Sunday, April 11, 2010

Hydroponic bonsai! Are you serious?


The idea of growing a hydroponic bonsai would make all of my former bonsai gurus cringe, however, I just have to give it a try to satisfy my curiosity.


This poor little crab tree was selected to be my guinea pig in this experiment. It has been loitering around not doing much for the last twenty years or so, and it appears healthy enough to survive being transplanted into a hydroponic environment. The plant needs some pruning to refine the shape, but I can't bring myself to remove any of the buds at this point, so it will have to wait until the buds drop themselves. If any fruit develop, then all bets are off regarding pruning until next season.

The plant has been potted in my standard mixture of half coir and half agricultural perlite, and it will remain in the greenhouse for the season. At this point I will use the same nutrient mixture that I am using for cucumbers and see how the plant reacts.

This should prove interesting indeed.


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