In the Mediterranean garden you can often find old thyme bushes, which, through regular harvesting, provide good starting material for bonsai design. Because of its needle-shaped leaves and gnarled bark, Thymus officinalis is an ideal object for Asian art.
How to care for a thyme bonsai?
A thyme bonsai requires regular pruning, occasional wiring, a sunny location, constant moisture without waterlogging and fertilization every two weeks during the growing season. Repotting should be done every two to three years in early spring.
Bonsai design
Thyme is suitable for many styles and sizes of bonsai due to its good branching ability and bushy growth. The Mediterranean plant proves to be tolerant of pruning and can be trained into inclined or natural growth forms. Half cascades, cascades and broom shapes are just as possible as the literary shape. Double and multiple trunks or forests also have an aesthetic effect.
pruning
Pruning takes place from spring to summer. Fresh young shoots can be shortened at any time. This is necessary to keep the bonsai in its shape. Strong pruning is carried out after the flowering period. If you have an older thyme bush with thick main shoots in the garden, it provides perfect starting material for a miniature tree. Even after intensive pruning, it sprouts well from the old wood and forms dense cushions if you regularly remove the shoots on the main trunks.
Wiring
Thyme shoots become woody very quickly in the first year, which is why they break easily when wired and bent. In June, the branches are comparatively flexible and are easier to shape using the wire method. Leave the wires on the branches for a maximum of six months to prevent them from growing into the bark. You should fix older specimens with tension wires in spring, when the wood is softer due to the flow of sap, and in this way bring them into the desired shape.
Requirements
As a plant from the Mediterranean region, thyme values a sunny and warm location during the summer months. In particularly hot and dry periods, temporary shading makes sense. The weather with wind and rain hardens the foliage so that it becomes more resistant to attack by diseases and pests. The woody shrub spends the winter in a frost-free and cool area as soon as the temperatures drop into the minus range.
Water and nutrients
Keep the substrate constantly moist in summer and avoid waterlogging. In the winter months, water the plant more sparingly so that the root ball does not dry out completely. Fertilization occurs every two weeks during the growing season. Start with the first administration in mid-April and give the bonsai liquid fertilizer via the irrigation water until the beginning of September.
Repotting
Depending on growth, the thyme bonsai requires a substrate change every two to three years. When repotting, you can shorten the roots so that a balanced relationship is created between the tree crown and the root ball. Early spring proves to be the ideal season.
How to fill the bonsai pot:
- Drainage made of gravel or grit
- one part each of potting soil and akadama
- three parts mineral substrate such as lava granules or pumice.
