Most people, who only have a couple of Bonsai, will place them in a bed of mulch under a sheltering shrub (evergreen) on the south side of the house -- or facing south. They don't need a lot of light (I've never kept any evergreens in total darkness) but had a 'cold house' built just for winter storage. It was covered with opaque plastic and sealed to keep moisture in.

BTW: I use to live in western Pa

Bob

If you did not receive the trees dormant I would recommend keeping them indoors for the first winter (which normally should never be done). Trees normally go dormant slowly over a decent period of time as the season slowly changes from summer to fall to winter. subsequently you cannot place a tree outside, or in your garage in the middle of winter and expect them to go dormant, the almost instantaneous change of drastic temperature will kill them. While you can slowly induce dormancy (which some people do if they have trees requiring dormancy and say live in Florida)it takes a while and shouldn't be attempted by a beginner, as it will most likely result in the Trees death the first time. Therefore if someone is attempting to perfect this technique (which someone like you or me do not need to) they generally practice with cheap undesired material.

I would place the trees in a southern facing window to give them the best light exposure. Also keep in mind that these trees are outdoor trees and need to be kept that way in order to stay healthy and thrive. Most beginners buy say a maple and keep it indoors and it then gets sickly and die. While you can bring them in for 2-3 days for enjoyment or special occasions they need to stay outdoors.

For future reference as to winter storage, here is what I do and it works great. After the trees drop all of their leaves I keep them in my garage, which is unheated. Once they go dormant they do not need light, this also goes for Pines and Evergreens. Keep them by the outside facing wall (if you have a house connected garage) as the inside wall can let off heat and you don't want them to break dormancy in mid winter. Also be sure to keep the on a table shelve etc.. and not on the colder floor unless you have them sitting on elevated wooden planks. water sparingly (on days where it wont freeze) making sure the soil does not completely dry out but do not saturate the soil. Make sure your garage does not stay open for prolonged periods of time as on windy days the cold dry breeze can cause the trees to transpire to much causing them to dry out and die.

Try to be sure the trees are not exposed to temperatures below 20 degrees for more than around five days. Also be sure they do not get introduced to temps. above 50 degrees for even short periods of time unless spring is near as they will begin to come out of dormancy. Once the buds begin to swell and you can tell the trees are coming out of dormancy in spring you can place them outside. Be sure to watch for freak late cold snaps as this can damage them in early spring.

In the future if you are looking to buy a tree and it is winter, make sure the tree is already dormant and the seller knows what they are doing. I personally would never buy trees during winter as it can be difficult to ascertain the trees health condition. Good luck.

-Mike

Good advice so far..i think the maple will be ok in the frige.. they do not require lite without leaves till the new buds start to swell in spring...the junipers i would be afraid for them not to have light...do you have a cool room with a window??? do not let them set where any heat will blow on them at all...this will dry out the foliage...good luck take care john

Thanks for all the advice. I'm at fault here. I should have done more reading before I bought these trees. I'll figure out a way to keep them alive and healthy. I'm used to growing vegetables and roses--not trees.

There are many garden centers who sell wonderful bonsais. They are usually well manicured in a green house--I always had the impression they were meant to be indoors. The garden centers should come with a disclaimer--I wonder how many people have bought a bonsai only to have it die. I never knew how much care (environmentally) goes into maintaining a bonsai. I suppose it's one of those learning curves I'll have to overcome. Thanks for the support. I'll keep you updated.

I think I might keep these in my window well--for starters.

The primary trigger that pushes the trees toward dormancy is increasing periods of darkness. This is technically more accurate than saying 'decreasing day length', but we'll leave that for another time. Presently, your trees WANT and need to go dormant. If you try to sustain them through the winter w/o a cold rest, you should expect considerably reduced vitality in the next growth period, and the probability that these trees will suddenly just go dormant in the middle of the growth cycle. Unless you recognize this reaction for what it is and give the trees a suitable period of chill (refrigerate), you'll lose the trees ..... IE, if you're able to get them to tolerate the indoor conditions both trees are certain to deplore.

A window well is a pretty good idea. Select one on the north side of a building where winter sun can't influence soil temperatures. Once your plants are dormant, soil temperatures over 45* for more than a few days will stimulate growth. If this occurs, almost all of the trees' resistance to freezing temperatures will be lost, and the trees in jeopardy from exposure to temps below freezing, which they would have otherwise tolerated easily.

Use your imagination to get the trees into a setting where soil temperatures will reliably remain between 25-42*, and keep the maple's soil as cool as you can in that range for as long as you can in the spring. The juniper's soil temperature is not quite as critical, but exposing the new growth to freezing temperatures after the spring growth push has started can cause die-back of new, succulent growth.

Both trees should tolerate being buried against the north foundation of a heated building, as long as you make sure they get sufficient moisture. You may wish to place a few waterproof rodent baits around the trees if you keep them outside to keep vermin away, and the rabbits will cherish your maple offering, so keep that in mind.

If you DO find a garage to over-winter in, the floor is actually the safest place for your trees. Isolating the trees from the warmth of the floor by raising them or otherwise insulating them from the geo heat that conducts through and radiates from the floor, exposes them to the full effects of the air temperatures. It only takes a few hours of air temps at 0* to kill a lot of plants, where they would be largely unaffected if they were on the floor. I over-winter a few zone 8 plants by setting them on the floor and covering them with an overturned cardboard box with a small hole in the top. This set-up keeps the plants warm when it's extremely cold & allows enough air circulation that fungal issues aren't a problem.

Don't be tempted to try to over-winter indoors - it's very likely to end in disappointment.

Good luck. Merry Christmas. May the number of blessings you claim in the coming season be more than the number of lights on your tree.

Al

Ok Al...bit my tongue long enough on that one (or do you hold your fingers when typing?)

