Watering

Bonsai, like any other plant, require moist roots to survive. Therefore, knowing when to water your bonsai is extremely important to sustain a beautiful tree.  Reversely, over-watering can also be incredibly damaging to your bonsai. There are many factors that will influence the time intervals between watering. In fact, correctly watering your bonsai is a skill in itself but hopefully by the end of this article you will have a better understanding of when to water your tree.

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Below are some of the factors that influence watering:

• Soil mixture- the amount of drainage or water retention will affect how often you must water your bonsai (bonsai prefer well draining soil). 

• Plant size and foliage density- the larger your tree the more water it will require, also the more foliage your tree has, the more it will transpire, therefore it will require more frequent watering.

• Fertilizer- as fertilizer is meant to accelerate plant growth it also accelerates the rate at which your soil dries. Therefore depending on the growth rate of your bonsai, you may need to water more frequently. 

• Root rot- if you do happen to over-water your bonsai and you cause root-rot, the rate at which your bonsai absorbs water will be reduced. Therefore your soil will take longer to dry and you should decrease your watering intervals. 

• Sunlight- as the plant and pot are heated by the sun transpiration and evaporation increases, therefore your tree loses more water, faster. If your bonsai gets a lot of sunlight for many hours, you should increase your watering intervals. 

• Humidity- if the humidity of the environment your bonsai grows in is high, your bonsai will lose less water as transpiration is decreased. Therefore, you will have to water less frequently and vice-versa. 

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A general method for testing the dryness of your soil is by sticking your finger about 1cm into the soil. If the top 1cm of soil is dry, you should water your tree. Another method involves sticking a chopstick into the soil, if it comes out and is nearly dry, it is time to water.