I've liked the idea behind bonsai for as long as I can remember. I'm not sure if the first time I thought about it was when I watched The Karate Kid, but the earliest memory I have of someone delicately tending to a small plant in a clay tray involves Mr. Miyagi.
Much like many of my other interests (see the list of topics at right), my interest in bonsai is something which comes to light from time to time and fades gently unless I do something about it. I planned on getting a small plant three or four years ago but didn't because I was living in the student apartments at NMT at the time and New Mexico is too harsh of a climate to really keep any small plants, be they indoor or outdoor. So, the idea got shelved with the intention that I would revive it if I were to ever move somewhere with an actual, you know, climate.
Now that I'm in Seattle, I figure it's about time to reivive my interest—although somewhat unfortunately, it's currently the middle of winter. I'm not sure if the bonsai community is all that active during the part of the year where we get less than 10 hours of sunlight every day.
Ideally, I'd like to get a small plant that I can keep in my office—which, because I'm not terribly senior, doesn't have a window. It may be a few years before I can offer a plant something other than ceiling-mounted flourescent lighting, and I'm not all that interested in waiting until I have real light to actually get into this.
So, I ask you, the reader: do you have any experience in growing indoor bonsai? I've done the usual web poking and haven't found too many guides to in-office bonsai, but what I've found has said that I should stick to ficus and try to get it as close to the flourescents as possible. Has anyone actually sucessfully pulled this off?
Sorry I have no experience with bonsai, and have no idea how much light they need. But I do know that my Pothos plant grows like crazy under the dim flourescent light in my basement lab at work. It's a great office plant. Just an idea. :)
Pothos: check. Rock, rock on.
No experience GROWING bonsai, but we do have a bonsai that we picked up a couple of weeks ago. VERY cool. But, that doesn't help with the growing part, does it?
The books i've seen have started out with a sapling, stickin' it in an appropriate vessel, and then pruning it. Simple as that, I suppose. I think the vessel is the most important part - but i don't remember why. It's been a couple of years since I considered growing one myself. Much easier to maintain one that's already grown.
Well, by growing, I mean maintaining. I'm not too big on waiting for something like this to hatch from little tiny tree eggs, because although I'd probably feel more involved with the whole process, it sure is a long time to wait.
So yeah, I'm definitely going to try to find something already grown.