues should rise dramatically where the soil water stays frozen, then transpiration of the water
might occur from the shoots.
As the Bonsai grower, you can help avoid the problem by creating some type of windbreak for the tree. Excellent options include using a greenhouse or coldframe. Even if you have an area in the garage or on a porch or deck, that too would work. If the Bonsai is outdoors, again, make sure it has plenty of mulch built up around the base.
Guideline
To keep this all straight, you can refer to this guide any time you need.
- If the Bonsai will be created from a temperate plant, it will go dormant in the fall. At that time, shorter days and falling temperatures will be a consideration. When exposed to shorter days and lower temperatures, any frost will encourage the plant to begin cold hardening, as a way of sustaining itself through the cold months.
- Bonsai from temperate plants will need to have a time of “chilling”. This will help break the dormant time, thus starting re-growth. Typically, this time is considered anywhere from250 to 1,000 hours with temperatures ranging from 34 to 50 degrees F.
- Any buds, leaves, or shoots above ground from temperate plants that have gone through the cold hardening phase can generally handle very low temperatures.
- The Bonsai roots from most temperate plants will not cold harden, which you would find in above ground plants. Therefore, they are very susceptible to low temperatures,becoming damaged quite easily.
- Freezing soil it not always a threat to your Bonsai. However, if the Bonsai has frozen soil and then exposed to long periods of shoots being in the cold or drying winds, you could havedamage or dying shoots.
- Always allow your Bonsai to go into its dormant state and cold harden properly. For instance, exposure to the first fall frosts isimportant.
- Keep your Bonsai in an enclosure or pot that is well watered and where temperatures can be controlled all winter long.
- Any plants that are removed from the protected area during cold temperatures could cause the plant/tree to die
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