Care of A Bonsai Plant
 

Any horticulture experts here?

I am having trouble with a Bonsai plant I received as a gift. It's important to me to try and keep this one alive (because of the friend who gave it to me), so I am a bit flustered trying to figure out what I need to do here.

This is one of those little bonsai you can buy in the store, with a pot with a water hole in the bottom (you fill a larger container like a pot with water and then let the tree sit in it to suck up the water).

Anyway, I am reading I have to keep the soil moist but allow the plant to dry between waterings. Indications are this is usually relatively long, at least a day or two. But mine seems to dry in hours, and I am afraid I am misunderstanding and overwatering this thing (done it two times already since yesterday afternoon).

And what really concerns me is that it already looks like it's getting a bit less green, like it's not being fed at all.

Anyway, if anyone hear can give me any suggestions, I would appreciate it. Thanks.

CR

Ask Mr. Belding

What is a bonzai??? I guess I can't help you. Is it supposed to be less green?

Dude haven't you ever seen "The Karate Kid"?!?!?!

Well, just took it to Home Depot and asked one of the guys in the gardneing section there. He confirmed it's not getting water, so now I am trying to figure out why not, since I have watered it twice already in the past 24 hours. He suggested I poke a nail or some other long thin tool through the little stone-rock top and intot he soil where the root system is, that mayeb the water can't get past that and to where the roots are. Since I soak it from below, I'm not sure that will help, but I figure it's worth a shot. So now I am having it soaked again after burrowing a mini-screwdriver in and around the soil, and after breaking up the rock top a bit. I'm going to leave it in there a lot longer, too, and hope that works.

The guy at Home Depot said they have commercialized this sort of thing so much and mass-produce it now, that the people who put together the plants and the pots don't know a thing about growing them, and that it's a 50-50 shot on whether it will live no matter what I do. So that sorta sucks.

Still willing to take advice if anyone's got any.

CR

Those store-bought bonsai's suck... no offense to your friend.

Take the glued up rock shit off. Just have soil in the pot with the plant. Keep it outdoors where it'll get some sunlight. Water it, but don't over-water it.

There are tons of websites on this on the web.