Dedicated to a down to earth and attainable approach to bonsai. It is targeted at bonsai enthusiasts, whether just getting started or with years of experience.
We will use a do-it-yourself mentality to attain quality results in our bonsai.
Bonsai, as a living art form appeals to multiple generations of people, from all over the world. We, at DIY Bonsai, aim to inspire all people to enjoy the craft.
Many videos will feature Pacific Northwest specific information.
Hi, nice guides for DIY bonsai. But maybe you got update (video or pictures), how this Moonglow Jupiner evolved and grown to bonsai shape in few years? I got 8 of those in my yard, and want to form the one at the main entrance as greeting bonsai.
They have been pretty solid. I would say they had a 75% strike rate. I lost some to drought. And winter was pretty harsh. Just starting to see how many survived. I have definitely found the soil was better than the sand but none of the options were bad. In addition, the smaller branches struck more readily than the thick ones.
I’m interested in your technic was originally planning a concrete pot and or Shallow tray The idea I want to try is surface finish I use crushed granite that is dark coloured with some red in it was thinking of saving the sifted dust from making soil and simple sift it over the mix when it’s wet trying to make it look like a natural rough piece of granite
I like your Rock idea for root over rock style wondering if you can add dye or colour to the cement to make a darker colour worried about renting it a colour that will last it’s lifetime. Be a shame to have the colour fad or rock crumble or decay after all tree and rock will be together a long time
There's a 15 pack with drip trays for 30$, that's the best price I've found for this size pot. The smaller 6.5" there's a 25 pack with trays for 25$. Look before you buy, some distributors are charging up to 7$ a piece for these. So I was happy I found them at 2$ ea.
Good luck Sarah. I am always looking for inexpensive alternatives to clay. And for whatever reason plastic works great. They are still holding up nicely.
you can buy round plastic saucer ,drill holes and glude wood squares/what you can find to make legs to raise it up - it looks ugly but does job. www.bunnings.com.au/garden-city-plastic-black-grow-pot-saucer-black-115mm_p0152855
Great video. Apparently a Japanese Wisteria twines clockwise and a Chinese Wisteria twines anti-clockwise. Check out Peter Chan on his Herons Bonsai channel. Kind regards from London.
Wisteria like dense soils that don’t conform to traditional bonsai soil rules. I use a mixture of top soil and sand. It’s about a 60/40 split top soil to sand.
Top soil is generally sand, organics like compost and plain old inorganic dirt. You can mix your own but I am not sure what you have in your area. If it’s me, I would use some clay dirt, sand and some compost. The key is not to sift for larger particles like you would with traditional bonsai soil. You want particles that compact well enough but still allow free draining soil. Also, I keep my pots in a tray to hold water.
The water log promotes some root rot which makes room for more, finer roots that help uptake nutrients in the soil. I don’t recommend this every tree, just wisteria and willow. Hope that helps.
Great video... Question, I know this is about a year, almost to the day that you posted this video... how has your wisteria grown this past year and will you be posting an update, as I have recently gotten into wisterias and am attempting to do a bonsai with it...Your video was informative but would like to see more on your wisteria... thanks!
Thanks Martillo. My wisteria grew well last season. The largest one, which was featured in this video, doesn’t grow a lot. I keep it pruned and it responds well. It just finished blooming and I allowed it because it has such pretty flowers. The smaller ones are very much still learning to be trees and not long vines.
Good question Valdemar. I don’t change the water so much as add to it when it runs low. It will naturally evaporate, and need to be refilled. I have left some of these cuttings in the bucket over the winter because the roots would not support the length of the branch. And all I did was keep the bucket filled.
I'm not sure , but I think those little raised bits on the inside may be to deter the roots from going around and around the perimeter and getting too rootbound .
Nice video. I love watching these types of videos, to see other professionals tool preferences. The tool is the window to the technique and philosophy of the artist. The part where you talked about your root cutter really stood out, because I have always said to others, that they should never spend a lot of money on something that will be grinding into dirt, sand, rock and god only knows what, because even very expensive super steels will dull and chip.
I appreciate the feedback Green Man. There definitely is a limit to the amount of money I will spend on tools. There are definitely more expensive options but it shouldn’t be a barrier to getting into the craft. And like my dad always told me, “don’t use your remaining fingers as push sticks.”
It is an initial styling that is intended to help guide the future growth of the tree. It will not have a defined shape for some time yet but this initial style is the foundation for the tree. Thanks for your feedback.
Hey i took 1 large branchlette off a Larix kaempferi 'pendula' i planted in early fall(canada) and this spring it is well rooted an i now have a crawling larix. My send on it is: Larix horizontalis.
Sounds awesome. My issue was watering. It got extremely hot here for my area and I wasn’t able to get water to the cuttings consistently. They all grew initially, but I believe it was due to the sugars stored in the wood, not due to actual growth. Then I wasn’t able to get enough water to them one day. And now most if not all have subsequently died off. Still waiting for them to leaf this year just in case but I am not hopeful. I appreciate your feedback.
