Raising Pachira aquatica as a bonsai

Lucky chestnuts are easy to cut

You can prune back a lucky chestnut at any time. If you want to grow them as a bonsai, cut them back harder in the spring and only shorten individual shoots later. Use clean cutting tools to avoid transmitting pathogens.

If you have bought braided lucky chestnuts, you have to untangle them beforehand and place them individually in pots. Otherwise the Pachira aquatica dies quickly because the trunks remain very thin at the pressure points and there Pests penetration.

You should immediately put freshly bought plants in fresh substrate, which must be as loose and water-permeable as possible. Well suited are:

• Potting soil
• Cactus soil
• Earth for container plants

Maintain Pachira aquatica as a bonsai

Lucky chestnuts as bonsai are easy to care for. Do not water too often, as Pachira aquatica does not tolerate waterlogging. You should always only add water when the ball of the pot is almost dry. In winter, water in sips.

Occasionally spray the leaves with a little lime-free water, as lucky chestnuts appreciate a higher level of humidity.

In the first year and after Repot you must not the plant fertilize. Later, a little liquid fertilizer for bonsai or green plants is given every fortnight. The lucky chestnut is no longer fertilized in winter.

Growing in lava stone

In Hawaii there is a special form of bonsai cultivation for lucky chestnuts. There the trees are placed in a lava stone. To do this, a hole the size of a thumb is drilled into the stone.

The Pachira aquatica grows very slowly in the stone, so that it remains small and similar to a real bonsai for a long time.

Over time, the roots burst into the stone, resulting in very bizarre shapes.