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bonsai is not my hobby
Join Date: Oct-2001
Location: Egling, south of Munich
Country: Germany
Posts: 1,433
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Emperor,
sorry, I have to disagree. Watering her is foolproof. Anybody, I repeat anybody with some intelligence can water my trees. No artist needed, no bonsai knowledge. I seriously believe that this watering talk in bonsai circles is all totally wrong and a bonsai myth.
I water every day with the garden hose. Now, when it is sunny and hot I water in the morning and in the evening. It takes me about 30 minutes to water everything. More than 500 trees. Everything is in very well draining soil.
Overwatering is impossible. Whatever is too much will run out of the drainage holes. The loose substrate will never stay wet, always moist. My wife does not know the difference between the trees really and she does and should not care. She waters when I travel. No problem. I tell her to make evrything dripping wet.
Yes, I am sure that most people fuss far too much about the 'right ' way to water and waste a lot of time. I even think that many people seriously underwater their trees.
This comes from misleading information in bonsai books. In the days when we actually used soil as substrate trees could reall drown. That's true. but not anymore with modern substrates.
So listen!! Only when ALL your trees sit in very well draining substrate you can water and not even look at what you are doing. You MUST also feed aggressively at the same time. I feed about every 2 weeks from beginning of April to end of September.
Believe me, I would not risk trees of the value of more than 10 grand if I would not know what I am doing. Evry experienced bonsai person coming to my garden mentions how healthy everything looks.
Don't listen to what bonsai people tell you in this regard. Listen to professional gardeners. Those who have hundreds of thousands of plants. Do you really think that they are watering every single one carefully? They pour water all over them just as I do. At least in regions where water does not cost much.
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