What is the fastest growing Bonsai ?

Classical cotoneaster dammeri, a fast-growing Bonsai

Keeping plants in the house, such as a bonsai tree, can be an inexpensive yet productive and rewarding hobby. House plants generally do not require a lot of maintenance, and can really spice up the atmosphere of your home. If you are aiming for speed in growing your bonsai tree, however, there are certain precautions and maintenance measures you can take in order to get your tree sprouting at the fastest rate it can. Bonsai growing has a lot to do with patience so I recommend you buy a full-grown bonsai or at least a pre-bonsai (a bonsai in its early stage). There are many cheap options out there. It'll be a rewarding experience because bonsai caring can be as fun as bonsai training. Fast-growing bonsai requires more care than slower-growing bonsai, including watering, pinching, and root pruning more often. These varieties of plants make shaping and twisting the bonsai much easier and the plants grow quickly enough to cover any trimming mistakes eg. Ancient Bristlecone and Bald Cypress (taxodium distichum).

An additional crucial factor is the environment such as sun, semi-shade, and level of humidity. The combination of these three crucial factors will determine the development of your bonsai. At the beginning, it's difficult to determine the progress observed by the naked eye but the end result will definitely make a difference.

Step 1

Place the planted bonsai tree in an area that receives direct sunlight for at least four hours each day. Experts at bonsaigardener.org estimate that bonsai thrives fastest and healthiest when it is kept at a temperature at or higher than 60 degrees Fahrenheit during the daylight hours.

Step 2

Water the bonsai tree every day, until the soil is moist to the touch. Bonsai trees grow fastest in soil that is kept moist at all times.

Step 3

Fertilize the bonsai plant every three weeks during the growing season, from early spring to later fall. Follow product instructions regarding dilution; be sure to dilute the fertilizer properly based on the size of the potting plant you used or else you risk burning the bonsai's roots with too much fertilizer.

Step 4

Re-pot your bonsai plant every two years in the spring, before the growing cycle begins again. Use the same type of soil and planting pot as you did before so that the bonsai is used to its surroundings. When replanting, trim at least a third of the roots from the end to make sure they are not crushed in the pot and are healthy to absorb nutrients. Depending on the size of the roots, you may need to trim more to fit it into the pot.

Step 5

Check your bonsai tree at each watering for signs of pest infestations. Because of the constant watering the plant needs, it easily attracts insects. Treat any signs of infestation with a small dose of pesticide.

Cotoneaster and ligustrum. Given some good growing conditions, these should be ready for a nice "mame" style in a year from planting a cutting. I planted a couple of hundreds of ligustrum and a few of cotoneaster cuttings last year (everything rooted because when 5 % of the first setup died before they rooted, I instantly had replaced those with new cuttings and they rooted too), and I'm amazed with their growing rate.

When a seedling sprouts, there is usually just a single growing tip. As long as that tip is growing well, no other tips develop until the plant is taller. Bonsai requires trees that have low branches and the standard method is to do a very early pinch to remove the primary growth tip to force new growth points.

This is drastic for plants and many die. But without this step, plants do not develop character. You can improve the success rate with very healthy vigorously growing plants. Grow a lot of plants, grow them in the best possible environments, then prune drastically for outstanding results!

Interesting Books on Bonsai can be found here:

The Complete Book of Bonsai --> I've been into bonsai for 25 years and this is the basic Bible for beginner and intermediate bonsai enthusiasts. It has an excellent section on techniques, including pruning, wiring and whatnot, and it has a large species-specific tree guide. If you're into bonsai and want only one book, this is it.

Indoor Bonsai The Great Selection --> Creating beautiful, healthy bonsai is a wonderful skill that anyone can learn, with a little time, patience, and this all-inclusive manual. With color photos and drawings to illustrate the points, it introduces all the cultivation techniques; offers expert advice on location, soil types, watering, and pest control; and provides intricate instruction on training the bonsai--including pruning, wiring and stretching it.

The Secret Techniques of Bonsai --> In The Secret Techniques of Bonsai, the author of the groundbreaking Bonsai With American Trees teams up with his son to offer not only the basics for creating perfect bonsai, but also secret techniques they’ve developed over years of careful work and observation.

Bonsai Survival Manual --> Problem solving when your Bonsai get sick. Expand your gardening repertoire as you create a captivating and exquisite miniature world. In this introductory guide, Colin Lewis covers everything you need to know to design, grow, and successfully maintain attractive bonsai.

