The average life of a bonsai tree is 100 years whereas a few can live up to centuries and even a thousand years. Usually, any living organism or plant’s life depends on the living environment and how they are treated, but the average lifespan for every living creature is different. The same is with the bonsai tree.
Bonsai trees are plants and trees cultivated as a creative hobby in japan. A bonsai tree is very artistic and looks very beautiful when fully grown and taken properly care of. Bonsai trees are grown in containers as well and that is why people can grow bonsai at home.
Now you might be curious to know a precise answer to how long a bonsai tree lives. To that, you must understand the most important factor is climate and how a bonsai tree is treated.
Are Bonsai Trees Hard To Keep Alive?
No, not a single bonsai tree variety is hard to keep alive if treated and maintained properly. You might need proper guidance for every variety of the bonsai, but in general bonsai trees need to be pet suitably better than any other indoor plant.
Bonsai plants are usually small above and below the soil and can be grown into big trees. The nutritional value of soil, watering, lighting, etc does matter when we talk about the caring and life span of a bonsai tree.
Factors Affecting How Long A Bonsai Will Live For
There are several varieties of bonsai available. Typically any plant or tree that can be grown in a container is said to be a bonsai plant/tree and based on the climate of different countries, people can cultivate a suitable variety of bonsai plants.
1. The Species
The species of bonsai tree directly matter in the growth of the tree. It is not actually the species in technicality, it’s the care needed by different species.
As mentioned earlier, all the different species of bonsai need different treatment and climatic conditions, so the care and love shown to different species do relate to the age of the bonsai tree.
Ficus bonsai is supposedly the easy one to take care of, hence one of the Ficus bonsai trees is a thousand year old, considering that most of the Japanese people do live for a century, the age of a tree is equivalent to 10 generations of Japanese people who have seen and taken care of that particular bonsai tree.
2. Weather Conditions
As far as weather conditions are concerned, humidity is the biggest factor. For weather conditions as well, the species matters. If it is a tropical bonsai tree, they are likely to enjoy the high temperature or let us say your room temperature, but for non-tropical species of bonsai tree, they thrive in relatively lower temperatures, for the matter, lower than your room temperature.
Considering all the climatic conditions, the indoor bonsai tree needs to be provided extra and intense care with a balance of temperature and humidity. For humidity, you can use a tray that is specially meant for creating stabilized humidity around your bonsai plant/tree.
3. General Care
Every living species needs gentle and extra care when amature or is growing. The same is with your plants, taking care of watering, balancing temperature, taking care of lighting, etc boosts your plant’s growth and more likely, a healthy growth.
The other general care consists of dialogue as well. It might sound weird, but yes, the dialogue between you and the bonsai plant. Just like your pet animal, your plants also do respond to positive statements made to them.
You can speak some positive words as you say to your pet. In other words, you can create a positive environment for the growth of plants. You also need to cut branches and leaves when you find it necessary to.
4. Luck Factor
Luck is the biggest factor in cultivating bonsai plants. Despite doing everything the right way, you might not find the response you should be getting. Luck does matter when it comes to plant diseases that you cannot control.
5. Pests And Diseases
One of the factors affecting the growth and age of your bonsai is its health. Keeping the plant free from pests and diseases will definitely give your plant a positive growth and healthy life.
Taking the right measure is the most important thing and before that, rectifying the correct reason for the harm, i.e, pests attack or diseases, is crucial.
6. Pets And Kids
Keeping the pets away from the plant is necessary. Pets are totally unaware of which thing and object could be harmed by them, and which cannot. Curious kids might touch bonsai with dirty hands or might carry unseen germs and bacteria which might affect the growth of your beautiful bonsai plant.
7. Pruning And Repotting
Pruning and repotting is the crucial invisible factor you might have misunderstood and can see the stopping growth of your bonsai. As far as growth is concerned, one of the nutritional sources for plants is soil.
Once the nutrients are exhausted, the growth of the plant might stop, also, when the roots are fully grown to the pot size and have no extra room to grow, the growth of the plant will be stopped. So in the initial years of your bonsai tree age, you should keep repotting to larger vessels or larger containers.
How Can You Tell The Age Of A Bonsai Tree?
How can you determine the age of a bonsai tree is one of the most asked and questions of concern. Let us help you out with a formula
It is not too simple, yet not too complicated. At the height of 1.5 inches from the base of your bonsai, calculate the circumference of your tree. Divide the circumference by 3.14 (that is the value of Pi). Now google the species and growth factor. Multiply your calculation with the growth factor and that is the age of your Bonsai plant.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How old is the oldest living bonsai tree in the world?
One of the oldest bonsai trees is estimated to be 1000 years old. A 10 feet long bonsai tree is placed in the largest container at a Crespi Bonsai Museum in Milan, Italy.
2. Can bonsai trees live indoors?
Yes, Bonsai trees can live indoors, in fact, they are very small and are specially meant to be cultivated indoors. The factor that matters in the growth of trees indoors is climate and temperature.
3. How long do dwarf bonsai trees live?
With utmost care and support, a dwarf bonsai, whose technical name is portulacaria afra, also known as Jade dwarf bonsai can live over a hundred years.
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