I was interested in, but intimidated by bonsai after watching some other fellows who were doing very technical trees with lots of twists and turns. Your trees are no less refined, but your easygoing style showed me that there’s no one right way to do bonsai. Can’t wait til the winter lets up and I can receive the pre-bonsai ficus I have on order!
I know of one person that only uses their hands to shape their trees, no pruners, no wires. They just break off the tips and branches. There trees actually look really good and they have a very recognizable style to them! I hope you enjoy your Ficus!
I really appreciate the conversational style and thoroughness of the description of how to decide what to trim and what to keep. So many videos don't do that.
Great job on the succulent videos! It is very hard for us (most viewers) to make such big cuts on plants. And thank you for choosing me for the viewer pics. Keep up the great work!
hiya! sorry to bother but maybe you got a sec to answer this question? I am so happy to actually be talking to the dude who got picked at the end for viewer pics... umm so here it goes, the ficus you started in 2010 (is that the stump of a tree and the ficus growing from that?) sorry if the question is written weird I just can't explain much better jaja have a great day
@@littledudelittletrees1647 it was a palm tree a friend cut down. I bowled it with the back of a hammer. It lasted about 3 years then rotted away. Neat thing was the roots went down about 2 feet when it finally rotted away. Not the best of ideas. But it was just an experiment.
Great video fam! I'm from QLD, Australia and have never been to the snow before. Part 1 of these videos was so awesome to me because I loved the snowy landscape!
Hey Nigel! Just getting into bonsai and your videos are so helpful and your energy is so relaxing and polite. Thank you for great content and so much information for beginners and long time bonsai growers.
Another great video of your detailed work and advise, I think your Jade tree looks good in the pot you chose. Thats a really nice gollum Jade cutting , I'm imagining the size of the tree it came from! Great to see the new growth coming back on your Ficus, you can sleep better! The viewers pics were really interesting.
I also like your relaxed, easy-going style of video. Watching you go through the psychological process, changing your mind (and why), is very instructional. I have three Jades, three years old - nice thick, thumb-sized trunks so I'm ready to prune them. Much trepidation....I wish you were here to show me Nigel...
Hi Nigel! Maybe you already have the answer about your pot. But I still tell you what I have found. One of the seals on your pot is engraved with " 窦仙大”. I searched for "窦仙大" on the Internet and found one just like yours. It's from the 1950s and costs 4,500 yuan. "1950年代精品宜兴紫砂盆：窦仙大制长方盆"
Awesome! 2 videos in one day. These 2 videos are very good as anyone has access to jades. I myself recently got a jade cutting. I also took 2 leaves off and rooted those as well. Professional...well, so called "professional" bonsai artist don't really see succulents as bonsai but as you said in part 1 they can't be fantastic especially with age and you are so right. I love succulent bonsai. Also just to keep from commenting on both videos and causing 2 notifications haha, I want to say I'm jealous of all the snow! Hete in Tennessee we have had a couple flurries bit that is it. I love the snow and plan someday too move a little farther north. Your back yard is just beautiful! My battery is dieing so...till next time!
That's the beginning of the end. Once you have one of them your house will fill up with every cutting you make. Cause the root so easily I can't trash them. Aweful! ^^
Hi Nigel, Totally agree that the jade presently looks odd. I think it is because the canopy is sparse and the trunk is thick. The trunk is like a elephants leg. It could be the square pot but when the canopy grows you will see the makings of another great bonsai. Another bonsai in transition. At 19:38, that bonsai is a masterpiece. Good job.
I would cut back every branch to one or maximum two leave pairs. It would better I think, especially when it regrows new shootas. By the way, i can't believe this tree is ten years old. Looks like one of mine which are three or four years old.
Its so typical. For the first time today. I did use turface alone as a potting substrat. And I watch your video and you say no to use it alone 🤣 daaang
Thank you for these videos of how to grow jade plants. I'm ,nervously, waiting for my jade plant cuttings to come to life that I planted a few weeks ago. 😓😰
I really like the small repoted jade and I think the pot suits it quite well. But it needs a few years to be in scale with the cheetah in my opinion. Good work as always.
Your comments about some of the characteristics of turface are correct. Also, while it is good at absorbing water it is not good at giving the water up to the roots. It holds on to the water and may even take water from the roots. Have you ever thought about replacing the turface with diatomaceous earth? There are sources for diatomaceous earth that are as inexpensive as turface.
