How To Plan and Track Your Bonsai

I want to start this by saying that having a plan for you bonsai is only half the story.

You need to make sure what that the tree is ready for what ever you are wanting to do to it. If you start working on a bonsai tree at the wrong time of year or when it is not ready you can actually set it back and potentially kill it.

If you are going to make any future plans, your timescale for when to do this will be dictated by the tree. Never forget that.

For example, you can’t say you are going to repot on a certain date. You can only say you are going to repot the tree when it is ready for it, which will be when tree is pushing growth and its buds are about to burst open in spring. You don’t know when that exact date will be.

The tree works on its own timescale and you need to accommodate to that and work that into your plans, not the other way round!

Why Should You Track/Plan Your Bonsai Trees?

The simple reason for doing any sort of plan or tracking, is for memory, or I should say a lack of it. Bonsai is a slow process and it can be pretty hard to remember what you have done and what you need to do, so tracking what you’ve done will help you massively to keep track of things.

This problem will only multiply as the years pass and as you start to increase the size of your collection.

I have 58 trees and trying to remember what I’ve done to each one is just too much for my simple mind. I am forever editing my YouTube videos and just saying to myself “I don’t remember doing this”. Sometimes this isn’t too important, but with other things like repotting, this can be really important to know when you last did this.   

Planning for the future is also made easy as you can see what you have done and quickly mark up what you want to do going forward. Since it’s now recorded, you won’t forget to do it.

There is also the added bonus of actually seeing your progress. If you are looking at your trees every day it’s hard to notice the change. Bonsais just creep forward and you don’t see it happening. If you have made records of your trees you can see the drastic change that can happen over the long term.

This is my favourite part of my own YouTube channel; I can see a tree change and grow over the years in just a few minutes of video. 

What Can You Use To track Your Bonsai?

It doesn’t really matter you use, so long as its works and is easy for you.

Notebook

Bonsai is the probably the furthest thing you can find from modern technology so why not track your trees in an old style fashion.

Buy yourself a nice notebook and take the time to neatly record all your information. The only downside is you can’t take pictures with a notebook, but for everything else it is perfect.

However, saying that there is nothing stopping your from printing out your pictures and creating some sort of analog masterpiece.

Computer

Spreadsheets or word documents are for me the perfect tool to record your bonsai notes. I have awful hand writing and I often change the layout or format of my notes, which you can easily do on a computer.

I have all sorts of colour coded systems and columns that are forever changing and I could not do this on a notebook.  

I also find computers are the best place to store pictures and videos. (Obviously make sure you back things up). It is easier to store a picture from 2015 in a computer folder than to keep it on phone, especially since I’ve had 4 or 5 different phones since then.

Phones

Phones are pretty much just handheld computers these days; you can pretty much do the exact same things that you can do on a computer.

I think I started my first bonsai spreadsheet on my phone… or maybe it was my tablet, either way it was not on my computer.

The only downside is phones often get replaced every few years and since bonsai is a long term game it can be easier to just save things to a hard drive for a more long term solution.

A phone is of course going to be most people’s camera of choice when it comes to recording their trees, but like I’ve said it can be easier to transfer these to a computer for long term storage.

Bosnai Apps

I really want to talk about all the great options we have for phone apps to help us with our bonsai tracking, but sadly this area is pretty pathetic (if you are using something awesome let me know as I am willing to try anything). 

There is nothing really useful here, which I feel is a real shame. Hopefully I can return to this and update this someday with a super useful app. 

What Should Be Recorded When Tracking A Bonsai?

Really you should focus on the information you think is important, but I will go through some of the things I like to record.

Take Pictures Of Your Bonsai

As a bare minimum you should be taking pictures (or video) of your bonsai trees periodically throughout the year.

I am still blown away when I look back at old pictures of my trees. They look so tiny and pathetic and I can’t remember them looking like this at all. This really shows me that my bonsai trees have made progress and are actually growing and taking shape.

Even if you take a picture once or twice a year it is still going to be great to look back on in 10 years time to see the journey.

