Keep Your Bonsai Hydrated This Summer
It’s that time of year when the temperature here in the Hunter and Port Stephens seems to go from a shaky start to spring to a strong start to summer almost overnight, meaning your watering requirements rise quickly and the risk of losing trees to underwatering or damage due to heat damage increases. I’d like to share a simple but effective technique I use each year moving into summer that will help your trees retain a little more moisture in the heat of the day and hopefully keep them well hydrated.
This technique is simple and won’t break the bank, it is simply grinding up sphagnum moss and top dressing your pots. The sphagnum moss will hold moisture and protect your actual surface layer of soil from drying out too quickly. If you leave your soil surface undressed through summer the soil is directly exposed to the hot sun and hot wind which will dry it out in record time. So lets take a look at how we achieve this top dressing.
You will need to purchase some sphagnum moss from your local hardware store, you will also need a sieve with a large screen to be able to grind up the sphagnum moss into smaller pieces suitable for dressing and a spray bottle to help you apply the moss without it flying off in the wind.
Once you have your supplies start by breaking off a handful of the sphagnum moss so you can begin grinding it up in your sieve, do this in an area where there is little wind as the moss will blow off even in the gentlest breeze. I would also wear some sort of breathing protection as some of the fibers can get pretty fine and are probably not great for your lungs. Rub the handful of moss on your large sieve screen and catch the ground up particles in a tub or bucket.
We want the particles to be small because there will be a larger surface area for moisture retention this way. If you apply the moss as it comes out of the packet it will dry out quicker and will also look un tidy once applied.
Once your sphagnum is ground up we are ready to apply it to the surface, try to apply a nice thick layer as you want to insulate the surface from the heat and wind. As you apply a handful of moss you will need to also wet it with your bottle to add water, which will add weight to the moss and prevent it from blowing away in the wind. Another thing you can do if you are sure you have pretty much the right amount of moss ground up is add water to your tub with the moss in it and pre wet it. It is actually easier to apply this way but if you dont use it all you will have wet sphagnum moss sitting around in a tub.
And that’s it, very simple but very effective. When watering with top dressing please remember to check the actual soil for moisture levels rather than the moss as you might give yourself a false sense of when you need to water.
Another bonus to doing this is if you collect green moss and allow it to dry out you can grind that up with a fine sieve screen until you are left with just the spores. If you apply the green moss spores to the sphagnum moss you will cultivate some of the healthiest looking moss you have ever seen directly on the surface of your soil.
If your wondering if Moss is good or bad for you bonsai trees we have an article on that which you can read here > Is Moss Good Or Bad For Bonsai?
