MEGA Updates On My Bonsai Collection

A quick update on several of my bonsai trees.

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Hydroponic Ficus Bonsai Collection

Here I show my hydroponic ficus bonsai collection, kept on my kitchen balcony of my apartment, which has been converted to a mini glasshouse. Also, there is an update on a unique ficus specimen of mine.

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Root Fusion Bonsai

Tree species : Ficus Religiosa / Peepal Tree
Seed sprouted around : mid Sept, 2015

This is Part 3. Read Part 1 & Part 2. 

Here I show an update on my 2.5 yrs old ficus mini bonsai. The water roots have grown thick and have partly fused together. They were cut off and planted as a root cutting. The fused roots will now become a fused trunk. This is a unique specimen in my collection and, I have not seen anything like this on the internet. I have seen trunk fusion projects but this is different.

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Raintree Bonsai Update - Part 4

Tree Species : Rain Tree (Albizia Saman / Monkey Pod Tree / Vilayati Siris)
Sprouted On : May 15, 2016


This is Part 4. Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Here I show an update on my 2 yr old Rain Tree mini bonsai and convert it into a self watering pot. The substrate now is crushed bricks and sits in a pool of water.

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Self Watering Ficus Mini Bonsai

Here I show updates on 2 of my mini bonsai plants and convert them into self watering setups.

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Bottle Cap Bonsai - Fantastic Growth In 1.5 Months !

Tree species : Ficus Religiosa / Peepal Tree
Cutting taken on : June 21, 2016

I got fantastic growth in 1.5 months after brutally pruning my 1 yr old ficus religiosa mini bonsai, which is being grown as a bottle cap bonsai. To prevent the leafless pruned trunks from drying up, they were misted 3-4 times a day and I was rewarded for the extra care with many new branches. They were kept in shade for 2 weeks & then exposed to filtered morning sunlight.

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I am using a hybrid-ponic setup (roots in soil & water) to get fast growth in a compact space. The roots in the water bottle are sacrificial. Water is changed weekly once and liquid NPK is added to it. The soil too is fertilized with it. Pests, their eggs & spidermites were regularly cleaned off the leaves. 

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Emergency Root Rescue On My Mini Slab Bonsai

Tree Species : Ficus Religiosa (Peepal tree)
 
My mini slab bonsai had 2 setbacks sometime ago and now a 3rd one ! So, this time I dived right in, for a heroic rescue :-) Enough is enough !

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 (Read video description also)

 

Penjing Bonsai - Root Over Rock Style

Tree Species : Ficus Religiosa (Peepal tree)

Part 1 video features a hybrid-ponic setup (roots in soil & water) , while part 2 features hydroponic setup.

Part 1 - Dec 2016

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Part 2 - Nov 2017

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Root Over Rock Bonsai - Hybridponic Ficus Religiosa / Peepal Tree

Tree Species : Ficus Religiosa (Peepal tree)
Cutting Taken In : May 2016

This is a 1 year progression of my Root Over Rock Mini Bonsai, started from water rooted cuttings. It also covers the making of the rock formation, my hybrid-ponic setup (roots in sand & water), trunk thickening, pruning, moss revival & self watering benefits. My hybrid-ponic setup is an adaptation of Kratky Hydroponics technique.

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Bottle Cap Bonsai - Amazing Ficus Roots !!!

Tree species : Ficus Religiosa / Peepal Tree
Cutting taken on : June 21, 2016

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This is a 1 yr progression of a ficus mini bonsai from cutting, growing hydroponically in a bottle cap. The roots in water are sacrificial and will be eventually cut off but they give me a much faster growth than possible in my soil-mix of the same volume.

Self Watering Bottle Cap Bonsai

Tree species : Ficus Religiosa / Peepal Tree
Seed sprouted around : mid Sept, 2015

This is Part 2. Read Part 1 & Part 3. 

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This is a 2 yr progression of a ficus mini bonsai from seed, growing hydroponically in a bottle cap. The roots in water are sacrificial and will be eventually cut off but they give me a much faster growth than possible in my soil-mix of the same volume. 

Fish & Bonsai

I added 2 fishes temporarily, as decoration, to my hybrid-ponic penjing bonsai, for the purpose of shooting a video of it. It looks like a cute demo model of a mini eco-system, even though it is a temporary one :-) The fishes were returned back to their tank, after the video was shot. 

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This is NOT an aquaponic system. The ficus religiosa shown here is fed liquid NPK both in the soil mix on the rock and in the water. The setup was cleaned before adding fishes so that any traces of my chemical fertilizers do not harm the fish.

Rain Tree Mini Bonsai - Part 3

Tree Species : Rain Tree (Albizia Saman / Monkey Pod Tree / Vilayati Siris)
Sprouted On : May 15, 2016

This is Part 3. Read Part 1 Part 2, Part 4

UPDATE - May 7, 2017

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Hybridponic Rain Tree Seedling - Part 2

Tree Species : Rain Tree (Albizia Saman / Monkey Pod Tree / Vilayati Siris)
Sprouted On : May 15, 2016

UPDATE - Dec 9, 2016

This is Part 2. Read Part 1, Part 3, Part 4

Water Bonsai From Cuttings Of Cluster Fig Tree / Ficus Racemosa

Tree species : Cluster Fig Tree (Ficus Racemosa, Indian Fig Tree, Goolar Fig)
Cuttings taken on : June 9, 2016

This post is part 3 of this story.

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 Read Part 1 & Part 2 here.

How To : Rooting a leaf cutting of Ficus Racemosa

Tree species : Cluster Fig Tree (Ficus Racemosa, Indian Fig Tree, Goolar Fig)
Leaf taken on : Sept 1, 2016

I took this leaf from a big tree, to compare & show the leaf size reduction I achieved in my bonsai plants of the same species. Then, instead of throwing it away, I thought - why not root it in water and see ! Just plain water, changed twice a week, no rooting hormones.

Sept 18

Sept 21

Mini Cuttings Of Ficus Racemosa / Cluster Fig Tree Growing In Water

Tree species : Cluster Fig Tree (Ficus Racemosa, Indian Fig Tree, Goolar Fig)
Cuttings taken on : July 12, 2016

To be grown as mini bonsai

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Rooting cuttings in water - Ficus Religiosa / Peepal tree - Part 3

Tree Species : Ficus Religiosa (Peepal tree)
Collected On : April 23, 2016

Part 3 

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Root on rock - After getting a bunch of dense & shallow water roots, I planted the ficus cutting no. 6 on a rock cavity, covered it with moss & put it back in water, allowing the roots to grow down from the rock in to the water. 

Part 1 & 2

Mini Bonsai From Seeds OF Rain Tree - Part 1

Tree Species : Rain Tree (Albizia Saman / Monkey Pod Tree / Vilayati Siris)
Sprouted On : May 15, 2016

This is Part 1. Read Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

Here is a story of germinating rain tree seeds for mini (mame) bonsai, using the beautiful Steller app :

Birth Of A Rain Tree
 (best watched on mobile)