Bonsai For Beginners 6: How to grow your bonsai tree. Six week transformation! 

And hit the like button to develop your nebari everyone! 😉

Thank you! We think so too. Robert always carries a fire extinguisher with him when he teaches his classes 🤣

Thank you! We were eager to post this, but decided that filming the updates into the same video was beneficial. Glad it paid off!

@@brooklynnygarden thank you!

@@keyurpatel5429 the update was so important for this video. Tropical Chinese elms grow SO fast.

@@AsiaPacificGarden right !!! Thx👍

Thank you! The visual growth is definitely important. We have shared this technique before in the past in our classes and it often shocks people that pulling the leaves off won't damage tropical trees .

Thank you! The sub-tropical Zelkova (Chinese Elm) grows incredibly fast and the follow up was important to show. Glad you enjoyed it!

@@Alexela03 Thank you!

You are correct. If you want to build a thicker branch, you would let it grow out further, but you will need to supplement the growth properly and usually not suited for beginners. As for the back bud and growing seasons, this tree is a sub-tropical tree (zelkova schneideriana) so it's always growing and never has a dormant season. This clip and grow method works extremely well with tropical trees because of how fast they grow. This is the Lingnan style of bonsai training that Robert is demonstrating. While this tree already has great ramifications, we wanted to show how overgrowing it can cause problems for beginners. For someone who has more experience with bonsai, there are proper ways of growing out the tree to build ramifications and foliar masses, which we will cover in future videos. Great comment! Thank you!

Thanks really enjoying the channel 👍

@@nickcarter-jg1kp you can prune that any time of the year!

@@AsiaPacificGarden thanks for the reply. Can you also repot any time of year, and is it time when you start see roots from bottom of pot. Sorry about all the questions but is my first attempt at bonsai, I really don't have anyone ask. You get mixed opinions most videos and forums.

@@nickcarter-jg1kp when it comes to repotting a Chinese elm, you have to first identify if it's an elm from a tropical climate or one from a wet and cooler climate. The most common tropical one is a zelkova schneideriana, which is the one in this particular video. With tropical trees, you can do repotting work as long as the temperature isn't too hot (anything higher than 90 F gets risky). If it's an elm from a wet and cool climate, it's most likely a Zelkova Serrata. These you ONLY want to report during its dormant season, which is typically late fall to early spring.

@@nickcarter-jg1kp and you want to report when it begins to become root bound. You can test this by taking a metal chopstick and poking the soil. If it goes thru, you're good. If you start to feel a lot of resistance and the roots are blocking the stick, then that's a sign you need to report. If you want until the roots come out of the bottom, then the container is already super root bound and not healthy.

Mine is a elm parvifolia. Unsure if grown here in U.K or imported. Thanks for your help. Great work on the videos too.

This tree is approximately 25 years old or so.

This isn't a video about trimming, but we're thrilled to hear that you understand the basic principals of trimming. This is a video about overgrowing the tree, which is a common mistake that new bonsai owners tend to do as stated in the very beginning of this video. Many new bonsai owners think they should keep growing the branches out. When this happens, the tree degrades from the center outward. We see many customers coming in with this problem. We are here to share the knowledge with all different skill levels. Telling a beginner to just trim the branches that go inward, up, or down without explaining why it's unhealthy to continue growing the branch way out is an ineffective way of teaching. We shot this video over six weeks to show that trimming the branches down AND pulling all the leaves off will not hurt the tree, contrary to what some bonsai owners think. We clearly show that within five weeks, it all grows back and fills in the ramifications of this zelkova. We use a five star hotel analogy because it's a relatable experience that people can understand. Thanks for your comment!

@@timothypennington3964 he's better at explaining stuff than most people. I thoughtmotel was great analogy