Zelkova Bonsai - Care Instructions

Zelkova Bonsai - Care Instructions

Zelkova can be made into any style bonsai, although it is particularly suitable for the broom style bonsai due to its natural growing habits.

Leaf size reduces with branching. Fall color is mostly yellow, although selected cultivars can be red. Smooth gray bark in youth exfoliates with age to reveal orange-brown inner bark.


Japanese Zelkova (Zelkova Serrata)

Japanese Zelkova is native to Japan, Taiwan, and eastern China. It is a popular bonsai material because it is a vigorous grower, making it easy to maintain as a bonsai. Choose variants with fall color to your liking. Some have red foliage, while most are yellow.


Chinese Zelkova (Z. Sinica, or Z. schneideriana) 

Chinese Zelkova is a favorite bonsai material in China and Taiwan. This tree is more open in structure than the Japanese Zelkova, and its leaves become quite small when made into bonsai.

Chinese and Japanese Zelkova are very similar in every respect, except the Chinese tree has a more open growth habit, like most deciduous trees, and is less often made into the broom style in China than in Japan.


Growing Conditions

Chinese and Japanese Zelkova bonsai are nearly identical in their care. Both are timber trees that can thrive in all USDA zones and under a wide range of growing conditions.

Zelkova should be planted in the BH proven soil mix and placed in a location with ample sunlight.

You can display your Zelkova bonsai indoors for a week or two at a time (given ample light and moisture). Return it to the outdoors to keep it vigorous.


Collecting

Japanese Zelkova can be found in nurseries because it is used as a landscaping tree in place of elm. Chinese Zelkova is less available in the U.S. aside from bonsai nurseries.

Consider getting a head start by buying a starter bonsai at a bonsai club or bonsai nursery.


Styling 

Zelkova bonsai is an ideal canvas for you to practice your creativity. Trunks and branches thicken quickly, enabling you to style it into your ideal form. It can be kept as a formal upright tree like one in a park, trained into a cascade on the side of a cliff, or shaped as a windswept tree on a shoreline.


Pruning

Zelkova bonsai grows rapidly and is easily shaped by pruning using the clip-and-grow method.

Remove redundant branches and build on the core framework central to your design. Allow new branches to harden before clipping, and repeat the process until it reaches your design goal.


Wiring 

Wiring can speed up the time to reach your design goal, although for rapidly growing trees like Zelkova, clip-and-grow is the preferred method.

Use guy wires to pull branches to a prescribed angle to simulate drooping under their own weight. You can also follow the traditional wiring technique, remembering to wire loosely. Remove wires after a month or two to avoid branch damage by girdling, as Zelkova grows rapidly.

   

Trimming 

Long branches should be trimmed off when they grow outside of your design parameters. Allow the shoots to harden before clipping to balance healthy growth and ramification.


Watering

Water Zelkova bonsai regularly and frequently. Drying out the root ball is a sure way to destroy your bonsai. Drowning is unlikely, as shallow pots evaporate quickly, and Zelkova trees thrive with moisture.

Your watering routine must consider the water retention ability of your soil mix. Choose a soil mix that maintains moisture while providing ample aeration.

Water your Zelkova bonsai once a day, more on hot days. Water when the soil feels dry. See how the BH innovative pot implementation can better keep your bonsai hydrated.


Fertilizing

Zelkova thrives with fertilizer. You can observe a spurt of growth following the application of fertilizer and watering. Apply fertilizer every two weeks until dormancy, using less than the recommended dosage to avoid buildup.


Pest Management

Zelkova is pest- and disease-resistant. Snails and spiders can occasionally be a problem, but they are easily managed.


Pot and Repotting

Repot your Zelkova bonsai approximately every five years by cutting back the roots and renovating the soil. The need to repot your Zelkova can be reduced if you line the pot with fine mesh to root-prune the bonsai.


Propagation

Zelkova readily germinates from collected seeds, especially if you collect them in the fall and keep them in the refrigerator over winter.

It is better to take cuttings from named varieties or trees with desirable characteristics.

Branch cuttings and root cuttings can be taken at any time of the year, although rooting is faster during the warmer seasons.

Air layering is an easy way to increase your collection. Air layering during the summer months is easier because the bark can be easily removed.


Click here to read general care instructions for most plant species.

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