It may surprise you, but did you know that anyone can grow a bonsai garden if they have enough dedication and patience? The art of bonsai is an amazingly relaxing and rewarding experience that’s not so complicated as long as you have all the right tools for it. Good tools make it easy to maintain and care for your delicate bonsai trees the way they need. Keep reading to get to know some of the best bonsai tools set you can find today!
Backyard Boss Top 5 Best Bonsai Tool Sets in 2021
|
PRODUCT |
FEATURES |
||
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
Why You Can Trust Us
Although it’s a bit niche, we found bonsai gardening intriguing enough to try and learned a lot from our mistakes and successes. Even with our extensive indoor and outdoor gardening experience, bonsai gardening was tricky, and the need for high-quality tools was obvious.
To help you find the right tools, we used meticulous research and several trials to find the best bonsai tool sets. We also sought advice and recommendations from other expert and hobbyist bonsai gardeners. We learned so much that we even included a bonus bonsai tool set buying guide at the end for everything you need to know before buying one!
Best For Grooming
This set maintains bonsai plants and keeps them in tip-top shape.
- Special 8-piece pruning kit
- Compact size
- Allows quick and easy usage
- Great for grooming mature bonsai trees
- Can’t trim wood
- Rake needs gentle handling
|
|
Why We Like It: This compact kit is designed for shaping and grooming your beautiful bonsai. These come with sharp folding scissors, tweezers, a mini rake, two mini spades, and three-leaf trimmers, all of which can be stored in a sleek brown leather pouch.
This is great for detailed pruning work and when your bonsai leaves are growing a bit wild. These tools help maintain your bonsai’s shape and keep them looking neat. Additionally, the miniature rakes and shovels help loads with soil care and the tweezers help you clean up after a grooming session.
Who Should Buy It: A kit like this is ideal for those dedicated to regularly shaping and grooming their bonsai.
Best Beginner Set
This comprehensive kit has high-quality essential tools and bonus accessories for an easy start to bonsai gardening.
- Clear instructions for beginners
- Premium tool inclusions
- Great for gifts
- Flimsy box
- Uncomfortable for small hands
|
|
Why We Like It: This Bonsai tool set kit is best for people who barely know a thing about bonsai gardening but want to give it a shot. This kit has sharp butterfly pruning shears, an aluminum training wire, an instructional bonsai book, and fertilizer and frit from Uncle Bill’s Bonsai Brew.
They’ve also included a genuine Chinese mud figurine to decorate your bonsai pot for when your trees start to take shape. You should also know that all these are packaged luxuriously in a bamboo box and is a great gift to kickstart someone’s bonsai garden!
Who Should Buy It: This would be a fantastic choice for beginner bonsai hobbyists.
Best Advanced Set
This is an expanded bonsai gardening essentials kit that’s great for slightly more complex bonsai care needs.
- Heavy-duty 13-piece kit
- Good for bonsai and succulents
- Comfortable handle grip
- Applicable for advanced bonsai care techniques
- Poor case quality
- Tools need additional rust proofing
|
|
Why We Like It: When your gardening skills outgrow your tools, this is a great way to expand your kit. This heavy-duty 13-piece quality tool kit has precise pruning shears, butterfly scissors, long-handle scissors, a miniature rake, two kinds of miniature shovels, and two leafcutters.
You’ll also receive four multi-colored 5m-long wires that range between a millimeter to two millimeters thick. The 13th piece is its convenient storage bag. You can use it for bonsai and succulent gardening and, with this quality toolset, you’ll be more than ready to advance in your bonsai garden journey.
Who Should Buy It: This would be smart for gardeners about to expand their basic bonsai toolset.
Best Soil Care
This is complete with multiple rakes and spades that help cultivate bonsai soil.
- Good for bonsai and succulents
- Sturdy 9-piece set
- Budget-friendly
- Ideal for seedlings and soil care
- Small storage bag
- Poor broom quality
|
|
Why We Like It: With bonsai gardening, most people only focus on shaping their tree into something beautiful and zen, but your soil should be given some love too! This kit has all the basics for soil care, including two kinds of hand rakes, two kinds of spades, two tweezers, and a mini broom.
You’ll also get pruning scissors, a leaf trimmer, and a linen pouch for storage. These tools are a huge help in keeping your spoil healthy, loose, and aerated. They’re also at the best size for maneuvering around tight pot garden spaces.
Who Should Buy It: Gardeners with young bonsai plants and tight pot soil space can maintain their soil very well with this kit.
Best Carbon Steel
This well-rounded kit uses carbon steel to create sturdy, sharp, and long-lasting tools.
- High-quality 10-piece bonsai kit
- Carbon steel material
- Equipped for root, leaf, branch, and soil care
- Great for all bonsai gardener skill levels
- Needs additional rust proofing
- Requires regular oiling
|
|
Why We Like It: This well-rounded Bonsai tool set kit is perfect for dedicated hobbyists. The tools here use high-quality carbon steel, are built with razor-sharp edges, and have a comfortable grip.
