Bhg
  • Shop
  • News
  • Food
  • DIY
  • Garden
  • Renovating
  • Decorating
  • Health
  • TV
  • Hard to Find
  • Discount Codes
Bhg
  • Shop
  • News
  • Food
  • DIY
  • Garden
  • Renovating
  • Decorating
  • Health
  • TV
  • Hard to Find
  • Discount Codes
Subscribe
  1. Home
  2. Garden

How to grow a Japanese maple bonsai

An easy step-by-step tutorial with stunning results. - by Graham Ross
  • 29 Apr 2022

For over forty years Graham has been visiting Japan to marvel at the amazing variety of Japanese maples found there. This week, he’s bringing a slice of Japan home and showing us how to create a bonsai Japanese maple using his own special potting mix.

Bonsai specimens traditionally sit in shallow pots that are more like saucers. This means there’s not much room for roots, especially when they have the double duty of stabilising the plants and drawing nutrients from the soil. The potting mix needs to be able to do both!

Gather your supplies

  • Potting mix
  • Peat moss
  • Coarse river sand
  • Pea gravel
  • Small potted maple
  • Shallow bonsai pot
  • Bonsai wire
  • Decorative pea gravel in black or grey
  • Seaweed solution

You’ll also need

  • Garden sieve
  • Bucket or container
  • Pointed nose secateurs or floral snips
  • Wire cutters

Here’s how

Step 1

Run potting mix through sieve into bucket or container to get rid of chunky bark bits.

Step 2

Step 2

Step 2

Sue Ferris

Measure equal amounts of sieved potting mix, peat moss, river sand and pea gravel, then mix.

Step 3

Step 3

Step 3

Sue Ferris

Remove maple from pot, shake off potting mixture, then rub off excess mix with hands.

Step 4

Step 4

Step 4

Sue Ferris

Trim roots with pointed nose secateurs so they are the same depth as your bonsai pot. Don’t be timid – be brutal.

Step 5

Step 5

Step 5

Sue Ferris

Fill bonsai pot with your new potting mix, creating a well where you want to put your maple.

Step 6

Fill bonsai pot with your new potting mix, creating a well where you want to put your maple. STEP 6

Step 6

Sue Ferris

Place maple in mix. Tamp down gently. If necessary, hold maple in mix by running bonsai wire around roots and through drainage holes until roots regrow and give your plant stability.

Step 7

Step 7

Step 7

Sue Ferris

Cover mix with decorative pea gravel.

Step 8

Step 8

Step 8

Sue Ferris

Water maple in with seaweed solution. Seaweed isn’t a fertiliser, but a root tonic. It’ll reduce transplant shock and stimulate new root growth.

Step 9

Later, when plant is stable – it won’t wobble when you push it but will resist – remove wire with wire cutters so it doesn’t cut into growing roots.

Step 10

Keep in shade until roots regrow then sit in part sun/part shade.

The final results.

The final results.

Sue Ferris

If you’re just starting out on keeping your bonsai tree in shape, there are clubs all over Australia that give trimming tips and advice on what tools you need. They also list exhibitions, lectures, workshops and competitions.

Choosing Bonsai pots

bonsai

Stunning!

Sue Ferris
  • A shallow bonsai pot represents a slice of the landscape that features a majestic tree.
  • Choose a pot large enough to accommodate roots and so they can pull up nutrients and water from the soil.
  • The shape of the pot should relate to the style of the tree. Straight trunk trees look balanced in a rectangular pot while curved trees look better in an oval, round or round-cornered pot.
  • The pot width should be slightly narrower than the spread of the branches. Try these pots from Northcote Pottery (clockwise from top left). Blue oval Izumi 12 x 9 x 5cm, $5.98, 33 x 27 x 10cm, $29.98. White oval Izumi 28 x 22 x 9cm, $17.98. Black rectangular Modan 15 x 11 x 5cm, $8.98, also available in mint. Red rectangle Yama 20 x 14 x 7cm, $13.48; 26 x 19 x 9cm, $20.98; 32 x 26 x 11cm, $29,98. Copper square Izumi 9 x 9 x 5cm, $5.98; 13 x 13 x 7cm, $9.98. Available from Bunnings or visit northcotepottery.com.

You may also like

How to grow a Japanese maple

  • Garden
  • TV
  • Backyard Ideas
  • Front Garden Ideas
Graham Ross
Graham Ross
Radio broadcaster and television gardening presenter, Graham Ross, has educated, entertained and inspired Australia’s gardening community and aspiring green thumbs during a career that has spanned more than 50 years.

Treat yourself to a subscription-Save up to 25%

Plus, your chance to win

Subscribe Now
Treat yourself to a subscription

Treat yourself to a subscription-Save up to 25%

Plus, your chance to win

Subscribe Now
Treat yourself to a subscription

Recommended to you

Cranberry chocolate crunch bundt recipe
Watch 3:53

Cranberry chocolate crunch bundt recipe

{headline}

{headline}

The one thing you're doing with your hedges that may be attracting rats

The one thing you're doing with your hedges that may be attracting rats

How to grow and care for a moss lawn

How to grow and care for a moss lawn

How to mulch your vegetable garden on the cheap

How to mulch your vegetable garden on the cheap

The gardener’s way to get rid of old clothes

The gardener’s way to get rid of old clothes

{headline}

{headline}

How to get rid of black citrus aphids in your garden

How to get rid of black citrus aphids in your garden

Australian native lawn alternatives

Australian native lawn alternatives

The eco-friendly weed barrier that works wonders for your garden

The eco-friendly weed barrier that works wonders for your garden

{headline}

{headline}

Charlie and Adam makeover the side of a house

Charlie and Adam makeover the side of a house

Graham's gorgeous Christmas flower ideas

Graham's gorgeous Christmas flower ideas

Easy steps to building a living green chandelier

Easy steps to building a living green chandelier

Why burying dead fish is the secret to healthy citrus trees

Why burying dead fish is the secret to healthy citrus trees

Doing this one thing at home will improve your mental health

Doing this one thing at home will improve your mental health

The complete guide to lawn alternatives

The complete guide to lawn alternatives

6 garden screening ideas to create privacy and block out eyesores

6 garden screening ideas to create privacy and block out eyesores

Bhg
  • About Us
  • Discount Codes
  • Subscribe Today
  • Contact Us
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
Bhg Magazine Subscribe
  • About Us
  • Discount Codes
  • Subscribe Today
  • Contact Us
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy

Brands

  • BHG Shop
  • Girlfriend
  • Home Beautiful
  • New Idea
  • Practical Parenting

Our Network

  • marie claire
  • Beauty Crew
  • Who
  • Women's Weekly Food
  • Bounty Parents
  • That’s Life
  • Hard to Find
  • Australian Women's Weekly
© 2023 Are Media PTY LTD
All products are independently selected, tested or recommended by our team of experts. If you buy something, we may earn an affiliate commission. Are Media and its brands may have generated text partially using generative AI. Upon generating draft language, our editors review, edit, and revise it to their own liking. We take ultimate responsibility for the content of our publications.
Get more from Better Homes and Gardens

Magazine Subscription Offer

Treat yourself to a subscription-Save up to 25%

Shop This Offer
Treat yourself to a subscription