I have a Biology degree and I am a teacher. I love Bonsai and I put in practice a lot of my scientific knowledge on the growing of my trees a hobby that I started 25 years ago. I still consider myself a beginner. I started watching this video and thought: Oh man this guy is going to get osmosis principles , xylem and phloem transport functions all mixed up. I am sure he has no knowledge of the solubility properties of starch, sucrose or glucose. Well, he is actually very smart. I was very impressed. Good job explaining those principles in simple terms. You seem to be not only an excellent student but also you are a great teacher. Good job.
I've been watching this every year for a few years now, just for refreshment. I want to explain my interpretation of the stunted growth/ weaken the tree discussion: A falling rate of profit is still profit - it is not a loss. We want to stunt the trees' growth, we do not want to stop it. Stunting growth is maintaining growth. That is to say, we want to encourage growth at a slow rate and we do not want to encourage the opposite at any rate, which is the process of death.
I have a BSc (Hons) degree in Biological science and I am really enjoying your scientific approach and explanation of bonsai. Your method of explaining the underlying science and the reason for doing things and how to decide what to do, is outstanding. Its bringing back all my botany studies from 45 years ago. The best online. As somebody who was fascinated by bonsai as a small boy but didn’t really take it up seriously until my early 60s, sadly, Im finding your streams very helpful. I now look at my bonsai, some 140 including 45 Pinus pinea seedlings I germinated from a cone, and think “What do I want to achieve” before doing anything, or nothing! I live in Adelaide Australia, in a very different climate but your BSOP sessions make it easier for me to think through what needs doing when, so I can enjoy the art form, as much as my painting. thanks Ryan and the Mirai team. Steve Shearer
I own many Bonsai books, but to be honest I have watched two of Ryan’s lectures and I learnt more from this lovely young man than any of the books I have read, I still have so much to learn about caring of trees, but know I have a little bit more knowledge to keep me and the trees going. Thank You
Wow! I have watched this 2-hour video totally captivated in one go until 3 in the morning! It is by far the best educational video around because Ryan has a way of teaching, explaining and showing that makes it all logical, understandable and stick! I have always been a big fan of his work....but his teaching easily equals his artistry. I will post a link on to my blog so that even more students of Bonsai can find their way to this uniquely valuable source of Bonsai information. Thanks, Ryan and all who made this Video possible! I can't wait for the next edition! Cheers, Hans van Meer.
Great demo, interesting and so information loaded. A must watch for all bonsai enthusiasts and participators. Answers a lot but provokes more questions at least from this complete novice. Defiantly binging on this series. It would be so helpful if a series like this could be done with this level of information and teaching but for the likes of me the complete beginner, who start with zero knowledge and leading up to, who I feel this demo was aimed for the existing practitioners. This is how bonsai should be taught.
if you go to Live.BonsaiMirai.com then you will find all of what you are looking for. There is a new beginner series coming out soon and the nursery stock series is also very helpful for beginners
In just the past few months, after putting a lot of these things in practice, my trees are looking better and are much more healthy. "What am I trying to accomplish?" is becoming my mantra! Thank you for teaching us the "why" of bonsai.
I find that one of the hard to express reasons we do any art including Bonsai, is an instinctive desire to ascertain control over broad and minuscule details of any subject we can observe. To take something that occurs naturally around us, and claim it as apart of our controllable domain by obtaining, controlling, and manipulating and altering it as we want and feel and desire. Art is the evolutionary reaction, to the adapted skills our species gained over many generations, carefully observing and interacting strategically with our environments. it is the evolved form and end result of observational and imitational learning that is inherent in us all.
Our environment is very interesting. Medellin is 5000 feet above sea level. It's position in a valley makes it called the City of Eternal Spring. So growing bonsai is interesting here. Our sun duration is very minimal between seasons. To watch this was very fascinating and always great. You mentioned at one point our memories based on trees. My brother and I hiked the rocky mountains to a hidden lake. At the upper area was a pine tree, hit by lightning and split in half, and one half was dead and the other half was alive. I also hiked the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee and saw a tree growing in a rock alongside a waterfall. The branches were a combination of being pushed back and down and being pushed forward and down. I am currently designing a cotoneaster that represents the tree by the waterfall. Eventually it will be planted into a rock And I hope, one day, I can recreate that tree at the side of the hidden lake.
Amazing, Ryan is an absolute wealth of knowledge and delivers the information in such a clear consise way! I feel way more confident about working on my Bonsai now and will come back to this video again and again!
In regards to top dressing in dryer more arid climates. It also helps to mix some crushed akadama into your moss mix. Or sprinkle some crushed on top of the container then the top dressing. It works great for my trees in Colorado.
Thanks, Ryan on the lecture very informative and many new things I learned. I particularly enjoy the easter eggs you give with the Kimura stories! Can you please tell a story when you seriously stuffed up and Kimura let you have it or he was not like that? I heard if you make mistakes he simply does not ask for your help anymore and gives the task to someone else!
i learned so much from this- one day i hope to take a vacation and study at mirai for a few weeks/months. bonsai has helped my spiritual journey by decades worth of realization.
