Better Homes and Gardens (Australia)
EASY STEPS TO CREATING A JAPANESE MAPLE BONSAI
Bonsai specimens traditionally sit in shallow pots that are more like saucers. This means there’s not much room for roots, especially when they have the double duty of stabilising the plants and drawing nutrients from the soil. The po ing mix needs to be able to do both!
Gather your supplies
• Po ing mix
• Peat moss
• Coarse river sand
• Pea gravel
• Small po ed maple
• Shallow bonsai pot
• Bonsai wire
• Decorative pea gravel in black or grey
• Seaweed solution
You’ll also need Garden sieve; bucket or container; pointed nose secateurs or floral snips; wire cu ers
Here’s how
STEP 1 Run po ing mix through sieve into bucket or container to get rid of chunky bark bits.
STEP 2 Measure equal amounts of sieved po ing mix, peat moss, river sand and pea gravel, then mix.
STEP 3 Remove maple from pot, shake off po ing mixture, then rub off excess mix with hands.
STEP 4 Trim roots with pointed nose secateurs so they are the same depth as your bonsai pot. Don’t be timid – be brutal.
STEP 5 Fill bonsai pot with your new po ing mix, creating a well where you want to put your maple.
STEP 6 Place maple in mix. Tamp down gently.
If necessary, hold maple in mix by running bonsai wire around roots and through drainage holes until roots regrow and give your plant stability.
STEP 7 Cover mix with decorative pea gravel.
STEP 8 Water maple in with seaweed solution. Seaweed isn’t a fertiliser, but a root tonic. It’ll reduce transplant shock and stimulate new root growth.
STEP 9 Later, when plant is stable – it won’t wobble when you push it but will resist – remove wire with wire cu ers so it doesn’t cut into growing roots.
STEP 10 Keep in shade until roots regrow then sit in part sun/part shade.