I enjoy the traditions of bonsai as well as the next guy, but I am experimenting with using the
weight of a bonsai to determine when to water them by incorporating a little technology. I’m
rather new to bonsai and I am trying the skewer method of determining when to water my plants,
but sometimes I’m having trouble figuring out exactly when to water from moisture, or lack of it,
on a skewer stick. Bonsai experts kept saying you can determine when to water also by the weight
of the plant, so I just started to use a digital postage scale, which shows lbs/oz or kg/g, to help
me to know when to water my bonsai. Of course this only works with smaller plants and if you
don’t have many to deal with. What I’m starting to do is when I repot I weigh the bonsai before any
water is introduced and then again after it’s totally saturated. This gives me two numbers and
then I try to figure out at what point between these two weights do I need to water again. From
what I have read it seems to be, as a general rule, average plants at about 50% or so moisture
content of soil; please correct me if I’m wrong. This would change with each bonsai and that I am
trying to determine now. Obviously watching my plants will help me to determine at what point to
water. Has anyone experimented with this sort of crazy idea and does anyone have any insight
into what a general rewatering point would be for some common bonsai, say a Juniper, Chinese
Elm or any others? If you think this is a crazy idea let me know, but I’m thinking it would be one
way for someone new to this hobby, like myself, and someone who doesn’t mind using a little
technology with an old artform, to figure out when to water with a little more certainty, and
hopefully keep a few more bonsai alive and well. Oh yes, try not to laugh too much at this idea.

Gary Huff
Virginia
Zone 7a

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