Bonsai has been a hobby of mine in my teens,but has I had no garden afterwards I gave it up until recently So I introducedy husband in bonsai and he truly thought that was just aspecific sort of trees that naturally stay small
Thank you for the video, I appreciate the new approach of the topic. Basic information wich often is told different. That moss thing saved me a repoting of an old picea abies yamadori. Now the water is draining again and the tree doesn't need to be fully repottet
Very interesting video, very helpful and clarifying! New ideas on day to day care and pruning far from the typical demo. I have a couple of comments: - I am not sure the oxigen in the carbohydrates is coming from the roots. - About fertiliser I am now confused, different sources give different recommendations, see for example the book "Modern Bonsai Practice" from Larry Morton who recommended slow release inorganic fertiliser... I imagine you must find what is easy and what works for you. Thank you very much again Mr. Neil.
Roots are the part of the tree that absorb oxygen. Leaves absorb carbon dioxide exclusively. That's why oxygenation of the soil system is so important. Organic fertiliser is better than inorganic, because it has less of a harmful impact on the soil microbiome. Inorganic fertiliser does have applications, but organic is usually superior.
Photosynthesis is: 6CO2 + 6H2O + Light = C6H12O6 + 6O2. Oxygen (O2) is a byproduct of photosynthesis. No need for oxygen to travel up from the roots to the leaves. If roots needed oxygen, then hydroponics/hydroculture would be impossible. In hydroponics you dunk the whole root system in a mineral solution (water + a little bit of synthetic fertilizer). All you need is to make sure the solution stays clean (doesn't smell) to avoid root rot. In a bonsai pot you avoid root rot by achieving the right balance of water and air. Too much air and your roots will dry out, too much water and you risk root rot. Even if the substrate is inorganic (lava, pumice, akadama, etc), the content of the pot is not. There is a whole micro-zoo living in the substrate, especially if you throw organic fertilizer at the tree. Too much water and some harmful fungus will love that combined with the sugars in the roots. But don't think synthetic fertilizer can prevent diseases. Micro-organisms are everywhere. Regarding fertilizer you are right: you must find what works for you. I, for example, can't use organic stuff. I have a balcony, and neighbors. I once tried organic pellets: the flies only beat the neighbors by 24 hours. The neighbors weren't happy with the smell... at least way less than the flies. So I use a fertilizing technique derived from hydroculture: a little bit of synthetic fertilizer with each watering during the growing season, plain water during the winter. I'm kind of simulating 'slow release' by adapting the fertilizer concentration to brand-growth-season, plus a monthly heavy plain water shower to avoid salt build up (just to be on the safe side). I'm totally conscious that this wouldn't work if I had 50+ trees... but then I would have a garden and neighbors at a greater distance :-)
My question is probably more philosophical in nature. I’m a professional painter. I started many years ago and became very proficient at doing a very good job absent of mistakes. Consequently I have very little appreciation for the finished product as it is subjective to individual style appreciation and so on. During the process of painting well the finished product just isn’t mine to enjoy. I’m long away from perfecting my trimming technique but how do you keep the love or appreciation of a fine bonsai alive once you have perfected your technique?
D K bonsai are always evolving, never static. A fine example is the Linden in this video. On Mirai Live it features in a stream on deciduous design, Ryan takes the tree, a beautiful design as it is in this video, and makes changes to evolve the tree beyond its ‘finished’ state. In a sense, the practitioner and tree grow and evolve together...
Great material. I didn't get the bit about the establishment of cuticle and the energy positive nature. I would think the more time and investment the tree puts in creating the leaf, the more energy deficient it get. Ie, intuitively, it would be less damaging to remove a young leaf than a fully grown one?
Love all your videos Ryan, I cant wait to visit your garden one day if possible!!!!! I have learned so much and cant stop watching and learning!!! Please keep it up if you can!!! :::=^)
Very cool video, thank you Ryan. I have a weird question.. My trees are in development stages and very far from refinement ,and I got akadama and pumice as a gift . 18ltr each. I’ve been using a mix of both for all of my development trees, deciduous and evergreens. And I’ve continued buying those two soils for the last 2 years for all my trees in development. Are there any advantages or disadvantages to use soils on development material that are typically only used for refinement material?
Excellent presentation! Noticed the larch was heavily scared by wire. Under what circumstances does one allow this to occur? Obviously a more fatal problem on a deciduous tree.
it is a good idea to let the wire dig in. When the wire digs in you create scar tissue that will allow the branch to hold form and will require less wire in the future.
I have a rescue larch hasn't been repotted in 5 years but it's summer now and I been told best to just leave it till spring to repot and trim it as it has a few dead branches any tips please
when we form a canopy, we can let several branches starting from the same point , but why it won't make an inverse taper? ( we can see those multiple branches at 1:06:52 )
I got really confused with this title... here in brazil we have a Poker tournament that is called BSOP (brazilian series of poker) and i got in a bonsai video haha nice
hi ryan! i have an italian pne tree in my garden that my parents dug up years ago and i'd like to make a bonsai out of it, do you think air layering a pine branch is easy and efficient?thanks