Hello again, this is your neighbor from Brampton. I'm continuing to enjoy your videos, esp the Mars series with you makeshifting a flight cabin, upside down in the passenger side of your car. I meet Connor at the TBA silent auction on Monday night. I recognised him from the presentation on light. I let him know that it help me choose my LED under shelf lighting. He then proceeded to out bid me on what I thought was the prize of the auction, a beautiful English high temp kiln pot. I now thing he is a scoundrel and will be better prepared next time. PS- I still plan to model spme 3D pots and I'd like to share a few general photos with you, but I'm not sure the best method
Hello Ross, Connor is not supposed to have any money after finishing University! I hope the neighbors didn't see me making that video, well at least i don't own a DeLorean. You can send pics to... thekwbonsaisociety@gmail.com
Hello Nigel, pronounced radial surface roots are possible, succulents as they mature produce more woody roots than above ground growth, that is how they outcompete all other plants in their seasonally dry ecosytem...General Rid Stump!!!
Jades my favourite plant to bonsai I seen one in a Chinese fish and chip shop it looked really old I asked if i could have a cutting ,they gave me a small branch it's now a tree which i have too many of my own cuttings from ,you have give me a idea to make a forest mine are planted in cactus soil would your soil mix be better do you think ?? Thank you nigel for your video...
Spring is coming. Maybe you will make a movie where you are looking for some trees in the woods, in the meadow. How do you adapt them to your collection. greetings
Nice work, great way to use up jade cuttings, they're just so easy to root aren't they! Do you have much luck reducing leaf size? I'm wondering if it's a case of defoliating from time to time?
I find the leaf size goes up as the plants grows and the branches get longer. If you are always trimming the plant, you will keep the leaf size down, but the tree might also loose vigor. I prune the leaves off a month before a show and the new leaves grow back smaller, but I don't worry about leaf size otherwise.
That's a lovely collection of Jade Please tell me what potting mix you used Ask there is no compost or soil in it I am from Mumbai where they use a lot of what you called turf, compost sand etc. Your mix is all pebbles like Regards Pervin
I Know Jade plant is not related to Portulacaria Afra.I have 10 big Cuttings Portulacaria Afra I put some Rooting Hormone Im waiting For them to root I hope.I saw you didn’t put any root hormone on Jade plant Big Cutting.Thanks for the nice video
Hey Nigel love your video. But a quick question I just bought a Ficus microcarpa from my local bonsai Garden, and it has black spots on its leaves I did a quick and minor route prune and repot and it has lost about 80% of its leaves they turned yellow and dropped. I live in Florida and the temperature at the moment is around 79 to 80°F humidity level 87. Please if you can help me Nigel that would be amazing I appreciate it.
Hi Nigel, Fan from the UK here! I have my own Jade tree forest planting with 4 trees, they all have fully grown leaves as well as the smaller ones just forming. Do you think it would be beneficial to remove all the bigger leaves to allow new growth to form, or just leave it as it is and let the new growth grow? Thanks and great videos as usual!
It took a while, the plant slowly gained strength throughout the summer. By fall it was finally growing strongly. I left it in full sun and was very careful not to over water. Much of the watering was done by just misting the cutting and the top of the soil. I never watered the soil thoroughly with the watering can until the cutting was growing and the weather was hot and dry.
Hello I am about to get a golden jade and want you to do a new video on this can you try to do a multi stem jade is multi stem jade bonsai potable just some ideas
Hello Nigel, love your videos always informative and interesting...I have seen that you use perlite and turfus as bonsai soil mix and that mix is the most easiest soil mix I have seen for bonsai soil..the thing I wanted to know is that can I use that same soil mix if I am trying to grow bouganvillia or jade...in India? Because climate here is different from there!
A silly question from an amateur starting with bonsais... how do you keep the nutrients in rocky soil? I had Duranta Erecta in rocky soil and no matter how hard I tried to keep it, it was suffering... after I repotted it to mix of sand, clay, peat soil, it´s getting its leaves back and new branches appear all over the old wood. I tried to fertilize the older rocky soil, but apparently it didnt absorb any nutrients... I would like to use the "rocky" soil eventually as it looks nice, but non of my bonsais (old ones or newer experiments) seem to handle it well (after using local forest soil or clay/sand/peat mixed soil, the bonsais are growing nicely) Thank you for any tip, love your videos and looking forward for new one :)
It is possible that the rocky soil you were using was non porous and didn't absorb water and nurients. The water and soil might have just been draining out the bottom. Try mixing 1/2 perlite with your soil and that should help the trees grow well. I use turface as my second ingredient, and it also holds onto water and fertilizer well.
Hi Nigel! Thank you for this video I recently followed these steps for a thick jade cutting of my own. However I do not have high humidity where my cutting is. How often should I water to promote root growth?
Hello Konrad Morawski, I would just lightly mist your Jade and keep the soil quite dry. In between misting, you can place a clear plastic bag over the cuttings. Poke some holes in the bag for a little ventilation and to keep the heat down. The humidity and light misting's, should be enough moisture to grow some really good roots. If you use a bag, be sure not to water your tree or the base of your Jade could rot. Better on the dry side than too wet!
