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TREES ON THE TERRACE: Bonsai need good care and attention.

It is a false belief that bonsai grow well enough indoors, and one need not take them outdoors at all. Bonsai or ‘trees in trays’ are short and pruned green dwarfs that need sunlight, water, fresh air and balanced nutrition just like normal plants. But the care one takes for bonsai increases as it is an art.

Sunlight is paramount for photosynthesis and nourishing of the plant. Bonsai may look short, but these are grown-up trees that yearn for the outdoor ambience with gentle wind and squashy gleaming rays of the sun. Keeping them in the shade would force them to grow larger and lighter shade leaves, even as internodes in them increase with taller shoots craving for sunlight. This would beat the purpose of growing a bonsai itself as the science here involves bringing the tree species in smaller form with fruits and flowers for which sunlight is essential. Keeping them indoors for interior décor would certainly add a dash of glamour to your living, so long as they are brought out later. But take care not to keep them directly on the ground or in a crowded place but in an elevated position to gain free circulation of air around, thus ensuring a healthy growth without fungal or bacterial attack.

Except during the rainy season, bonsai require water every day, ensuring the soil remains moist throughout. Watering is best done from above with a rose spray attachment to your hosepipe. One needs to drench the soil two or three times in short intervals.

Experts say it is difficult to predict how much water a bonsai would need, as it depends on species requirement and climatic conditions.

Fertilizers are another must for the little ones wherein nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium will together ensure good development. Nitrogen promotes leaf and branch development, phosphorous supports roots and tissue that regulate flowering and fruiting, and potassium promotes resistance to fungal and bacterial attacks.

Bonsai experts say that plant micronutrients are essential for good physical condition.

Organic and inorganic fertilizers can be used.

This is the kind of minimal pest control methods that one has to follow.

This is sufficient, say experts, as the containers are relatively small, and the roots and shoots have contained growth.

RANJANI GOVIND

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