"The primary trigger that pushes the trees toward dormancy is increasing periods of darkness. This is technically more accurate than saying 'decreasing day length', but we'll leave that for another time."

Huh?

Increasing periods of darkness (maybe only in my world) means the sun shines less, hence, decreasing day (day being the time the sun does shine) length.

Unless........

What happens in your world?

Bob

Pot growers will often force their plants to flower by covering them with boxes or tarps
for increasing periods each day. I'm no expert (far from it), but I believe this is an example.

Josh

In my world, a thorough understanding of the phenomenon of dormancy allows technical accuracy. Not understanding the phenomenon may leave someone puzzled over the logic in that technical accuracy, so I'll take a minute to explain.

Onset of winter dormancy occurs when specific wavelengths, intensity, and duration of light push trees toward their winter rest. We call this progression photodormancy. Phytochrome is a pigment and the light receptor responsible for helping the tree determine when to go dormant. Phytochrome exists in two forms, depending on the wavelength of light absorbed. The change in the ratio of these two forms of phytochrome occurs and can be measured on a daily basis (you can look up photomorphogenesis for a better understanding).

As day length decreases, and the phytochrome ratio changes, the plant gets ready for dormancy via several physiological changes. Chill helps speed the plant toward dormancy as a secondary stimulus.

Per what Josh mentioned, we might as well expand the discussion to include plants termed 'long-day' and 'short-day', as descriptive of their bloom timing, because that nomenclature is also technically inaccurate, the reason being that we KNOW that phytochrome ratios are determined not by DAY length, but rather the length of the dark period. To be technically accurate, we would refer to those plants so often called 'short-day', as 'long-night' plants, and 'long-day' plants as 'short-night' plants as it relates to bloom period.

So as I stated, the onset of dormancy is technically stimulated by increasing dark period. I would have thought that indicating it was a technical issue would have been enough to prevent such sarcastic disagreement, or at least prompted anyone in disagreement to do a little research before jumping to hasty conclusions.

Al

Very interesting, Al.
Thanks for expanding. Poinsettia bracts are brought to color with the dark technique, as well.
Is this the same mechanism at work, or different?


Josh

Yes - It's an example of man manipulating the duration of the dark period to trump the plant's photoperiodism and force them to bloom out of season.

In addition to the dark period's effects on dormancy, here's what Wiki says about bloom periods, verbatim:

"Many flowering plants use the pigment phytochrome to sense seasonal changes in day length, which they take as signals to flower. This sensitivity to day length is termed photoperiodism. Broadly speaking, flowering plants can be classified as long day plants, short day plants, or day neutral plants, depending on their particular response to changes in day length. Long day plants require a certain minimum length of daylight to initiate flowering, so these plants flower in the spring or summer. Conversely, short day plants will flower when the length of daylight falls below a certain critical level. Day neutral plants do not initiate flowering based on photoperiodism, though some may use temperature sensitivity (vernalization) instead.

Although a short day plant cannot flower during the long days of summer, it is not actually the period of light exposure that limits flowering. Rather, a short day plant requires a minimal length of uninterrupted darkness in each 24 hour period (a short daylength) before floral development can begin. It has been determined experimentally that a short day plant (long night) will not flower if a flash of phytochrome activating light is used on the plant during the night.

Plants make use of the phytochrome system to sense day length or photoperiod. This fact is utilized by florists and greenhouse gardeners to control and even induce flowering out of season, such as the Poinsettia."

Al

Well I had them in the window well for a few days. I then stuck them in the shed. It was above freezing today and placed the plants on the side of the house. It's going to snow tonight, but it will stay in the mid-thirties. While it may not have been the smoothest transition, I have a gut feeling they'll do fine until the spring.

If not, I guess I'll learn what a lot of beginners learn.

Good luck, Phil. Make sure you take in the Midwest show at Chicago Botanic Garden next August. It's one I try to hit every year and worth the effort/price of admission.

Al

It generated an equal sarcastic answer, no problem.

A little like the way we drink our coffee?
I order mine and drink it.

I don't have to know who planted the tree and his family background, what the temp, soil ph and time of day/date/etc. on the day he planted the tree. What growing conditions were until the first buds set, what fertalizer was used and when. Who decided when the beans were ready to harvest, how and by whom the harvest was done...etc...etc...etc

Ok, it was interesting but...

Sorry, but there was no sarcasm in my reply - only easily verifiable facts offered for 2 reasons: the attempt to discredit my offering wasn't warranted because my offering was indeed accurate, and to make sure my credibility wasn't damaged. The part about the dark period was a casual remark and a very small part of my initial offering, and I would never have remarked further unless someone expressed curiosity about the comment and really wanted to learn something more (like Josh). I never imagined something so innocuous would garner the criticism it did. I mean, it was only one sentence and I'm pretty sure it didn't even contradict anyone. It's not like I droned on endlessly about the 'dark period', at least not until the challenge and it became necessary to point to the facts for support.

I don't offer advice or comments unless I'm sure of the information I'm providing, just as I don't challenge the information of others unless I'm sure I'm on firm footing; the reason being regularly shooting ourselves in the foot is decidedly bad for credibility .... but that's just me - I don't like egg on my face. ;o)

Why not just let it go with the thought that someone might have learned something they may or may not ever use? I'm always amazed at how often some obscure and seemingly worthless tidbit I might have learned years ago, surfaces from the memory banks to prove itself useful in an every day situation.

I expended considerable effort to offer a lot of helpful information in my original post, and did it in a in a cordial and friendly way. I don't think I deserved the smackdown, but I really don't mind too much (honestly) because it did offer an opportunity to expand & share more information, which is my primary reason for being here.

Al

Well, at least the rabbits didn't eat my maple yet.