All good advice. There are thousands of people giving THEIR way of doing things, but bonsai is a very personal journey. All the tips and methods you will see should be considered "tools in the toolbox". You will call upon a tool when it could help, or might work for you. But not all will. I have been learning for over 30 years and learn more every day. Dont follow what people say as law. Things might work for them, but not fit your environment. Learn the basics. YOU must learn to understand what your tree and plants are telling you and what the reactions to decisions are. Then you will adjust. My soil is not entirely like his, but the basics remain. Same goes for fertilizer, pruning, wiring, . There is SOME biology to this that you will learn, but bonsai is an art form, keeping the trees and plants alive and healthy is the basics. Creating the art is your taste. Good stuff. Thanks for the video. Looking forward to more.
There's not many videos on field growing bonsai. I would love to see a series of videos that follows the journey of a field grown tree compared to a pot grown tree. I want to see if there are differences in care and training of field vs pot grown.
Yes! That is in fact what I am going to be doing--showing you the progress and journey of my bonsai. There's no difference between a field grown tree and a pot grown tree…a tree is a tree. Use the philosophy to make lemonade when you have lemons…that is--follow the natural structure of the tree on hand to optimize the design. This way, you are bound by one’s own limitation…that's why every one of my trees has a unique look. This is a good philosophy to follow.
Good video covering the basics in starting out in our hobby. There are way too many takes on Bonsai soil composition - it should drain “well”; it should retain moisture; and have gaps for air (tiny gaps). I like your suggestion on its composition, and that a particular tree may need or require a little additional additive. Hmmm, basically using liquid fertilizer, and every other week, during growing season. Keep them coming my friend.
Excellent takeaways, Jeff! I'm glad you found my video helpful and I will definitely keep the videos coming! If there's anything specific you'd like to know, I'm happy to cover it in a future video, so feel free to comment it!
Some trees need to hold moisture longer then others, so soil is usually "customized" from the basic mix for some trees, depending on your area, climate habits, rain habits etc. It's sort of a trial kind of thing. I add or reduce organic material to slow down or speed up the draining process. As for the fertilizer, again, there are the "basic" rules, but will often need to be customized to your environment. This goes for how much sun as well. Well established trees will tolerate things more then trees in development. You will learn to "understand" what your trees are telling you if you pay attention. Good advice, good video. Thanks for posting it.
thank you for sharing your know how milton. i like the powdered fertilizers best. i use at everywatering in the growing season. but only about 1/4th strength of the labels suggested dose. unless its a tree type that likes higher doses like my portulacaria afras. i nuke them with double strong doses of fertiliers.. been using general hydroponics maxi grow and the sta green cheap stuff from the home/garden stores
Thanks for sharing what works for you and your trees. An important part of doing bonsai is tweaking what you learn to make it work for you and your conditions. Maybe your method will work great for others as well! Let's keep sharing and building this community!
Great video! I'd be nice if you could also explain in another video (when ever you have time) how to treat pests or illnesses and how to prevent them, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks for all the effort and passion. Take care!
Hi there! I rarely had to deal with plant disease so I'm no expert. I recommend you learn from your local nurseryman. A tree is a tree whether it is made into a bonsai or not. When it gets buggy, use a mild pesticide, like Malathion. Snails can usually be caught hiding in the bottom of bonsai pots during the day. If ants are a problem, use spray or ant bait. Most work well. Hope this helps!
I would love to see a video on the mycelium network and how it can effect bonsai and on the related note, soil additives that encourage micronutrient uptake by the roots. To better understand what sandy loam is, I would refer people to the soil texture triangle.
i love your videos i just started learning how to take care of plants and growing vegetables bonsai is the end goal i will begin that journey sooner than i expected after finding you
Thank you so much for your creative and informative videos!! I love your decisive culture of creating a design, which you present in the videos. I see the excellent combination of experience you utilize to get to a result faster. This is of course also combined with the basics of nurture, which is offered if one has a garden or open space to grow up plants. I am living indoor in a city appartment, thus having restrained myself to indoor bonsai. So far i have only put trust in ficus, because it is a sure bet. From what i learned is, that ficus is not really growing small leaves. So the illusion is more difficult to create. I would love to see some video about starting an indoor bonsai in the same radical way, you present with older seedlings picked from the garden. Which of the species, would be available as older tree seedlings and surive indoor? I have researched chinese elm or Crassula. Thank you so much, if you could create a video for indoor advocates.
I use organic waste that I ferment with EM4 yeast. that's a natural organic liquid fertilizer that we make. and as far as possible do not use chemical fertilizers. BONSAI GREETINGS!!! INDONESIAN BONSAI TROPICAL BONSAI
Thank you sir,,, learning center,,, good offurtuity for everyone,,, pillowing basically struction for planting of bunsai 🌲,,, God bless you 💕 sir.... that's my skill,,, trully...
Hi there! I recommend you stick to a mix that works for you. Why not? Try and compare two similar bonsai side by side before rejecting what might potentially be a good/better idea.
