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Bonsai Supplies

• display tables
• Japanese bonsai tool kit
• Tool sets
• Bonsai pots
• plant grow lights
• Fertilizer - Soil
• Humidity trays
• bonsai tools and wire
• house plant care
• plant growing zone map

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• Bonsai for beginners
• Outdoor trees
• evergreen bonsai tree
• Indoor bonsai
• Bonsai plants
• Artificial Bonsai
• Old bonsai trees -(one of a kind)
• Flowering trees
• small trees for patio area
• Ficus Trees
• Fukien bonsai
• preserved bonsai tree

Bonsai Tree Care and House Plant Care

• Plant Pests
• Potting Soils
• Pruning Tips
• Container growing
• humidity
• Propagation
• Plant buying tips
• Potted Plants
• Watering
• Light sources

Providing a good light source for healthy growing plants

Some plants require direct sunlight; others prefer filtered or low light situations. Another light factor is the amount of time a plant receives light daily. For some plants, shortening days indicate winter and signal the start of their dormancy or rest period.

For others, such as chrysanthemums and Christmas cactus, day length controls their blooming cycle. You can control day length, if you wish, by adding a plant grow light or by placing plants in a dark room. To affect the plant's cycle, the addition or deprivation of light must be consistent.

It is best to place plants in a location that provides the light situation they prefer for light requirements of individual house plants. But if you decide to place house plants in a location offering less than optimum light, your plant care must change.

Since a plant's energy and growth depend upon light, don't expect maximum performance from these plants. Plants growing in limited light should receive less water and fertilizer than identical plants growing in better locations.

Repotting should be put off as long as possible. By withholding water and fertilizer and postponing repotting, you will maintain these plants, rather than encouraging them to grow.

Maintained plants given limited light, water, and fertilizer should last as long as other house plants; they will remain about the same size and shape indefinitely. The best candidates for maintenance growing situations are those that can tolerate filtered or low light.

Types of available light.

The type of light found in indoor situations falls into four main categories: Sun means direct sunlight coming through a window. An east facing exposure allows morning sun and generally coolish afternoon temperatures. A west window permits afternoon sun with warmer temperatures.

A south facing exposure offers sun and warm temperatures most of the day. Direct sunlight magnified by window glass may raise the temperature to stifling heights that could burn foliage. Most house plants that prefer to bask in sunlight like to be set back from the windowpane.

Bright light can be found in the interior portions of a sunny room or from light reflected from light-colored walls. A plant that prefers this exposure needs it constantly throughout the daylight hours. A north facing exposure provides bright light with no sun.

Filtered or diffused light is light coming through a lightweight curtain over a window or light that filters into a window through trees or plants growing outdoors. Overhangs or patio roofs also block or filter light.

Low light usually refers to dark parts in room interiors, dark corners, or areas without windows. There are few plants that can tolerate these situations; most will need additional light. These areas are prime candidates for artificial lighting.

Using artificial lighting. If the location you choose for growing plants needs supplemental lighting, providing artificial lighting may be the answer.

Bonsai trees can also benefit from a combination of natural and artificial light during the short, gray days of winter.

Plain fluorescent lights can supply sufficient light for plant growth. They can also be used in combination with the less expensive incandescent bulbs. Incandescent lights should not be used alone; they are not strong enough in the red and blue color bands that plants need, and they generate too much heat for sensitive plants.

Some indoor gardeners grow house plants totally under artificial lights. As long as the artificial lighting provides the same intensity and quality of light found in natural sunlight, and your bonsai trees are exposed to it for a sufficient period each day, they should thrive for more go here for more about bonsai tree care.

Special fluorescent tubes, developed to simulate actual sunlight rays, can stimulate plants to bloom, produce fruit, and set seeds. These are slightly more expensive than regular fluorescent tubes and are readily available.

Whether you buy a lighting unit or make one, provide some method of adjusting the height to allow for plant growth and different-size containers. Start with the tubes 6 to 12 inches above the foliage. If the foliage bunches together unnaturally, plants are receiving too much light. If they become leggy, they need more light. Fluorescent lighting will not harm plants, so the light may be set as close as needed.

Fixtures need a white or foil reflector to direct light onto plants. When placing plants under it, remember the light is strongest at the center of the tube. Several fluorescent tubes placed side by side are best; one tube alone will not support plant life that depends solely on this light. A standard amount of light for all plants is 15 to 20 watts of light for every square foot of growing surface.

Most plants require a period of darkness every 24 hours. Most foliage plants need 10 to 12 hours of light a day; flowering plants require 16. A regular schedule is important to healthy plant growth. An inexpensive timer can be used to regulate the lights.

Some like it hot

And some plants like cool temperatures. Luckily, the majority of house plants adjust readily to normal indoor temperatures. Since people as well as plants occupy rooms, it's best to select plants that prefer the same temperature, levels you do. Unless you wish to provide a special plant room or a greenhouse that caters to specific temperature needs, leave finicky plants to more advanced gardeners.

Temperature levels found in most home situations fall into three main categories: cool (55°-65°), average (65°-75°), and warm (75°-85°).Avoid exposing plants to drastic temperature changes and drafts. Windows may be many degrees hotter or colder than the room interior.

Check the temperature near windows where plants are kept during extreme weather conditions (either hot or cold conditions, since both extremes can be devastating), and move plants if necessary. Other locations to avoid are on or near heat registers, radiators, or fireplaces, or in the direct blast of air conditioning.

Humidity levels are closely related to house temperatures: the warmer the air, the faster humidity in the air is dispelled.