Bonsai's which would be the best to grow?

8 years ago

Hello i'm new to this forum and I had some questions about bonsai trees.

I have a terrarium for my snakes they are very small about 60 cm tops and I have four of them.

A while ago I bought 2 bonsai trees a ficus and a zanthoxylum cascade.

Both trees that would flourish in a tropical climate. But after a while both the trees started to lose there leaves and both of them sufferd from root rot.

One of them might be dead but I have tried to save it and I will know within a week or two if I succeeded in doing so.

The zanthoxylum will make it I took it out of the terrarium and it seems to heal well.

Now my question is which type of bonsai tree would be the best to keep in an terrarium.

My terrarium is around 28 degrees during day time and about 15 to 20 degrees during the night time.

The size of my terrarium is 90 cm long 40 cm wide and 60 cm tall.

The humidity is around 30 to 40% and I noticed that when both the trees were still in the terrarium this was around 50% and when I had sprayed the bonsai's this could even become 80%!

I have two daylight lamps both 25 watt. 2 night lamps also both 25 watt. And 2 natural light lamps both 13 watt. These both radiate uva light which stimulates growth within trees and plants. It's the same type of light the sun radiates which makes plants and trees grow.

I also have 2 uvb lamps both 13 watt and these also stimulate growth within plants and trees but surely not as much as the uva lamps do.

Another question I have is should I keep the trees in their pot or should I keep them in the terrarium without the pot.

Also what is the best way to fight root rot and even better prevent it?

I hope you people can help me out because my snakes realy like living trees around them because they sleep in them and use them as a form of transportation to move trough the terrarium.

Greetings,

Gawein Smit

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Comments (6)

mchez09
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Root rot is usually caused by over watering, too much water could be the cause of some of your other problems as well, how long ago did you buy them, they may be in need of a repotting? Have you been fertalizing? I suggest keeping them in there pots for multiple reasons, how about some pics? Good luck.

~Mitchell~
moochinka
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
What's the soil mix made up of? Ficus (and most tropical plants) need very high light - not just the warming kind of terrariums but e.g. T5 fluorescents hung no more than 6 inches above the trees for up to 16 hrs/day.
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Gawein Smit
Original Author
8 years ago
Hello,

First of al thanks for reacting.

My retailer said exactly the same thing about the root rot but he didn't say a word about other problems. I bought them about 4 months ago. Yes I bought a fertalizer ferti bonsai by omni plant. My retailer told me to use only half the dose that was described on the little box the liquid fertalizer was deliverd in.

On another part of this forum someone else also said that keeping them in their pot was the best thing to do. So that is what I'm going to do!

Thank you Mitchell for your quick response!

The soil mix was already in the pot in consisted for as far as I could tell out of little stones, sand, little branches and potting soil.

When I had the bonsai trees for a week or 2 I didn't have the natural light lamps yet or the uvb lamps only the daylight lamps which actually only produce light and heat.

So then I bought the other lights and for 2 months both bonsai's grew a lot lot new leaves and even with the zanthoxylum a staggering amount of branches.

I will seek those type of lights out on the internet and replace my old ones if neccesary.

Thank you for you quick response moochinka.

Here are some picture.

You might not be capable of seeing it but the the biggest branches (the tree trunk) was broken at it's top (lowest part on the picture) it used to be a third bigger then the whole trunk is now. It was deliverd to me in this state. So I "bandaged" the wound with some steel wire. And that part of the trunk revived and also started to grow. Only a few weeks later one of my snakes pooped exactly on the wound and from that moment the tree slowly died. Could it be that the veigns of the tree where poisoned by this? And that would be the reason it almost died?

Those are the roots of the ficus.

The ficus in a good shape.

The zanthoxylum in a good shape.

If anyone wants me too I can take other pictures like a close-up from certain areas of the bonsais.

Kind regards and thanks again,

Gawein Smit
moochinka
8 years ago
Trees don't have veins, but I know what you mean... don't speak snake so can't answer that one, but little tip for the future - some plants, and Ficus in particular... if they come home from a nursery with terrific lighting and get plonked on your windowsill (for instance) quite possibly will drop all their leaves and look dead. However, once adjusted to the light in your place, if it's halfway decent (what I mentioned were ideal conditions, but plants can adapt to lesser light) will grow new leaves in a few weeks, all other things like watering, etc. being equal. Good luck with everything - you sound like you're having fun! Btw - do some research into bonsai and into the individual trees you grow - there's a lifetime of learning to do.
Gawein Smit
Original Author
8 years ago
Hello Moochinka,

Thanks for your help, then I hope that this one still has enough life force running trough it self that it might start reproducing leaves.

I indeed do like to be busy with my trees, plants, snakes and cat beeing busy in the garden is something I like to do aswell!

I will do so!

Thanks for the help.

Kind regards,

Gawein Smit
moochinka
8 years ago
"So I "bandaged" the wound with some steel wire." I just registered this (from your earlier post... forget to mention it since, but I really don't understand what you meant by it, only that it doesn't sound right at all... does it refer to the last pic on this page where there is a coil of wire very loosely wound around and through the top of the foliage? That is certainly not how either wound healing is done and not how wire is used at all in any case - it's meant to help style branches, but not that way... it's important that you read up on 'wiring bonsai' because you're going to damage trees if not (sorry!).