Do You Need A Drip Tray For Your Bonsai?

I am often asked if a drip tray is necessary, which is a fair question to ask. The reality is that they are not always needed.

The only time you actually need one is if you are growing a tree inside, apart from that it is really down to you to decide if you like how they look or not.

What Is A Drip Tray?

A drip tray is simply a tray that you put your bonsai on. You will have probably seen them and maybe didn’t even notice they are there.

They do as their name suggest, they are a tray that will catch the drips. I will go through things a in a bit more detail below, but really it’s a way of catching excess water that leaves your bonsai pot after you water the tree.  

Are Drip Trays And Humidity Trays The Same Thing?

You will often hear the term drip trays called a humidity tray and I would say that these two terms are interchangeable, but there can be some subtle differences between them, so maybe they are not exactly the same.

A drip tray is usually a lot shallower and its job is to literally just catch the drips that might escape, where as a humidity tray is often deeper and is filled with stones.

The humidity trays are also purposely filled with water, so that it can evaporate up and help keep the area around the tree humid. I think the confusion comes from the fact that a humidity tray is also going to catch any water that is dripping from your pot, so a humidity tray can be a drip tray …but a drip tray cannot be a humidity tray.

Do You Need A Drip Tray For Your Bonsai?

The big question really is …do you need one? and the answer is of course a simple Yes and No. it really depends where you tree is positioned and also if you just like the look of the look of them or not.

Outside Trees

If you are growing your trees outdoors, which should really be the case, apart from a few exceptions, then a drip tray isn’t needed.

The water can come out of the bottom of your pot and go on the ground. There is no reason why you need to prevent this from happening.

I do technically use one for my willow tree, but this is more of a reservoir of water that the tree sits in, rather than a drip tray, but I guess they are kind of the same thing.

Inside trees

When it comes to growing trees indoors, then it is 101% necessary that you have a drip tray.

You do not want water coming out of your pots and going all over you house. You need a drip tray to catch that, you can’t avoid this.

If you don’t have one, you will be constantly dealing with the mess and more importantly your house will get damaged. While it may only be a little bit of water, it will be constant, which is not ideal, so get a drip tray! 

Using One For Aesthetics Reasons

The reality is that if you just like the look of a drip tray, you can use one. It doesn’t matter if your tree is inside or out, if you like how a drip tray looks …then use it. 

Although as I’ve already discussed, you actually need one inside to avoid the mess and damage, so regardless of your feeling on the aesthetics, you will need one inside. 

Don’t Underestimate The Mess That A Bonsai Can Cause

I think it is really important to understand just how much mess can come out of a bonsai pot.

Every time you water it, a portion of that water is going to come out of the bottom and it will not be clean as it’s literally been filtered through a layer of soil.

If you are growing your trees inside you do not want this mess just spilling out into your house. Even if the water was clean, you wouldn’t even want this …so you need a drip tray.

You might think a bit of water isn’t going to damage your windowsill or table, but this is going to be a constant supply of water, for years, it will cause damage let alone a mess and a simple drip tray will prevent this.

How Do You Use A Drip Tray?

A drip tray is extremely simple to use, you just need to place it under your tree and that’s it. The water will drip down from the pot and it will be caught on the tray.

You don’t need to do anything as it will naturally evaporate away, but of course it is protecting whatever surface you have your tree sat on.

Do You Still Need To Water Your Bonsai If You Use A Drip Tray?

A drip tray will only catch water; it will not really water your tree so you will still need to water the tree as normal.

Of course you may find that some roots will be drinking from the water that is collected in the tray, but really you need to still be watering your tree as normal. The water that gets into the pot is the most important.

I would also be careful if you have a shallow drip tray, as excess water could easily build up. I would leave your tree in the sink for a few minutes after watering to allow it to fully drain and then place it back on the drip tray.

(You can read more about – How To Water A Bonsai)

Conclusion

Hopefully that clears some things up and now you know that for the majority of us, we don’t need drip trays for our bonsai trees that are outside. If you want to use one, do it if you want to. 

Then for the few trees that are kept inside, they will need a drip tray to protect your house from the mess.

It’s as simple as that, so don’t get stressed out about it.

(You can read more about – How To Pick A Drip Tray For Your Bonsai)