Hey Caleb, I see you took this video 10 months ago. Do you have an update? Would be interesting to see how these turned out as I was thinking of trying this with Willow myself. Thanks
Gavin. These guys grow really prolifically. I kept so many I don’t know what to do with them. In a few weeks I will be going out to see how they faired through the winter. As I tell the folks at my bonsai society, I have a very hardy group of pre bonsai stock because they wouldn’t make it otherwise. I don’t baby them much. Appreciated he comment.
Hi Caleb, same here, I try and grow mainly hardy trees - Trees that grow like weeds. Easy to grow and very forgiving. What I like about Willows is it seems a cutting will root of any width. So potentially a 4 to 5 inch branch could root and you would have a ready made fat trunk. I might try it. Looking forward to your update.
True enough Gavin. The branches of willow grow quickly too which helps to hide or minimize proportional differences between the branches and truck and helps cover scars quickly. The only reason I haven’t tried something as thick as you described is that I didn’t have any at the time. Let me know how yours turn out?
Not as far as I have been able. I have had very limited success with Japanese maple cuttings of any kind. The most success has come from softwood cuttings in the early spring but even that I haven’t done well with.
We ended up having the city replace that one tree with a wisteria. Glad to know I won’t have to bug you for how-to pruning advice, but don’t worry - I’m sure Kevin and I can find other ways to bug you 😜 Thank you!
No worries. Keep in mind that the advice I am suggesting for these plants is specifically for bonsai so not everything will apply to your plant in the yard. But I hope it helps Carrie.
Does it make any difference to the bonsai plant? Traditionally earthenware, ceramics, etc are used. I'm thinking for the lightweight advantage of plastic bowls.
It doesn’t seem to make a difference to the plants. I use a lot of plastic pots and most of them are nursery pots. I am not usually in the market for ceramics because of the cost.
@@diybonsai1034 thanks for answering. The ceramic pots are prone to breakage too. I have got some microwave bowls and plan to make holes in them. I got them for 40 rupees each almost equal to the hanging pots.
I tend to find any plastic thing put holes in them and use them to try to grow things. I use cottage cheese cups, Tupperware and I did a video on some planter trays I converted too that were from the dollar store. Too right about the breakage. I have a few glazed pots that have shattered in the weather here.
@@diybonsai1034 same here. I have used paint buckets to grow holy basil, jasmine, curry plants etc. These are the most durable plastic pots and outlives any other material pots. I thought of making cement pots but those use more space and are heavy. Ceramic pots start from Rs 50, the size of tea-cup and go over a thousand rupees for bigger ones. Small ones may be used in room decor for planting succulents. Medium sized ones are cost prohibitive, I would prefer dining bowls (ceramic) instead which is same material and costs less.
I’ll have to check on the root hormone. It was just some that I had lying around. There are still a couple that made it to mid summer here in the PNW. We’ve had some strange weather here so I have had to make some adjustments in my watering and it has meant that some of the more fragile cuttings didn’t make it. Likely the early growth I saw was from the sugars stored in the branches from the winter.
I looked at them closely yesterday. Turns out only one of the stem cuttings made it and 2 of the heel cuttings. Could have been because of the heat and me not getting to them with water while I was at work. I lost my favorite azalea that way.
Any luck with these cuttings? Apparently with IBA in excess of 3000ppm they will root though. Some American cultivars have been reported to require 8000ppm to root in good time though!
Just picked up a juniper similar to this one as my first project! Quick question. about what % of the foliage would be okay to take off on a first pass? Liked the video!
Glad you liked the video. The answer depends on a few things. Time of year, how much root work you are doing, if any. Generally speaking, I would not take more than 40% of a junipers’ foliage off at a given time. You can expect the plant to need to recover if you go that heavy.
Sure is iPheek. It’s a bit of a waiting game now. Water and sun does the rest. That’s really why I have so many plants. I almost always have something to work on.
DIY Bonsai sweet! I just bought one and just slipped it into a bigger pot. I added a little of cactus soil that has pine bark sand and peat moss I think. It seems to be doing good so far. I’ll try and style it next spring!
Hiya Caleb. Tendrils of Japanese wisteria grow clockwise. Chinese wisteria growth is counterclockwise. Bonsai pot for this little beauty at next leaf drop? Very cool overall shape. I have been using 1:1:2 akadama:lava rock:Smit’s Compost that has been sifted for 1/8”-1/4” particle sizes for the past 8 years with no detrimental effects. I repot every 5 years. If I could figure out how to post pictures of my wisterias here, I would. This is a spectacular year for them. All other info you have shared here is what I do, too.
Thanks Jeff. Got the email of your pictures. Definitely gonna pot it up this winter. I hear they do well in a smaller pot but I am, as always, nervous about taking off too many roots.
Great points Reign. I plan to do a follow up video. I will put towards the top of the list. Stay safe out there. We are all thinking of you in these uncertain times.
DIY Bonsai you are very welcome. I remember something the insightful John Naka said about Bonsai. “Listen to the tree; it tells you where it wants to go”. Beautiful words.
In case you missed it, I messed up the metric. Something about the rhyming that messes me up. Should be shoots, roots and fruits not roots, shoots and leaves.
