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Grow Succulent Bonsai Plants For Your Home
If you’re a bonsai lovers, you can grow succulent bonsai plants if you are fond of miniature trees and succulents. With them, you have greenery for home design plus to start and even keep conversations. These little plants are easy to take care of and are some of the most appealing ornamental plants. People also often grow them for better indoor moisture and to purify the air. Still, in Feng Shui, bonsai provides balance and harmony. So it’s understandable why so many homes have these kinds of plants thriving indoors.
This article contains a few tips to guide people on how to create miniature succulents. Included are some details about them too. Keep reading to get started.
It’s Possible To Grow Succulent Bonsai Plants
Some people look for which succulents bloom in containers. Others go ahead and select the most common bonsai and indoor plants enthusiasts take care of. Either way, looking after various succulent plants involves the same measures. This means providing the same amount of water, sunlight, fertilizer, and soil. It’s only that pruning and wiring become a part of the process due to the art of bonsai. So creating a succulent that looks like a dwarfed tree is very possible with the right actions.
Besides, succulents make for good bonsai plants due to their ability to be resilient. They thrive in parched weather conditions. Their stocky and plump foliage and stems let them manage harsh climates. These structures hoard water for weeks. They can also thrive on dry, grainy, and loose soil with sand plus pumice or perlite. Thus they are plants that don’t demand a lot of attention and may even be perfect for busy individuals.
How To Grow Succulent Bonsai Plants
Even though they don’t need plenty of care, they still need the right conditions to flourish. After all, they are alive and must have certain things to survive. When provided with the right care, they might even grow to be beautiful, decorative plants. Plus, when it comes to making a bonsai out of succulents, there are necessary strategies to apply. That is so they would resemble a tiny tree and serve as an ornamental addition indoors. So, before anything else, learn a few things. Find out how you could look after succulents best and convert them into appealing bonsai.
The Right Plants To Grow Succulent Bonsai Plants
You don’t have to search for which succulents bloom. But if you want blossoms then look for them. Even those that never produce flowers resemble miniature trees with the right methods. It only takes the appropriate care measures to create wonderful bonsai from them. Yet, if possible, it would be wise to choose those that have distinctive and noticeable stems. That would be to have structures that resemble tree branches and trunks later on. So have a look at the most common fleshy plants that folks choose for their bonsai needs.
Many times, beginners select the Crassula Orvata or the Jade plant. It is a succulent shrub that produces bulky, wooden stems. Plus, its green and oblong leaves are plump and about 2 inches long too. Besides that, it is appealing to those interested in plant propagation. While that is interesting, others choose the Spurges or Euphorbia plants. Selecting them means picking which succulents bloom. They flower for the entire year but may need periodic trimming to keep them small. So, with either or both of these, you can already start having succulents as bonsai shrubs.
Placement Of Bonsai Succulents
It is fine to grow succulent bonsai plants indoors but they do need adequate sunlight to develop. They need around six hours of light but be mindful of the temperature. Take note that these fleshy plants can get scorched with intense heat. Oftentimes, they do well between 40 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit or 4 to 27 degrees Celcius. With the temperature range, it’s possible to leave them outdoors too. Owners only need to think about preventing them from having too much heat and moisture. In this way, it makes sense to give them outdoor time during spring and put them indoors during winter.
Creating and maintaining bonsai plants involve dwarfing shrubs. To do that with succulents, they need more than pruning. Controlling their growth means managing their exposure to sunlight. Giving them enough sunlight daily and putting them near the window helps. Daily sun exposure aids in establishing even growth between plant parts. Placing them near windows or with partial shade gets them to bend a certain way or toward where the light is. So it does matter where people put them indoors and outdoors. It’s not only for design but to get them to assume specific positions.