I have also found it really helpful to record my root work and see how radical I may have gotten. This really helps me work out if I think a tree might be due another repot soon or not.     

Record Major Work That You Do To Your Bonsai

It is a very good idea to record when you do anything significant to your bonsai tree such as pruning, repotting or even styling.

Knowing exactly when you did this work can help you make a decision about your tree now and if it is in a position to receive more work.

Of course you should be looking at the tree and evaluating its health there and then, but to have the extra data about what have already done and how long ago is never a bad thing.

Record When You Fertilised/ Used Pesticide On Your Bonsai

This sounds like something that you should just be able to remember but if you have many bonsai trees in different stages of development you can become very muddled very quickly. 

Some trees may need more fertiliser than others or different strengths and it can be easy to get lost. Simply recording what you’ve done will make sure you give each tree the correct amount at the right time.

The same is true for pesticides and fungicides. This will also make sure no tree is forgotten about, which would be costly if it gets infected.  

Record The Basic History Of A Bonsai

The basic details like when and where you got the bonsai tree from, along with the cost and any sort if information similar to this is good to record.

After a few years it can become very blurry and it’s just nice to know exactly how long you have had had a tree rather than trying to guestimate.

Create A To-Do List For Your Bonsai

In the short term these can be very useful. I usually have a lot to do and to make sure I don’t forget anything a to-do list is the best thing ever.

I especially like to use these for my spring bonsai work. I take my time and evaluate my trees over winter and work out what ones will need a repot and which ones are fine. I then note it on my list and then when it comes to spring I just tick them off.

No one gets missed and no one gets repotted when they don’t need it.  It’s pretty much the perfect system …well I think so anyway.

Record General Care Notes For A Specific Bonsai Tree

Sometimes certain bonsai trees may just need a little bit of extra care or there may be something  you do slightly different to one specific tree, It can be useful to record this so you always have a note that this specific tree is treated a certain way.

Record Future Plans For Your Bonsai

When you are developing bonsai trees, especially from a young age it is a very good idea to have some sort of plan for them.

Even if the plan is as simple as “let it grow out for a few years” this can be important to record, so that in a few years time you don’t start pruning it when you actually wanted to leave it alone.

Or like the example I give above about making a list of trees I want to repot the following season. Having that marked down makes sure it’s not forgotten about.  

Anything Else

These are your notes and you can pretty much record anything you want. It can be information about what you have done or what you want to do, or even just general thoughts and feelings you have about the tree. There really is no rules, just record what ever you think is important.

What Do I Use To Track My Bonsai Trees?

This is how I personally track my own bonsai trees, which is pretty much what ive discussed already.

Computer

I firstly have a spreadsheet on my computer where I have a list of all my bonsai trees and where they are located (since I have indoor and outdoor trees) I also have a little information about the trees such as where and when I got them. I have also recorded when I last repotted pot them, which i find very helpful.

I would make this more detailed, but since I make youtube videos, I mostly use them to record most of what I need to track. However, this does mean I have pretty crazy filing system on my computer for all my videos for each trees.

Youtube

I certainly don’t expect you all to be videoing your bonsai trees monthly and editing it all together for the internet, but if you want a pretty good record of your trees you can’t really beat this.

I look back and see what I did and when. I try and mention what I am doing and why in the videos, so I can look back and see what my thought process was at this time.

Being able to see exactly what I did is super helpful for me and allows me to not have to worry about remembering anything.

Phone Notes

I use the note section of my phone to make to-do lists for my bonsai.

When I am watering my trees I usually examine my trees and this is usually when I make decisions about what to do. Usually things like wiring or pruning. I just make a to-do list and then come back in a few days and go through the list. This way I don’t forget about anything.

Conclusion 

Hopefully now you see the benefit of your tracking the information about your bonsai trees and start doing it if you are already not.

If you are unsure or maybe too lazy, that is fine. However, I beg you; please take pictures of your trees now. Even if they are small or awful in doesn’t matter, being able to look back and see the progress they have made over the years is one of the most rewarding things you will do.

So treat your future self by taking some pictures of your trees today.