Bonsai: Day 0099 - Lots of new growth

Bonsai: Day 0099

- Environment Update: The humidity has dropped since winter has been settling in. I have watered a few times since my last update. Once before and after taking a 9day holiday (11/13--11/22). I also watered today after my Thanksgiving holiday (11/26--11/29).

- Growth Update: The growth has picked up substantially and has new shoots sprouting everywhere. I'm very excited to see how this develops over the next month. I was also able to remove one of the branch ties without it springing back up on me.

Bonsai: Day 0079 - Power Outage

Bonsai: Day 0079

- Environment Update: The power went out at the office for a few days due to a tornado that touched down near me (LOCAL NEWS ARTICLE). This outage left my little plant without direct light for awhile. After the power kicked back on its light cycle was then turned upside down for another 2-3 days until I could reset the light timer back to normal.

- Growth Update: I believe the light deficiency stimulated the leaves to enlarge greatly to compensate. I believe this occurs to give the plant more surface area to absorb light. Either way this folly produced very undesirable results, for one I don't want excessively large leaves for a bonsai plant. I theorize that this will also lead to an overall slow down in growth because I believe the larger leaves will require more nutrients to maintain itself. The one positive effect that may occur from this theory is that the trunk and roots may begin to grow to compensate for the increased nutrient requirements for the larger leaves. I guess we will find out :-)

Bonsai: Day 0071 - More Growth

Bonsai: Day 0071

- Update: The growth spurt continues. New leafs have formed and the trunk is noticeably thickened. I can't believe the results I have gotten in less than 3 months even with the stress in training the branches.

Additional training started on protruding branch

Bonsai: Day 0066 - New growth

Bonsai: Day 0066

- Update: New growth everywhere. Monday (day 64) I had moved the plant away from the window (getting too cool; 45-50deg Fahrenheit) and moved it under a florescent light with a timer [14hr day/10hr night]. I'm not sure what caused the growth spurt, but below are some hypothesis.

• Maybe the plant has growth cycles; ie: focuses on foliage growth, then maybe takes a break for root growth, then back to foliage.
• The increased temperature
• The increased light (day) cycle

- Not sure what caused it, but I'm glad to see my little guy get back to growing.

Bonsai: Day 0061 - Little Change

Bonsai: Day 0061

- Update: I've added about 6oz of superthrive solution (1/4 power). I've noticed some more growth in the lower limbs, some leaf enlargement, and the trunk is getting a little thicker. So it's about the same progress as last time.

- I'm curious as to why growth has slowed down, but it could be from the winter cold setting in. I feel it might be switching to a more dormant state.

Bonsai: Day 0051 - Thickening

Bonsai: Day 0051

- Update: I've added about 5oz of superthrive solution (1/2 power). I've noticed a little growth in the lower limb and some mild leaf enlargement. I also can see the trunk getting a little thicker, which what I was hoping for.

- The leaves stopped bleeding the day after I posted, so not really sure what that was all about.

Bonsai: Day 0038 - More shaping; why bleeding sap?

Bonsai: Day 0038

- Update: I've added support to the trunk using a black tie as a support brace. I also adjusted and retied down the two longer branches. I plan to let the two new limbs grow out a bit to catch up before attempting any shaping with them.

- I noticed some white sap bleeding from the leaves, I'm a bit concerned I may have stressed it in one or multiple ways. It could be from putting it near the cold window, over fertilizing (still working the ratio), maybe over-watered, or by me shaping. I will have to research this "bleeding sap" symptom and until then I'll just keep wiping it away.

Bonsai: Day 0037 - More growth!

Bonsai: Day 0037

- Update: I've noticed more new growth. Adding a small amount of superthrive solution before the weekend really helped. I'm not sure, but I'm thinking the small watering also allowed for it to have that period of transition from moist-to-dry; which I'm theorizing to be a growth stimulant.

- Watered using 6oz of superthrive solution (12oz water to 1.25ml of ST).

- I also began training the other branch down using a white tie tacked into the soil. (See images at bottom)

New Training Tie

Bonsai: Day 0032 - More Growth

Bonsai: Day 0032

- Update: I've notice some more new growth. I also think I'm noticing a small pattern (too soon to really tell), but I think this tree likes to grow stronger in the period of time when the soil is in its lightly moist stage. I am very happy to see this much progress within 32days.

- I think I will begin charting the plants "stats" next week or the week after (whenever I can buy the meter). So far I think the following variables will be recorded: MOISTURE, PH, & TEMP.

- Added 3ml of superthrive treated water at the root base to prevent drying out over the weekend too much and to help stimulate a little growth.

Bonsai: Day 0029 - New growth

Bonsai: Day 0029

- Update: I've notice some new growth. Before taking off the white tie I had a small theory; by removing it and tying back the other branch that freed itself from the black tie it would inhibit growth in the newly free branch (similar to how the other branch stretched once freed from the black tie). I think that by removing stress from one and keeping the pressure on the other would shift the plants growth energy (not really sure how to phrase that). Sort of like how electrical energy finds the path with least resistance. I can't wait to further test this theory.

- I think if I was to test this further I would start by letting the newly freed branch to grow until it's length exceeds the other. At that point I would tie it back and free the other, repeating the process and noting if I get the same result of the free branch growing faster than the restricted one. I know it sounds like common sense, but I want to attempt to validate all theories along the way. If anyone would like to comment on this matter I would definitely appreciate it, I'm a Computer Science graduate so Botany is pretty unfamiliar territory.

- A small side theory I have on the shaping is that all this one sided weight should also be stressing the roots. My theory is that this stress should inhibit some energy to be diverted to grow stronger and thicker roots to balance and support itself.

Bonsai: Day 0024 - Update

Bonsai: Day 0024

- Update: After yesterday's watering I noticed it started doing some more stretching. So today I took off the white tie and reapplied the black one to the main branch.