The Carmona is a popular Bonsai for good reason – this little tree hasn’t been popular for centuries by accident. From the clean-lined twisting shape of the trunk to the pretty splay of small and dark leaves, Carmona plants are gorgeous to look at. But did you know that they can actually flower too?
When a Carmona is cared for with just the right requirements, the Bonsai is capable of sprouting lots of little white and pink flowers in Spring! This isn’t far out of reach either – in this blog we’ll give you a guide on how to give your Carmona Kokedama the best chance of flowering!
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It might be surprising to hear, but you don’t actually need to change much to get your Carmona to flower. Although this certainly doesn’t guarantee flowering, following all these steps should give your plant just the right environment to have a shot at it.
Environment
Make sure to place your Carmona in the right location, with bright but indirect light. In order to flower – and survive – your plant definitely needs light, however avoid placing it on a windowsill or other location which receives lots of direct sunlight. This can scorch the leaves, and won’t help with flowering!
If you notice leaves going brown or falling off, consider placing your Carmona in a more humid environment – the ideal humidity would be 50% or above. A good remedy to this problem is placing your Kokedama into a bathroom with a shower, as this should keep the plant nice and moist.
Watering
Make sure you’re watering your Carmona enough! These plants love to be moist, so if your plant is dropping leaves and the moss is brown and crispy/dry to the touch, you may need to water your plant more.
For Carmona Bonsai, it’s recommended to water them once a week. Make sure to spray the moss in between these submerging sessions to keep it fresh and moist, but if it begins to feel soggy to the touch, reduce the amount you’re watering it. Giving your plant enough water is vital to giving it the chance to flower!
Shop our eco-friendly glass spray bottles here!
Fertilizer
A lot of people don’t consider this, but just like a normal plant, your Kokedama can really benefit from fertilizer! Although all our Kokedama come with two months’ worth of a slow-release fertiliser in them, you may notice over an extended period that the leaves become slightly faded in shine and colour.
Not only does fertilizer help improve this and the health of the plant, but giving your plant all the nutrients it needs also gives it the best chance of flowering. In the winter months it only needs fertilizing every 3 months, but if you want to help your plant flower during growing season, we recommend providing it with fertilizer every 2-4 weeks.
All you need to do is soak the moss ball as you usually would, however add 5ml of our Baby Bio fertilizer to the water! You can get fertilizer here in our pruning plant care set!
And most importantly…
Have some faith! It might not happen, but if you’re persistent and patient, eventually you might get the pleasure of seeing your Bonsai covered in flowers!
