Five weeks in the fridge
I checked my bonsai tree seeds today. I have two pots of them watered and in my fridge in a simulated winter. I take them out from the fridge once a week to see how they’re getting on.
The Japanese Maple Tree which I watered on July 7 is still doing fine, as far as I can tell. Doing fine at this stage is that it’s still a seed and the soil it’s planted in hasn’t dried out.
Next week it should be time to move it to my hot press and let the seeds sprout.
The Persian Pink Silk Tree is a bit of a worry at this stage. I got it as a back up because growing trees from seeds isn’t easy and it’s likely that some will die. I watered it first on July 28 and when I took it out today there was some mould starting to grow on bits of the soil. One of the seeds was exposed as well and there was mould on it too. I think I soaked it too much before I put it in the fridge. Anyway I removed all visible mould and buried the seed back beneath the soil. I then wrapped the pot tightly in cling-film and wishing it luck I put it back in the fridge. I’ll take it out again in a day or two and hope that there’s no more mould.
Every source I’ve read since I’ve bought the seeds says that growing bonsai this way is the slowest way possible and that it isn’t necessary. The most widely recommended thing to do is to buy the saplings when they’re about two years old and begin to train them from then which puts this into perspective for me: I’ll be at this for another two years before I have saplings that I can begin to practice bonsai on; if I keep them alive that long! Still though, it would be quite an achievement for me to do that and I’m looking forward to the challenge and hope that it works.
Nonetheless, I think that as soon as I have found a place with a garden I’ll get the two-year-old saplings too. It’ll be something to practice on while I wait for my ‘own’ seeds to grow up. Of course I’ll never let on to the two-year-old saplings that they’re adopted and hopefully no-one will ever tell them.
