Experienced bonsai fans advise against cultivating an indoor fir as a bonsai. Since the tree is not easy to cut and wiring is also not possible, most indoor firs that are kept as bonsai die after a short time.
Is an indoor fir suitable as a bonsai?
Keeping an indoor fir tree as a bonsai is difficult because it is difficult to cut and wire. However, you can limit growth by topping and carefully pruning roots. Make sure you have a bright location and suitable temperatures for caring for the indoor fir.
Indoor firs are difficult to cut into shape
An indoor fir quickly takes offense if it is pruned too much. No new branches sprout from the old wood, so every branch that is removed is irretrievably lost. The branches cannot be wired. They will return to their original shape when the wire is removed.
You can try to limit the growth of an indoor fir by topping it. If you cut off the top, several lateral shoots will sprout. This means that the classic shape of the indoor fir is lost.
Nevertheless, there are attempts to hang the newly sprouted tips so that an, albeit unusual, bonsai shape is created. However, you have to expect that the indoor fir will not forgive the pruning and will die.
prune roots carefully
To limit the growth of the indoor fir, you can prune the root ball when repotting. But be careful and don't cut away too much.
The bonsai indoor fir is only repotted every two years because it is not very fast-growing. The best time for repotting is early spring.
Care for indoor fir as a bonsai
Caring for an indoor fir as a bonsai is not easy, as the tree does not easily forgive care errors and unsuitable locations.
- Bright, not sunny location
- keep warm in summer
- keep cooler in winter
- protect from drafts and contact
In a suitable location, the indoor fir is very bright but not sunny. In summer it can tolerate temperatures between 7 and 22 degrees, in winter it cannot get warmer than 5 to 10 degrees.
When watering, make sure that the root ball never completely dries out, but that under no circumstances does it become waterlogged. Fertilize every two weeks during the summer with a rhododendron or azalea fertilizer.
Tip
In the trade, indoor firs are occasionally offered as bonsai. However, these are not classic bonsais, but rather trees that have been grown in spirals or other unusual shapes.
