每日吃瓜

Trees grown for bonsai are not houseplants. Trees are re potted when required, usually every 3 to 5 years, sometimes more. It depends on the species and the age of the tree. As the tree gets older it grows less. Very few trees have actually been grown as bonsai for hundreds of years, closer to a hundred years for some of the oldest in Japan. Outside Japan nowhere near that age for the vast majority of trees. I have one tree that is about 200 years old, but it has been in a pot for about 10 years. Most of mine and probably most growers are anywhere from 5 to 50 or 60 years old.

There is a Japanese white pine in the US National Arboretum in training since 1625. Looking at it it seems there is almost no dirt space and the trunk spreads out almost to the edge of the pot. I wondered how they water the thing. I would guess you have to spray very lightly all around the edges for a long time, wanting water to soak all the way through the root ball.?

I also wonder how often they pull it out of the pot to check the roots and who is brave enough to do it. I would hesitate a very long time.

It is just a question of giving them the right amount of water, sun and fertilizer. Roots do not have a limited capacity to take what they need. Trees in nature extend the root systems to find more sources and to keep them stable when they grow bigger and heavier.

Trees do not get old in the same way as animals. The nr cause of tree dieing in nature is humans cutting tgem down. The second cause is that they grew to big and heavy fot their root systems and fall in a storm. None of that reasons is a real threat to a bonsai.