Watering
For this one, it doesn’t matter which succulents bloom. What matters is that all types of fleshy plants need only some watering. Many suggest providing a few every other week or two weeks, only when it isn’t wintertime. When it’s time for watering, you can do it in the early morning so that they can manage the heat in the afternoon. Night time is also fine since succulents hold their water uptake during intense heat. Also, consider that the water must come out of the drainage to avoid plant asphyxiation. Thus be careful with watering them and try to observe their reaction for days after doing it.
In most cases, for safety, owners only water their succulents when the soil has become very dry. After all, these plants have plenty of liquid in them. With that mentioned, those with plenty of water often have thick and firm leaves. Squeezing them a bit may even give a little liquid. So it makes sense to also only water right away after noticing very soft or wrinkled leaves. Occasional watering is ideal for these plants.
The Right Fertilizers Help Grow Succulent Bonsai Plants
Any succulent plants or the ones which succulents bloom need the right food to grow. They need fertilizers mixed with soil or water to get them enough nutrients to stay alive. It’s in feeding them well wherein they could also bend to your desired shape. In most cases, they do well with balanced fertilizers combined with soil. But succulents also respond to foliar feeding so spraying them helps too. Even with these things in mind, though, it is best to time the usage of fertilizers. Often, seasoned gardeners recommend feeding plants with them once or every other month. That is during the growing season.
When using fertilizer, it’s not enough to mix it with soil. Even if it has phosphorus, nitrogen, and potassium, it still needs water. Concentrated ones damage the roots so using diluted ones should be the way to go. This goes for the euphorbia and crassula families for bonsai succulents. There must be control to keep the plants alive and position them right.
Bonsai Techniques
Methods to handle their branches and stems are important to growing succulent bonsai plants. It’s in managing these structures that make it possible for them to look like tiny trees. Dwarfing these plants also involves frequent cutting or pinching off leaves. Also, included are applying wires and giving succulents water and light. All these play important roles in shaping succulent plants into bonsai trees. Thus knowing them is important for every bonsai artist dealing with such plants.
To make succulents into bonsai shrubs, do something about their growth. As mentioned, expose every part to sunlight or use the direction of the sun to bend their structures. Make it so that their stems and shoots get the right distribution of nutrients. Pinch or cut off leaves to promote ramification or branching out for canopy too. This activity stops plants from turning taller. It removes from the shoots what keeps it growing. Put wires around the plants for weeks to give them your desired shape but take it out with correct cutters. After all, they need to be safe at all times during the pruning and wiring processes.
Interesting Things About Bonsai Succulents
It isn’t only relaxing and rewarding to grow succulent bonsai plants. Rather, it’s an activity that is interesting in itself and has fascinating facts too. For instance, if you’re wondering which succulents bloom, there are too many to mention. That would be since thousands of species are available and people often go for the most common ones used. As for the activity, creating excellent bonsai plants takes time. Hobbyists take years of patience and dedication to come up with quality bonsai trees. So growing at least one is like taking care of a pet too.
As said, there are plenty of succulents to turn into bonsai. Included in the crassula family are the Jade Plant, Baby’s Necklace, and String of Buttons. Euphorbia is the Desert Rose and Begonias. Taking care of them differs from dwarfing trees since succulents are often low-maintenance. Of the many houseplants, they are great for busy people. Yet it may still be challenging to tend to them. It’s because they attract pests that are after their sweet sap. Thus owners need to be careful when watering them and even find plants that repel insects to pair with them.
In Conclusion
If you wish to have an easy way to get into the art of dwarfing shrubs, try to grow succulent bonsai plants. With little care and attention, you could make attractive plants that may last for years. It takes a bit of practice to master succulents and the art of bonsai but it is all worth it. Indoor and miniature succulent plants offer mental and physical health benefits. So it makes sense why so many pursue it.
We hope you found this guide helpful and inspirational. Have you tried to grow succulent bonsai plants at home? Share your thoughts and even pictures with us. Thanks and good luck with your succulent bonsai!
Read More:
Indoor Bonsai Tree Care: The Hobby That Grows!
