Top soil or rock?? / Indoor Bonsai's.

shaun22

When you see Bonsai's, most of them have either have gravel on the top soil, or covered in moss.

What exactly is the best for the plant?? Does it have to be covered in gravel and moss, or is it just a personal descision?

I know that you are not supposed to keep your bonsai's inside, becasue tree's belong outside, but I was at a local Bonsai nursery recently, and he gave me an idea.

Mayby I'm blonde or I just didn't think of it. If you have a large selection of Bonsai's, just rotate them, 1 inside at a time for a period of a week. How easy is that.

It's something that solves my problem, because I love to look at them, but I can't enjoy them as much as I would like because they are outside. Thoughts?

kind regards,
shaun22

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TreeBay

The moss covering on many displayed trees is applied to the soil surface just a week or so before the show.

Some growers do use mulches of different kinds on the top layer of the soil as a matter of practice. This could be anything from moss or fine gravel to a blended "shohin" soil or a crushed black lava. The mulch may serve a functional purpose (holding the soil in place during watering, increasing humidity and reducing evaporation from the soil surface) or it may just be decorative.

If the surface gets too choked with moss, (or gravel glued to the surface of a mallsai) the ability of air to diffuse into the soil, where the roots need it can be impaired, and it can make it difficult to water the plant. So, you need to choose an appropriate surface and keep it under control.

Regards,

Matt

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hack

For the top being moss or courser soil, it does become preference. The moss is an aesthetic thing. It would probably be difficult to maintain full green moss on your planting 24/7-365, so you may do it when the tree is in it's show state, you know...when you want to perty her up a little for a season. I may stand corrected [by the vets] re: the moss, it prob holds things together, moisture, etc... but I bet looks are it's big catch.

You ask about moving [some of] them inside & out. This would be a pain. Especially if you tried doing it w/ a few trees. Plants like to settle in to a spot for a while too. Nothing wrong with bringing one inside for full display, but only a couple days is recommended.

My 2 tips:
1) Try to position your trees so you can see them from inside the home. I was lucky enough to have proper position for a make shift stand viewable from my kitchen window (where the boss has me on KP washing plates[img:2cc48abf5e]http://www.theunholytrinity.org/cracks_smileys/contrib/ruinkai/shinner.gif[/img:2cc48abf5e] )

2) Spend more time outside.

lates & welcome to the forum,
[i:2cc48abf5e]hack[/i:2cc48abf5e]

hack

geez....
[i:4d5e4182d0]TreeBay[/i:4d5e4182d0]is the consumate moderator, there was nothing, I take too long to compose & he's on it.
Thar ya go.
cya

shaun22

Once again, thanks guys for the imput.

Hack, hope your enjoying the kitchen duty - hehehe!
I like the idea of "spend more time outside" such a alittle statement is so true. I like it.

I have a window where it is possible to display them so I can see them all the time. This might be a good idea.

Matt, what I have tried to do, is have an area of fine white gravel, with moss, and dirt, I guess in a way its a multi landscape. It does look good this way. I just thought I would check incase I was doing it wrong.

What do you do

At this stage I don't have any Bonsai's capable of being entered into a "show" but as I get more experienced Im sure I'll be in them regular as clock work.

The Japanese gardens in Sydney offer Bonsai shows like this all round the year.

Kind regards,
shaun22

denny

the reason i use gravel is because it helps certain pots dry out more evenly.

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Denny
Still Growing in zone 9
So.Cal.

bonsaial1

I use weeds. That way if the bonsai thinks that I am trying to grow them, they will not grow? Makes sense to me.

Happy mossing, Bonsaial

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