Hello there 👋🌳 What ever works in your area stick with it as you probably intend to👍🌲 I remember 20 years ago when I bought 6 -14Lrt bags of Akadama went home and repotted about 30 large trees in it 🌲. It was the biggest mistake I have ever made in growing bonsai. had to remove them and add some soil mixture to stop them drying up. Akadama makes a good surface cover for a show but comes strait of when I arrive home you can’t tell if the tree is dry or not as it looks so on the surface but wet underneath. Now there’s coco coir to🌲 Not going there😀 The internet is so confusing on soil mixture I think 🤔 Especially for beginners these days . I watched a video and a guy was using kitties litter in the mix It’s designed to break into a silt ,and no idea what it’s made from . Regard Shaun 👍
I wanted to hands on all the materials to become familiar with them so I ended up making a mix of crushed lava rock, pumice, aged fir and pine bark, aged redwood, calcified rock, fine gravel, vermiculite, perlite, and sand. I also have a lot of moss available. Is there any benefit (besides aesthetic) or concern to adding this on top of my bonsai soil? Thanks! 🙏🏻
No firsthand experience…if you think more is merrier, by all means. It is good to experiment! It is pretty easy to keep trees happy by providing holding power (soil), air, water, and fertilizer….from that standpoint.
This may be a very good idea in your area…to collect gutter water. This is not customarily done in our area…although people started to talk about that during the recent drought. I do have a 500 gallon tank to store water from my well, which produces all year round.
dzień dobry, mieszkam w Polsce i interesuję się drzewkami bonsai od dłuższego czasu. Spodobało mi się Pana podejście do istoty tworzenia drzewek bonsai. Pozwolę sobie zatem zapytać czy zna Pan sposób na przygotowanie samodzielnie odpowiednich nawozów do bonsai z łatwo dostępnych komponentów (kompost, obornik itp) - zależy mi na samowystarczalności w tym zakresie i wykorzystanie tego co jest pod ręką. Czy uważa Pan, że takie podejście do tematu jest słuszne? Pozdrawiam serdecznie :)
I live in Sarasota Florida. We had a extremely hot summer, many days 108+. I watered frequently as needed but found the clay pots were reaching 140+ in full sun to the touch. I have no shade to speak of and lost 2 dozen trees. What can I do differently if next summer is as bad?
It's one of my favorite trees…almost all shades of pink to purple. I think they will be beautiful bonsai in the spring. Hard to imagine a small bonsai in scale with big leaves.
I was concerned about the leaf size. Will the leaves get smaller when you stunt the growth, or stay large? I just have some that self seeded that I thought I might try. I suppose it's no loss if I don't like them as I was going to take them out anyways.
In my understanding I shouldn't fertilise in winter (I live in the southern part of Australia, winter temperatures are btwn -1 and 15 degrees Celsius. Sorry I don't know what that is in Fahrenheit). I've been noticing over the last couple of years some of my evergreen trees have been looking pale as if they need fertiliser in winter. This year in particular it's my mirror tree. Would you have any suggestions, and could it be that I didn't fertilise enough during spring summer and Autumn? Thank you!
Hi Katy! I don't know your “total” environment. Trees are dormant in winter, and therefore fertilizing them at that time would be a waste. I am not familiar with mirror tree. I googled it to be Coprosma, which is borderline hardy, but I am not sure. When in doubt, fertilize from spring onward!
@@bonsaiheirloom thank you! Yes, Mirror Trees are Coprosma (or Through the Looking Glass Trees), I'm sorry I forgot they're native to New Zealand, so you probably wouldn't be familiar with them. They're everywhere here in Australia, they're classified a weed in a lot of states.. which makes them perfect for bonsai 😁 It's an evergreen and is 'resting' right now, so I imagine you're right, fertilising would be a waste. It has a huge growth spurt in Autumn (Fall) when my deciduous trees are slowing down. Perhaps I'm not fertilising enough at this time. I must say, it's a great species for bonsai, it grows like crazy, heals wounds as fast as lightening, and the leaves are super shiny in the sun, hence the name Mirror Tree. It's one of the first trees I grew from seed and I haven't killed it yet, so I think that says a lot about how good the species is 😂 Apparently the fruit is edible too although I'm not sure I would test that out!
@@bonsaiheirloom actually I have another question.. i use the slow release pellets to fertilise, but they activate with heat and water, and it seems they're not activating as early as my bonsai are waking up from dormancy. I also use fish and seaweed liquid fertiliser too, but I heard you shouldn't use the fish fertiliser in early Spring when the trees are just waking up and new growth is soft.. Do you have any thoughts on that?
@@katyb2793 Dont be in a rush to fertilize too early in spring. Give the trees time to start to break. In some cases, waiting to fertilize until early summer is preferred to shorten node length. Fertilizing early can sometimes get the tree growing so strongly, that the nodes can become elongated, causing "leggy" growth. ( tis depends on the species of course, maples, especially ) I use a high nitrogen fertilizer in early spring on many of my trees. ( depends on what I need the tree to do in spring ) I use the fish/kelp fertilizer on ALL my trees starting in early summer through the fall. The fish/kelp fertilizer can, sometimes, "burn" soft growth, just as I dont use Malathion until the new growth has hardened off as well, for the same reason.
All bonsai pots have good drainage holes. I did say, everything you do, include the environment as a “system.” Test things out and find what works best for you and your situation!