The flame tree bonsai is also known as flamboyant or Royal Poinciana, or Delonix regia, because of its natural growth in tropical or semi-tropical areas. This bonsai species is very popular among bonsai lovers as it looks green in its younger stage and blood-red in its blossom stage. And its umbrella shape style enhances your interior beauty.
But, if you struggle to properly take care of it, then the plant may tend to grow inadequately or even dry, which may disappoint you. Never mind, here we disclose everything from seeding to blooming of the tree. And you’ll gain a deep understanding about how to take care of your Delonix regia bonsai.
So, let’s put on your shoes to enjoy a pleasant journey in the bonsai world.
Overview Of The Flame Bonsai Tree
- Neck name – Glorious flame tree
- Inventor – Wenzel Bojer (botanist)
- Year of Invention – 1820
- Invented by – Europeans
- Country of origin – Madagascar, Africa
- Origin of name – Two Greek words (”Delos”, mean evident and ”Onyx”, means claw-like petals.)
- Region or suitable climate to grow- Tropical or semi-tropical area
- Seed length – 60 centimeter
- Plant length – Up to 40 feet from root
- Plant width – Up to 70 feet from crown
- Soil requirement – Minimum soil
- Pruning requirement – High pruning
- Types of leaves – Pinnately and fern-like
- Preferred temperature – 10-20°c or 50-68°f
- Weather that can’t tolerate – Cold weather or low temperature
- Display style – Ornaments
- Growing Season – Summer
- Bloom season – Spring to Summer
- The color of flowers – Blood Red or like Hibiscus rosa-Sinensis
- Blooming duration – Several months
Flame Tree Bonsai Care Guidelines
It’s not enough to have a quick overview of the flame bonsai. Now you may feel the necessity of a complete guideline of time to time caring instructions to level up your confidence to cultivate this Bonsai. The art of persuasion of the proper process of taking care of your tree leads to an aesthetic and fantastic structure.
Ideal Placement
This tree is a summer-friendly bonsai species, and you need to place it in a sunny and windy area where it gets proper sunlight. That means a South facing window, balcony, or patio garden is the perfect place to keep it. The Flame will grow faster under 10°c or 50°f temperature at night and 20°c or 68°f at day time.
The Flame tree can not tolerate cold weather and low temperatures. So it’s essential to keep the tree at the proper place and maintain the right temperature.
If you live in a subtropical area, you don’t face any challenge in the daytime to maintain its required temperature.
But, what to do at night?
Maybe you are thinking about artificial grow lights. Yes, you are right. If you face challenges to maintain the correct temperature level at night, you can use the LED grow lights. And the lights offer you the opportunity to meet your plants’ required temperature. You can use the multimeter to measure the temperature and fix the light temperature. That’s simple.
Read More: Best Artificial Light for Bonsai Trees of 2022
Flame Tree Bonsai Watering
The water needs of the flame tree will vary season to season, and its pH tolerance level is 4.5 to 7.5. So you should water the plant by considering the season and the soil conditions.
The sun heats scorchy and produces a lot of heat in summer. That’s why in summer the tree requires more water than winter. You have to regularly water the plant this season so the tree can make food and transfer it to its twigs, branches, and leaves.
Don’t water the plant after getting the soil too dry or when the soil has moisture. Carefully check the soil moisture level before watering.
In winter, you can set an interval watering period by observing your plant water needs. So you can avoid root rot issues for overwatering. To know more about bonsai watering check; how often do you need to water your bonsai?
Fertilizer Instructions
Applying the right fertilizer at the right time will boost the growth of your bonsai. You will find 2 kinds of fertilizers in the market: solid fertilizers and liquid or spray fertilizers. You can apply both of them based on your preference, the bonsai growing stages, and availability.
The time intervals of using Fertilizer
- Solid Fertilizer – every 4 weeks
- Liquid Fertilizer – every week
Whether solid or liquid, no matter which fertilizer you choose, you must ensure balanced ingredients of NPK. The right proportion of Nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) will elevate healthy and vibrant flowers at the blooming stage.
Pruning and wiring
The beautiful umbrella shape of your flame bonsai will not come by itself. You have to prune it, and this tree species can tolerate hard pruning.
The spring is the best season for Flame tree bonsai pruning. Because in this season, the plant does not have leaves and looks like bare branches. Which means you can easily reach the branches that you need to prune.
Primarily, you should choose the rear and hard branches for trimming. You also have to cut off the damaged and wilted twigs to ensure the proper growth of the tree. You can also wire some stems for bringing your desired shape rather than trimming.
Here’s not the end. You may have to prune the tree consistently in summer. For getting a step by step guideline about how to prune a bonsai tree click here.
Repotting
When the soil of the flame becomes older, it loses the nutrition-providing ability. Besides, spaces become smaller because of the tree’s proper growth. As a result, the plant faces a lack of nutrition and enough room to grow.
In this situation, repotting the tree is the best option to solve the issue. After repotting, the flame tree will get spacious space and balanced nutrition to thrive.
The proper time of repotting
By checking the tree’s growing stage, and conditions, you can re-pot it every six months or 12 months. And spring is the best season for repotting. The experts’ bonsai gardeners suggest that pruning is the right time to repot the tree. Plus, you have to consider the root system, structure, and roots’ health before repotting. If needed don’t hesitate to prune dead roots.
Soil making process for repotting
This Bonsai grows well with slightly acidic soil. So if you can manage Kanuma, add some of it with the soil when preparing them for repotting. Check how to repot a bonsai to know detailed information about this process.
Propagation
You must collect seeds (check price On Amazon flame tree bonsai Seed) from the ripe seed pods for flame tree bonsai germination or propagation. After that, you should keep them in warm water for some days to make them ready for planting. Next, you have to plant the seeds in the soil by maintaining 20°c or 68°f temperature. After 3 weeks, you will see a sapling come up through the soil.
Conclusion
So, finally, we have come into the last few words of our comprehensive guide on flame tree bonsai.
Growing Bonsai is always passionate, fun, enjoyable, and entertaining. It can be a great pleasure to see the attractive and colorful flowers of bonsai when it blooms. So follow our guidelines and enjoy your bonsai gardening experience.
Good luck!