This kit includes a leaf trimmer, root hook, double-ended hand rake, bud shears, a knob, a concave cutter, medium and large-sized scissors, and a hemp broom. You’re also given five types of aluminum training wire and wire cutters. All of these can be kept in a handy pouch. Once this is in your arsenal, you’ll be able to meet any of your bonsai’s needs, and it’ll serve you a long time.
Who Should Buy It: These carbon steel tools would be great for serious hobbyists looking for an all-in-one bonsai toolset.
Essential Tools To Keep In Mind
Image Credit: ZELARMAN Store via Amazon
Every bonsai gardener has to start from somewhere, and you don’t need every tool under the sun! Here are some bonsai tool set essentials to keep in mind if you’re just starting.
Bamboo Chopstick
A bonsai tree needs to be well watered, and a simple bamboo chopstick helps. When you stick bamboo sticks into the soil surface, you’ll be able to check for its moisture level. If you pull it out and it’s mostly dry, your bonsai needs another drink of water.
Concave Cutters
A concave branch cutter is a special bonsai tool that cuts branches near the trunk and leaves behind a depression. It prevents scarring and growing any bumps on the trunk. For best results, match your concave branch cutter size to the branch thickness. Pair this with a knob cutter, and you'll have given your bonsai plant a second chance at growing!
Pruning Shears
Bonsai pruning shears are an extra sharp tool made to help shape and groom your tree. Regular pruning helps hobbyists achieve the classic refined bonsai tree look and are important in precisely trimming away decay. For roots, pruning shears won't work since roots are tougher, so you'll need a root cutter to thin your tree's root ball.
Root Rake
Root rakes are important for maintaining your soil. It aerates the soil and keeps it loose for better plant health. This mini rake is also helpful for when you’re repotting your bonsai. Watch this video for a root rake demonstration.
Training Wire
Training wires are crucial in the art of bonsai growing. These help the tree grow into your desired shape and helps them look refined and elegant! Many details go into bonsai training but having quality wires at your disposal is necessary. Wire cutters will come in handy when using training wires to shape your tree.
Important Bonsai Toolset Considerations
Image Credit: MOSFiATA Store via Amazon
Before you purchase a bonsai tool kit, know that not all bonsai tools are made the same. Thinking about these three factors might help you decide on your bonsai tool selection.
Tool Inclusions
Less is more! The garden tools included in a set should all be helpful for your purpose for the kit. If you only need something for pruning, root care, or if you only want essentials, closely weigh the pros and cons of each set.
Primary Materials
Materials used in basic tools are the biggest quality indicator. Stainless or carbon steel is usually the most trusted metal for garden tools. When choosing between two similar sets, your preference in materials might be the tiebreaker.
Skill Level
If you’re a beginner bonsai gardener, upgrade your skills first before upgrading your toolset. Even if you’re taking care of some of the best bonsai trees for beginners, buying above your skill level could do more harm than good if you don’t know how to handle the tools properly.
Tips From Bonsai Enthusiasts
Image Credit: ZELARMAN Store via Amazon
Here are some hard-learned tips that we want to share to help you have a smooth bonsai journey:
Moisture is key
If you’re wondering how to care for your bonsai tree, the first step is monitoring its moisture levels. If the soil is too dry, start saturating the soil with water until your pot starts draining water. But remember— only water them when soil is dry. Drowning them is just as bad!
Keep pruning on
The best way to keep your bonsai pristine is through regular pruning. Removing overgrown and dying leaves helps you shape the tree and maintain its appearance. Additionally, removing unwanted branches from the trunk helps the bonsai grow stronger and healthier.
Always clean your tools
Avoid trouble by maintaining your tools as often as you maintain your bonsai. To prevent spreading harmful bacteria, always sterilize them before cutting them into your tree and thoroughly clean your tools after. In case your tools grow stiff, some oil might help.
How We Picked
Due to the delicacy of bonsai gardening, we became even more strict in our research and trial process to make sure we find only the best bonsai tool sets available.
We started with a thorough market analysis of the different kits and double-checked our findings with the advice of fellow bonsai gardeners. This second opinion gave us terrific insight into each set and allowed us to weed out the tool kits that only disappoint.
We then personally tried our shortlisted sets to witness their quality and performance. All in all, that search led us to five wonderful kits that can be a huge help in each step of your bonsai journey.
Our Top Pick of the Best Bonsai Tool Set in 2021
We adore all the bonsai tool kits on this list but if we could only suggest one, it would easily be the ZELAR Made Bonsai Set.
It’s a wonderful 8-piece kit packed with tools for grooming and soil care. All bonsai hobbyists use these kinds of tools and having multiple quality tools ready is unbelievably convenient. It also allows you more freedom in the tool designs and features you want for branch, trunk, and root care.
However, we understand that not everyone needs a pruning kit. Regardless, if one of these five bonsai toolsets is calling your name, stop ignoring it and start bonsai gardening!