Thickening an indoor bonsai

Larry

Right, I'm on a roll here!
Youve seen my sagereatia that I got for father's day last year, its doing fine and all, but I dont see how its going to get any thicker stuck in that pot. The obvious route would normally be stick it outside, but of course that isnt an option with a tropical. Its due a repot this spring (I'll say!), so should I simply pot it into a big plant pot, and let it grow away a year?
It has some weird nebari too, may want to correct that later.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...ageretia003.jpg

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Frogboy

Larry, I don't think outside growing is at all impossible for you. You certainly couldn't grow them out there year round, but my climate is by far more erratic than yours, and my tropicals live outside five months a year. When the nightly stops going below 16-20 deg. C, you can begin to acclimate the tree to the outdoors. After a few weeks, it can stay out there full-time until fall comes around. Real sunlight will work wonders for small plants. Try a high-phosphorus fertilizer (like bone meal) to help thicken the trunk. Put it in a training pot and let the branches grow freely while the tree stays outside and the trunk will thicken nicely in a few years. If you want to maintain the angle of those curves, though, you will need to make them a little more dramatic, as the thickening trunk will soften them considerably.

Frog

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Craig Cowing

My tropicals go outside from mid-May until sometime in September depending on how the fall develops. Summertime is when I see a lot of growth, although things certainly grow indoors. Winter indoors is probably more of a holding pattern with some growth from what I've seen. As Frogboy suggested, get your plants acclimated to being outdoors, and unless they can't tolerate full sun, work them into full sun over the span of a few weeks, and fertilize the living daylights out of them. Make sure it's in an oversized pot too. You won't be as able to maintain shape by doing this, but if the tree is in training and you want it to get fat that's how to do it.

Craig Cowing
NY
Zone b/6a Sunset 37

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Larry

Thanks guys.Im not sure if sageretia like full sun, but my bonsai bed is a mix of sun and shade. Over here we dont out bedding plants out till May, and even then there can be frosts, just how low a temp can a sageretia take? I would imagine it would be fine with our summers actually as its current position,the kitchen windowsill, is quite a cold one, yet its thriving!
I was hoping to repot it in March as it looks like it really needs it! But i cant plant it out that early, a bit of a dilemma! Maybe I should repot it into a regular pot then acclimatize the whole lot gradually before unpotting it and planting out till september? Do that every year for a few years maybe?

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rockm

Larry, I don't think Craig was saying plant your tree in the ground. He's saying, I think, put the plant outside, instead of keeping it inside.

Planting a tropical in the ground in a temperate zone and uprooting it it every fall will do it little good in the thickening department. To benefit from in-ground growing a bonsai subject has to have at least three years. The first two are merely spent getting established, and don't account for much in the growth department.

Larry

rockm, thats what i thought, but i want to thicken the stem a little. I cant plant it out in open soil so I should simply plant it in a big pot and then put the pot outdoors in favourable conditions?

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Craig Cowing

Larry:
He's right--in the ground it won't really thicken for at least the first year. My suggestion is to put it in a black nursery container. The black pot will absorb heat and keep the root ball warmer which will encourage growth. Don't bother planting it in the ground. Then bring it inside when it gets below 50 degrees F at night

Craig Cowing
NY
Zone 5b/6a Sunset 37

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I'm not finished yet, neither are my trees.

Larry

Not sure what they are, but I have some big black plant pots, and I bought home a few small black buckets that will come in handy!

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rockm

Another caveat, make sure the container isn't TOO large for the plant. A severely oversized pot retains too much water and can rot the roots of a small plant with an initially small root system. That means, don't put a pencil thin tree in a five gallon container. A two gallon container might be better...