Are you wondering about getting a Juniper bonsai in your house? Juniper bonsai is an excellent choice among all the other bonsai trees, especially for beginners. It’s much easier to maintain and take care of, and it brings out the true beauty you expect from bonsai trees.
Now, a crucial part of growing a bonsai tree is the placement. Whether you should grow the tree indoors or outdoors is very important to know. So, when you are getting a Juniper, a common question, there is can juniper bonsai live indoors?
what I will be discussing here today. Stick with me till the end to find all your answers regarding this matter.
Can you grow Juniper bonsai indoors?
Well, I hate to break it down to you, but Juniper trees are better suited for outdoors rather than indoors. Several things stop Junipers from growing indoors.
First of all, Juniper trees need a lot of sunlight, at least four hours a day. The tree requires a lot of sunlight to get the best possible growth. How much sunlight a tree needs mostly depends on the species of Juniper you are choosing. With some trees, you can get better growth if they get more direct sunlight.
Another issue is with the dormancy period of the tree. A Juniper tree needs exposure to the different seasons in a particular order. This is a common trait of all outdoor trees, and it’s a natural process.
During the dormancy periods, your bonsai should stop growing for their survival in the winter. Also, it’s same time they prepare for spring. It’s an essential phase for the tree to grow.
When you opt to get the trees indoors, the tree can’t go into a dormancy period. This will disrupt the natural flow of the growth of the tree. As a result, it will die.
It’s not impossible to grow a Juniper indoors. But you will have to create such conditions that a Juniper bonsai can survive. And creating that kind of condition indoors will be a daunting task to overcome.
So, if you can grow a Juniper outdoors, you should opt for that any day. However, if you are stuck with the indoor option, you have to create a suitable environment.
Creating an environment indoors for Juniper bonsai
Now, the thing is, you can’t possibly mimic sunlight inside your house. You will still need to rely on sunlight to give the tree proper light. So, choose a spot where you can get direct sunlight even inside your house. If you don’t have such a spot, it’s impossible to have a Juniper bonsai inside your home.
The next thing to create is the humidity. Humidity is a crucial factor for replicating the outdoor conditions of a particular season. To do that, you can use heating systems or air conditioning and get the perfect humidity for your Juniper bonsai. You can also use a humidity tray if you don’t want to spend too much money on those items.
Another thing to control is the temperature. It would help if you never let the temperature go lower than 50 degrees. Most Juniper bonsais thrive in warmer temperatures, so you have to maintain that to keep the tree alive. You can use thermostats in your house to keep the proper temperature. And if it’s possible, then dedicate a room solely for growing bonsai trees.
Typically, these three things are enough to create a suitable environment for a Juniper bonsai indoors. But you will undoubtedly face a more challenging time creating this kind of situation indoors. Aside from that, it’s all about taking care of the tree and maintaining it.
So, let’s take a look at those aspects to get the whole idea of growing a Juniper.
Care and maintenance for Juniper bonsai
There are several things to factor in when taking care of a Juniper bonsai tree. For any bonsai tree, growing mostly means taking care of the tree. You can’t even expect growth from the tree if you don’t take care of it properly. So, make sure to give the following things your priority over anything else.
The soil
First of all, you have to think of the soil. Avoid using any soil that can be too damp or has lousy drainage because it may cause your tree’s roots to rot.
Also, don’t get soil that’s too much dry. It would help if you aimed for soil that stays moist but not too much. You will need to let the soil dry out a little at times.
Watering
For the watering habits, you need to maintain a decent schedule. The worst thing to do is, overwater your bonsai. So, make sure you are not overwatering your trees. There are several other things you have to maintain for watering.
Keeping the Juniper in a more humid environment is very crucial. To avoid overwatering while keeping the humidity proper, you can use mists of water. Do that using a spray bottle, and you can easily maintain the appropriate moisture.
If you want a better option, then you can use a humidity tray as well. It helps you get the perfect humidity for your Juniper bonsai. Fill a tray with some water and pebbles. Then place the bonsai on the rocks. Just make sure the water isn’t touching the tree.
What you are doing here is just creating a source of humidity. So, the goal here isn’t to water your tree but to keep it humid.
Feeding
The best time to feed fertilizer to your Juniper is during the growing season. This means you have to feed them in summer and spring to get the most benefit from the fertilizers. Do it every six weeks, and make sure to check the tree’s water level as well.
For the fertilizer, it’s always best to use a liquid fertilizer that is free of urea. You want a fertilizer for your Juniper that is rich in nitrogen. Also, don’t feed too much fertilizer. Make sure to keep it in moderation.
You should never feed your Juniper bonsai during the dormant period. So, avoid feeding your Juniper in the winter season.
Pruning
Pruning is a crucial part of maintaining the shape and growth of your bonsai tree. Once your Juniper starts growing normally, you can start pruning the tree. When you are pruning, make sure not to cut or remove the newer parts of the tree.
Also, don’t trim more than 10% of the foliage. You can apply some sealant on the areas that you have trimmed to protect them. This greatly helps in providing the tree with more support for healing in the trimmed areas.
Wiring
To maintain the proper shape of a Juniper, you will have to opt for wiring. Wiring will make sure that the tree stays in the shape you want to style it in. There are several ways to style a Juniper bonsai tree.
It’s an important maintenance step that comes right after pruning. So, after you prune and the tree gets thinner, you should opt for wiring the tree and giving it the shape you want. While you are wiring, make sure to keep it a little loose. Even though Juniper can withhold wiring pretty well, you still don’t want to damage it in some way.
Repotting
Repotting is another crucial maintenance procedure you need to follow for growing your Juniper. To know if the time is right to repot or not, you have to check the roots of your tree. If you see they are tangled or have a root ball, you will need to repotting.
The best time to repot your tree is during the growing season. Precisely, springtime is the best for repotting your Juniper tree.
You remove the tree from the old soil and cut the root ball or tangled root for repotting. Then, you have to place the tree in a new pot with fresh soil. Usually, you have to repot a Juniper every two years. However, the best practice is to keep the root in check every year.
Pest control
Well, this is just a regular maintenance process you have to do for your Juniper. You can use different kinds of organic pesticides to get rid of any kind of infestations. Or you can simply hire a professional pest control service to get you rid of this problem.
Summary
In short, if you are wondering can Juniper bonsai live indoors, then the answer will probably be no. Yes, you may create a scenario where you can keep them alive in the growing seasons.
But sooner or later, they will have to go through the dormant period. And at that time, it’s almost impossible to keep them alive in indoor conditions. Also, even if you create a situation where the Juniper lives on, it will not thrive in growth.
So, the best bet is to try out other trees if you are fixated on growing bonsai indoors. Or if you liked Juniper a lot, then you have to compromise and grow it outdoors.
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