5Ws+1H: What It's About: Bonsai trees can be easy to care for
Jun. 15—Bonsai trees, while small in size, have often been said to help others, like Brad Wagnon, relax.
Wagnon, owner of Big Brad's Bonsai, said one of the biggest misconceptions of bonsai is that it is a species; it is actually created when a person turns a tree into a smaller version of itself.
"A bonsai in the most simplest of terms is a tree in a pot, but there are a lot of other things that go into someone calling a tree a bonsai," said Wagnon. "Anybody can put a small tree in a pot. It's really mimicking what a full-size tree would look like in nature and in miniature."
Wagnon said any species of tree can be turned into a bonsai, but each has its own varying types of care. The main four things every bonsai tree needs is sunlight/light, food, water, and oxygen.
To create a bonsai tree, Wagnon said the gardener will often start off with a seedling size tree. The tree will then be replanted into bigger pots until the height is where the gardener wants it. Wagnon said that to keep the tree at a certain height, the gardener will trim and reduce the size of the pot to keep the roots growing horizontally. This helps create a desired shape or design can be done using wire and by pruning branches or trimming leaves.
"If it's a fast-growing tree, [the process] might take 10 to 15 years. If it's a slow-growing tree, it might take 30 years," said Wagnon.
When pruning a bonsai, Wagnon said owners should be careful, especially if they are working on a slow-growing tree. If a mistake is made on a fast-growing tree, it can be corrected in a couple of years, but one that is slow growing could cause the person to wait several years to fix the mistake or create a different design.
The most difficult part of making a tree into a bonsai is the patience aspect, because the slow growth of the plant means it will take a while to notice changes.
Due to the roots of a tree needing to breathe, the soil media for bonsais should be coarse, but not dense. Wagnon said the best type of soil media he has found is lava pumice with fire-hardened clay.
Bonsais have to be watered daily, especially during summer, so it can often be difficult for those who travel a lot. Even though a few of the stipulations for care needed for bonsais maybe daunting, Wagnon said taking care them is not as hard as some make it out to be.
"It's kind of like having a pet, except a bonsai tree can live for hundreds or thousands of years, whereas your pet probably won't," said Wagnon.
Wagnon said a bonsai should also be fed nutrients more often than other plants, since the small pots cause the trees to use up the nutrients faster. Wagnon's own method of fertilizing is every two weeks during the spring and summer.
Wagnon encourages others to take part in caring for bonsai trees because of the relaxing effect the hobby can have.
"It actually activates the same part of your brain as meditation, so you can't be thinking about the past; you can't be worried about the future," said Wagnon. "You have to be worried about the about what's in front of you when you're working on a tree."
