Ulmus Bonsai
Ulmus Bonsai: The Beginners Bonsai
The ulmus bonsai is an excellent choice, especially if you are just starting out your bonsai adventures. The art of the bonsai tree can be a difficult one because much of what you are doing is in preparation for how your tree will grow rather than just shaping your tree currently. In that way, it is like being a sculptor that has to work with material that changes over time rather than dead rock. The ulmus bonsai, however, makes for a great, very forgiving type of bonsai to use if you are a beginner.
Basics of the Ulmus Bonsai
The ulmus bonsai is a type of bonsai made from the Chinese elm (ulmus parvifolia). Ulmus means elm. Despite its name, the Chinese elm is native not just to China, but also Japan and Korea as well. Now the Chinese elm is quite popular on all six of the populated continents. In North America, it is consider a good replacement for American elms ravaged by Dutch Elm’s Disease.
The Hardiness of the Ulmus Bonsai
The Chinese elm also makes for a good choice for your first elm because of its incredible hardiness. Whereas you must keep some bonsai inside in order to keep the cold climates from damaging them, the ulmus bonsai can survive most winters so long as you shelter it from the winds. Even so, if you really want to protect your bonsai, you should bring it in if the temperature is to drop below freezing in your area.
You also want to be careful if you have had a bonsai inside during the warm months that you don’t introduce it to the outside cold too quickly. A bonsai needs time to adjust just like the rest of us.
Lighting
If you’re keeping your bonsai inside, you should keep your ulmus parvifolia bonsai next to a sunny window once the weather starts to get cold. In the summer, you really should keep your bonsai outside in a somewhat shady area.
Watering
You should keep the soil of your elm bonsai moist—especially in the summer. Don’t allow it to dry out, or it may become brittle and more susceptible to disease. Some vendors will offer you mechanical foolproof meters, but these are really unnecessary. Just stick your finger into the topsoil. If the soil is moist and cool, wait another day; if it is somewhat dry, water it. On the other hand, you don’t want your bonsai to sit in standing water as this may create root rot.
When keeping your bonsai inside, you want to make sure that it retains a moist environment. You may want to place a humidity tray underneath you miniature plant to keep it happy and healthy. Similarly, if you live in a very dry desert like environment, you might want to keep your bonsai inside.
Feeding
Indoors, you should feed your bonsai twice a month from spring until winter. Then from the winter on you should feed it once a month. Use an evenly balanced, half nitrogen fertilizer. Be careful however, because a bonsai that you have just pruned or repotted is a fragile plant. Fertilizer at this stage may damage its health, so skip one of your feeding periods.
You will want to repot it every fall as well and when you do so, you will need to prune the roots. Because your elm will otherwise grow to full maturity, you will need to keep this pruning going if you want to extend your bonsai’s existence as a miniature tree.
Follow these guidelines and your ulmus bonsai should give you years of good service and joy.