For those concerned about how 'natural' grafting is, trees of many species that are growing very close together will fuse.Interesting about the history of horticultural techniques, but ground-layering would have had to predate air -layering. Many species do this without human assistance, and our ancestors were a much more observant bunch than we are.
Great video. I'm excited to see what happens to the tree in the future. so jealous of your growing season.....ours is finished, done, bye bye till next May, April if we are lucky.
True, but that doesn't stop the wasps/yellow-jackets from checking-out all my figs/ficus!! Is this a regular benji or a "benjamina, too-little" variety? I ask because I've only worked w/ real benji's, but i've got 4 medium, 2 small trees on my bench of "benjamina 'too little' cultivar" ficus and am just stuck with what to do w/ it......If you grow ficus over something, wherein the aerials are draped-over the thing and going into the soil, and these aerial roots fuse-together *and* fully-drape the thing you planted-over, does this aerial-root-tissue basically "become trunking"? I kinda asked this in a thread over on /r/bonsai earlier today & tagged you in it ;) Thanks for the awesome vids, as always, it's "ficus week" here and am having fun but fearful I'm wayyy off base w/ some of what I'm doing, had to un-do a whole wiring after realizing there was a better way to shape it...ugh! ((And, have to say it- thanks A MILLION for all you do man, you're not only the reason I am a practicing artist today but, in the half decade since I found your (awesome/amazing!)site, I've found SOOO much help from you via your articles, videos here on youtube, and your posts on reddit....you really are bonsai-royalty man I wish I could somehow repay all the value I've gotten from you, it's awesome you just put it all out there instead of paywalling it like Bonsai Mirai! Oh and btw I just learned that Erik Wigert's super-popular 'ole Bougie was, in fact, *your* stock initially....gotta say I'm just made-of-questions insofar as *why* you'd be giving him materials like that!! Don't get me wrong I want Erik to have tons of awesome trees but, jeesh, he must own 10-->1000X as many as you do so it was weird finding his famous bougie was actually one of yours :P ))
Hi Adam, you got lots beautiful trees there i congrats you! My question is about air pruning, recently i found out about that and i'm experimenting with one of my small trees, but too early to get into any conclusions so did you try it earlier and if yes how it went? Does it speeds up the growth?
I love your videos. the video shows the size of your nursery that can't be seen from the blog. what type of soil are you using? it looks different from the soil you use for finished bonsai.
Eugene Brown that is my growing mix for non bonsai pots. It's one half perlite, one half pine bark potting soil. It's very porous but will hold nutrients and water.
GREAT VIDEO AS USUAL, CAN I ASK WHAT THE GOOPY LOOKING STUFF IN THE LAST CLOSE UP OF THE TREE IS? LOOKS LIKE NEOSPORIN LMAO..... AND DO YOU PUT IT ON AFTER THE FUSION ? AND DID YOU USE ANY BEFOR YOU PUT THEM TOGETHER?
The graft is really cool, but that tree looked pretty good to start with. A little more of a temperate tree look than a tropical, but a nice look. Broadleaf trees also get scars and holes... Though traditionally not the young Japanese maples that represented women to the Japanese (as the Japanese black pine stood for the samurai, if I remember correctly). That's cool, but ficus isn't a Japanese species, eh?Love your videos. Hope you do more on different species. Thanks!
For those concerned about how 'natural' grafting is, trees of many species that are growing very close together will fuse.Interesting about the history of horticultural techniques, but ground-layering would have had to predate air -layering. Many species do this without human assistance, and our ancestors were a much more observant bunch than we are.
Kurisuchan good and cheap tend to not go together. There's good and too expensive though. Kiku classics and Joshua Roth intermediate are good. I use American bonsai tools mostly though.
ToughLuck808 that's a good question. The idea of the growbox with holes in it is supposed to be above ground so when the roots begin to grow out the holes, they get pruned by the air. This air pruning keeps the roots from encircling the interior of the box and speeds growth. Some commercial tree growers in the landscape trade do partially bury the pots in the ground. They use a brand called The Accelerator. We in bonsai use colander, aquatic plant pots, even homemade boxes with screen as the sides.