Thank you Nigel for both of these very informative videos. I have inherited 3 jade houseplants and want to make them into bonsais. One has a long trunk with 2 thick branches at the top so would you advise to take a large cutting from the main trunk, let them harden and then repot? Or do I try to encourage branches lower down the trunk? Best wishes, Gail
Colour of pot, find the intermediary colour in the the triad that gives the balance - air as tree spirit, gravel colour as earth element, the pot water element, find the balance using the triad...General Rid Stump!!!
Have you ever try the Qualisorb, diatomaceous earth, to replace the turface. Easy to find at canadian tire, I've got better roots with this product and it's cheap!!!
Love your videos and this one on Jade is perfect for me. I have a larger Jade that I am doing cuttings off in a couple of weeks. I am curious whether you have to let the base of the cutting dry out - why? If this is the case do I just keep the cutting misted for 1-2 weeks?
Hello Kamalani, bonsai soil has a particle size of 3 to 4 mm (1/8") The material absorbs some water but most flows out the bottom of the pot. It is hard to over water a tree in bonsai soil. This porous soil allows for an ideal mix of air and water and can really keep your tree healthy. It is almost like hydroponics. Because there is little nutrients in the soil, the tree needs to be fertilized regularly. This soil also gives you a nice compact fibrous root system that can support a large leafy canopy above. You can grow a tree in potting soil, but it is harder to water and keep your tree healthy. The roots tend not to subdivide and grow into a fine mat of roots. It's the root tips that bring in the water and nutrients to the tree. There are many different recipes for bonsai soil, I try and use local ingredients. My mix is 1/2 perlite and 1/2 turface.
Hi Nigel :) your awesome and have an incredible green thumb! I bought a large Jade plant and trimmed it to a bonsai and put it in a smaller pot. It's day 3 I haven't watered it and some of the leaves are curling a bit should I be concerned? I'm thinking of trying to find some turface and perlite to do what you do. It was in regular looking potting soil with perlite befor.
they only need watering once or twice a month. the soil should dry completely before watering again. almost like, critically dry. lol. nd more perlite/pumice/sand or drainage is always good - jade will root in and on anything. including the bare ground. if you lay the cuttings down and forget about them, they'll find their way. so less soil/more drainage isn't necessarily a bad thing for succulents :-) I always add extra drainage to all pre-made soil mixes.
Kind of disappointed with your choice of placement for the big jade cutting. The one-sidedness would have made it a cool slanted style tree, and if you had put it at about 45 degrees to the direction of the slant, if you know what I mean, I think you might not have had to prune so much off after planting. Also now you have those branches that are both v-shaped and parallel to each other and I noticed you didn't prune the 1-to-3 division at the top of the main leader
My mom had a jade for over 35 years and it bloomed once. I also saw one in Japan in bloom. And one other in at the Florida State Fair about 15 years ago.
I use bonsai soil and even with bonsai soil, I have to be careful not to leave the succulent bonsai out in the rain, if it is rainy for a couple of days in a row. I have gotten root rot where the trunk goes soft and mushy from too much rain combined with cool cloudy days. I bring my succulents in out of the rain now and bring them back to the benches when the rain has stopped.
Hello all i love these plants! Could someone please tell me what soil he uses for the "Crassula Ovata" Jade plant. It looks like small rocks only as soil? Im sorry my English is not my main language ive watched these videos about jade's twice and i couldnt find what soil he uses for this particular jade bonsai tree :( Thanks and greetings from The Netherlands
Hey Nigel, love your videos! I was just wondering if you have ever had any experience with Lantana shrubs? I have it in my tropical plant room and it really needs to be repotted but i am unsure as to when, seasonally, is the best time and i cannot find a lot of info on this tree at all. Would you suggest repotting as long as it is kept warm and out of direct light or waiting until later in the spring?
Hello John, I have had one in the past and it grew well for many years, I would ask Hong at the KW bonsai FaceBook page. He has had a really nice one for many years, he would be the best person to ask! facebook.com/kwbonsaisociety/
I think it is almost impossible to graft a Jade. It can be done, but the strength of the junction is always in question and the success rate is very, very low. I think the plant will get lots of new leaves and branches on it and I should have lots of choices in the future for more pruning!
I like the rectangle pot for the Cheetah Jade. Do you ever use cinnamon to seal cuttings, esp. in the root zone? I don't think Jades make that nice a bonsai, but you make them look so good. :-)
I think Cinnamon is just a natural fungicide. Put it on all the cuts wait 24 hours and then apply glue. You can let the glue dry before planting in soil or just poke it in there. I don't think any succulent should be watered before it starts growing new growth even if it has been left to heal over. But I could be wrong!!!
@@alicer3423 The way I use cinnamon is to dip the cut stem into the powder lightly and then leave to dry. The healing is faster this way and there is less chance for rot. I still observe caution when watering a plant with cuts. Where I live in CO plants dry rather quickly so it rarely takes more than a day or two.