Bonsai and the art of Penjing --> Bonsai & Penjing, Ambassadors of Beauty and Peace describes how Chinese penjing and North American bonsai were later added to the Museum, making its collection the most comprehensive in the world. Stories of individual trees and forest plantings are featured, as are the roles played by the skilled and talented creators of these living art forms people such as John Naka, Saburo Kato, Yuji Yoshimura, Harry Hirao, and Dr. Yee-Sun Wu.

Bonsai with Japanese Maples --> With their delicate foliage, seasonal color changes, and intricate pattern of branching, Japanese maples are among the most popular and suitable plants for bonsai design. In this long-awaited book, internationally renowned expert Peter Adams discusses both the specific horticultural needs of Japanese maples as bonsai subjects and illustrates proven techniques for creating and maintaining beautiful specimens.

The Modern Bonsai Practice --> The most current, useful information on growing Bonsai. Fresh, practical, definitive, comprehensive reference guide to the finest art of horticulture: growing miniature trees. Common sense bonsai answers separating myth from fact with depth and detail. Appropriate for both bonsai hobbyists and experienced practitioners.

More Bonsai articles can be found here:

Please click here for more information on --> Chinese Penjing Bonsai

Please click here for more information on --> The Origins of Bonsai

Please click here for more information on --> The Art of Saikei Bonsai

Please click here for more information on --> Japanese Tanuki Bonsai

Please click here for more information on --> How to Water a Bonsai

Please click here for more information on --> Bonsai Healing Methods

Please click here for more information on --> Bonsai Books Review

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How to Grow Moso Bamboo from Seed - 種子から紅の竹

Growing moso bamboo (種子から紅の竹) is a great experience that basically enriched my life in terms of learning curve. Although Bamboo is not suitable for Bonsai, it's still a beautiful gras to have in your backyard. If you do plant it in your backyard, you will have to control the bamboo as their roots may give you unpleasant surprises over time. You could easily pick up 50% by learning how to plant giant bamboo and the rest by doing. Moso bamboo is a temperate species of giant timber bamboo native to China and Taiwan and naturalized elsewhere. The edulis part of the Latin name refers to its edible shoots. This bamboo can reach heights of up to 28 m (92 ft). This particular species of bamboo is the most common species used in the bamboo textile industry of China.

Moso bamboo spreads using both asexual and sexual reproduction. The most common and well known for this plant is asexual reproduction. This occurs when the plant sends up new culms from underground rhizomes. The culms grow quickly and reach a height of 90 ft or more (depending on the age and health of the plant). In mature individuals, the culms in young plants grow taller and wider in diameter as the general plant reaches maturity, but once the individual culm stops growing it will not grow again. P. edulis also flowers and produces seed, and it does so every half century or so, but it has a sporadic flowering nature and there are always a few individual plants in flower somewhere.

The seeds fall from the mature culms in the hundreds of thousands and are quick to germinate. Mice, field rats and other rodents take notice of the bounty of seed, this results in the loss of many of the seeds, but within a few weeks the surviving few seeds would have germinated. The first culm from a seedling will not get much taller than a few inches at most, and may be as thin as 2mm, but with every new culm sent up from developing rhizomes, the grove of plants will grow in height and cane diameter.

Moso bamboo is the most valuable bamboo in Asia, especially China, It is one of the most highly used plants for economic activities. The shoot have been providing food in Asia for thousand of years. Moso bamboo poles have been used to build houses and structure from the pre history time to now. New technology using Moso bamboo fiber to make flooring, clothing, plywood. Moso Bamboo’s strength, flexibility, and ready availability have made it a dominant structural material throughout much of the world for centuries.

I have done some testing on growing moso bamboo and documented the process in the my youtube video below which I feel proud sharing with you guys. Sadly it didn't turn out what I had expected but there could be many reasons behind the failure. The soil was perhaps too acidic or the seeds received were not fresh. However, I will not be giving up nor surrender attempts in planting bamboo. I also have to admit that the video shows the progress after four weeks, its advisable to wait 5 to 6 weeks for good results though. Thank you for watching the video and please take your time to subscribe to my youtube channel. I like to post videos on gardening from time to time and share success and failure stories with the audience.

In addition, some links on where to buy bamboo products on amazon:

Moso Bamboo seeds: http://amzn.to/2nNHu0T

Bamboo air purifier for cars and home: http://amzn.to/2n0UtxI

Bamboo cutting boards: http://amzn.to/2oMOKrt

More Bonsai articles can be found here:

Please click here for more information on --> Chinese Penjing Bonsai
Please click here for more information on --> The Art of Saikei Bonsai
Please click here for more information on --> Japanese Tanuki Bonsai
Please click here for more information on --> How to Water a Bonsai
Please click here for more information on --> Bonsai Healing Methods