What Should A Beginner In Bonsai Get First?

I just have to laugh sometimes when I speak with people about bonsai and they immediately ask me if I’m referring to that mini tree that the guy trimmed in the old ‘Karate Kid’ movie. It is true, Mr. Miyagi maintained a nice little bonsai tree, and he even tried get Daniel to learn. Thankfully, Karate Kid is not what I’m writing about today, but I do want to shed some light on the hobby of bonsai.

First things first: know that some bonsai trees are best left for only the most experienced, while there are a lot for those who don’t have any experience at all. If you fall into the second camp, you will want a tree that is forgiving of beginner mistakes and can handle the time it may take you to become proficient. You may feel that this limits your choices, but it really is for the best.

Today, I will specifically talk about the ficus bonsai because it is especially well suited to beginners because of the reasons I stated previously. Although ficus only grow in humid or temperate areas, which most of the United States is not, they can still thrive indoors no matter where you give them a home. It’s no task to find one, but just be sure that whoever you buy it from has raised it well.

Ficus bonsai really attracted me because they are known to do very well for beginners who are still figuring things out. As an example, they are more forgiving when you are trying to come up with set watering times; they won’t dry out and die immediately.

The roots must not be kept wet or else they will rot. Luckily, the ficus will not die after one or two watering mistakes. It will allow the beginner to get it right. Trust me, this is crucial because it can take some time to really get the right schedule down so that the tree can grow optimally.

Neither should you fear unnecessarily if you have made a mistake as you were cutting some growth off. If you are giving it what it needs in the way of water and sunlight, your tree should grow back pretty fast and cover your mistake. The mistakes will come often in those early months, so be glad it grows back.

And finally, if for some reason you can’t put the tree in the ideal south west facing window, don’t’ worry because it will live. Now don’t get me wrong, I advocate letting the ficus have all the sun it needs, but I also understand that not everybody can. If you give it a decent amount, you should be ok.

I personally think any person that buys a ficus bonsai will quickly turn into to a lover and an advocate of them. Just make sure to give it its share of h2o, lots of good sunlight, and don’t it over grow, and it will thank you with good growth.