Making Neem Bonsai

Tree - Neem

Under Training since - 2007

Image as on 20th September 2009, Front Side

Neem Bonsai Image as on 20th September, 2009 Back Side

Image of Plant as on 20th September, before repotting (Front Side)

Image of Plant as on 20th September, before repotting (Back Side)

Making Neem Bonsai

Well it is as easy or difficult as any other plant. The trick is to shift the plant into a tray in a phase manner show below. Once in a tray, with Loads of Sun and watering, it will survive. Neem as such needs less care & fertilizer as it grow well.

I don't know but lots of people are surprised to learn that even Neem can be trained to be a Bonsai Plant. Well my experiments with it has been successful so far and some of my students are also persuing the same.

If you plan to develop a neem bonsai, please get in touch with me on 9924332267 or mail me your request on ramesh.jsinha@gmail.com. It will be a pleasure to work with you.

My Neem Bonsai & Experiments

I have this Neem tree which is in a Big Pot - (2 Ft height which weights some 30+ kg along with Mud) for last 3 years. Some bird had dropped a seed which germinated. I have been wiring & pruning it for last one year because of which I have manged to achieve a beautiful trunk movement & couple of branches all within 1 Feet of height.

In past i had made efforts twice to uproot Neem tree & shift it to a different pot, both failed and hence never tried again. Necessity is mother of Invention as they say. Now that I have recently sold my house & will be moving out by end of April 09. I need to shift Neem tree into a smaller tray that i can carry with me. I google around but found no materials so I did an experiment, as listed below

The problem with Neem tree is that it has a very strong Tap root & lateral roots. If the same is disturbed, it dies within days. The Tap & lateral roots are very brittle & i think a good amount of plant nutrition is stored in such roots.

Past Status:
Post Size - Approx 2 Feet
Pot is filled with Mud upto 20 inches & top 4 Inches was empty.
The mud was never changed in last 3 Years

My Experiment - April, 2009
Removed top 4 Inches of soil till roots were visible & filled it again with new soil
Chopped the base of the Pot
Dug upto 4 Inches from Bottom to top of Pot & removed the soil
Chopped the Tap roots & other roots in last 4 Inches of the Pot
Filled in with fresh Mud & kept a tray below the pot, such that when watering the new mud is not washed away.

6th April, 2009
Hurray! The plant has survived. New leaves have come and it is healthy.

18th April, 2009
Neem Bonsai had survived the first pruning of tap roots & bottom 25% of the soil. Hence it was time to repot again. removed another 30% of the soil & repotted it in a tray.

The Neem Bonsai is in a 3 Inch deep tray compared to 2 Ft high Big pot.
As Neem Tree loves summers, it is growing well after 2nd repotting on 18th April.
Am keeping my fingers crossed.

10th August, 2009

I had almost forgot about this plant, as it was lying at one of my student's place. It had grown wild. It now has 4/5 beautiful branches. I have chopped & am developing sub branches. Because of lack of place, post pruning I have shifted it to another members place.

Ramesh Sinha

Ahmedabad Bonsai Club, Gujarat, India
Neem Bonsai
AhmedabadBonsaiClub.Blogspot.com