每日吃瓜

Hi,

I got my first bonsai last year. I have pretty much zero experience with plants — all the other ones we have are in the category of "it takes effort to kill it."

I keep the bonsai indoors. I know that's not where Japanese Maples are meant to live, but if it was outdoors, I wouldn't get to enjoy it, nor would I remember to take care of it. It's next to a radiator, but I water it daily, so it doesn't get dry.

My concern now is that I didn't realize it's supposed to have a cold season. When it started dropping leaves in the middle of the winter, I figured it's just because of less light. I thought it would start to create new leaves in the spring.

The spring is now pretty far along (in terms of light, even if not in terms of temperature outside), but the remaining leaves are getting slowly worse, and I don't see any sign of new leaves.

Should I put it into a fridge (or a relatively cool room) for some time to "force" a winter season now? Am I just too impatient and should wait for it to have more time to realize it's spring? Should I do something else (besides, obviously, giving it a cold season next winter)?

I tried to look for answers, but didn't find one.

Thank you for any help! This is my first post here, so let me know if there's something I should be aware of here.

I think you did not find any answers because it is not possible to grow temperate decidious trees indoors. Fridge is not cold enough, it is not humid enough, has no light and it is the wrong season for dormancy. Skipping one dormancy is very stressful for most trees, but it is possible to survive it with good care, skipping two dormancies will be a lot harder and it will eventually die. So put the tree outdoors now.

I do not understand the "cannot enjoy the tree outdoor" thing. I have all my trees outdoors and enjoy them every day. I would say it is not possible to enjoy a maple indoors, there are just no enjoyment in looking at a struggeling suffering tree, no enjoyment in looking at something slowly dieing.

agree with every word.

Got it. Thank you for the direct advice.

As for not enjoying it outdoors, I don't spend time on our yard. We have a yard because we had dogs, but now that they're both dead, I hardly go there at all. So, either I have a plant indoors or I won't even see it. But point taken; a dying plant is not enjoyable.

So when you had dogs you went out to the yard to enjoy the dogs, but you will not go out in the yard to enjoy the bonsai.

I would say, buy a new dog. It is obvious that you enjoy dogs more than bonsai.

The outdoor environment plays an important part about the beauty on growing trees, even more when we are talking about deciduous trees, that has this beautiful cycle tru' the years...

I think a deciduous tree permanently indoors will only lead you to frustration unfortunatelly, same goes for conifers inside, if you decide to have those...

And to be honest, you're lucky to have a yard, a lot of people interested on the hobby doesn't have it.