How to Make a Bonsai From a Garden Center Tree 

Surprisingly I don't really know who Bob Ross is but I'll check out more of his work. I heard there was a good documentary about him on Netflix

@@BonsaiSociety Or just find his old PBS show in You Tube vids. He was the gentle uncle so many of us grew up with, even if we never actually painted :) Thanks for your content. The Bob Ross comparison is definitely a compliment!

@@BonsaiSocietyDavid, Bob Ross was an amazing landscape painter that was known for his “happy little trees”, and his very impressive Afro. He has his own channel on Roku TV, you should definitely check it out…

This is the best form of recognition anyone can offer me

Don't get to crazy with it as bonsai is a hobby that often borderlines an obsession. There's a right time of year for almost everything. So if you go buy a tree right now and do all these things to it this close to winter it likely wouldn't make it .So buy some trees learn to care for them while their in a pot and watch them flourish for a while and by the time repotting season comes you will likely be ready to tackle that hurdle . There's some great books out there like rhs wisely handbooks bonsai and also Brooklyn botanical gardens bonsai book

@@MikeHunt-lz2hq so when is the right time to buy a tree to bonsai? 🤔

@@bonsaibaby8257 you can buy a tree any time you want to but in bonsai there's a saying and the saying goes there's a season and a reason for everything. So if you buy a tree close to winter don't try to style it and prune it and reduce the roots all at once bc the tree will likely die . These things take time .from nursery tree to styled and potted bonsai is a very lengthy journey and the process should span the period of 5 or more years . Buy a tree look at it for a few years see how it grows and what it likes or more like what it takes to make that tree thrive . After a couple years of getting familiar with said tree by now you should have a vision of a style or form that best suits that tree so now in the coming years it's time to take action to make your vision come to life. If the tree is healthy start with the top of the tree the canopy and thin it out and pick some branches that will stay or maybe decide if you want to build taper if there is none if you want to build taper you will cut the tree down to the lowest branch and turn the branch into a new leader wire it upright if it's not already. After that the tree will need to heal for a while . A year or two at least. Now after that's done and healing period has lapsed it's time to work on the roots bc a balance must be struck between top and bottom. If it's a pine or other conifer youll want to slowly reduce the roots bit by bit one step per one year with a healing year in between . After you've reduced your roots to fit into a bonsai pot with bonsai soil (the rocky stuff) now its time to work on ramifications of the branches and bifurcation on the roots this is the refinements process that is the purpose of the small pot and rocky soil to better aid in refinement. All this can't be done until your tree is at least 5 or more years old depending on what size of bonsai you want . If you want a larger tree you'll want a really thick trunk three inches around or more at least . If you take a seedling and put it into a small pot with rocky soil you'll end up with a really skinny poor looking tree 20 years later which is okay for one style iltari anything else patience is key also root work Nd potting is done in spring major pruning and trunk cuts are done in late fall or winter in most cases . Maintenance pruning can be done anytime in the spring to summer just be careful not to prune off flower buds.

@@BonsaiSociety Hi ! I like the way you present your videos and your trees are beautiful. May I know how do you keep your junipers in winter? Pls let me know.

Thanks Walter! It's been almost 40 years that I've been teaching bonsai at the Montreal Botanical Garden's school of horticulture

Thanks it will be coming slowly but surely

Thanks for your encouragement Jay

@@BonsaiSociety thanks David, I couldn't help but realize the PW white pot in the background. Proven winner is what it means, ya must be Canadian eh!!! Sheridan. Awesome job and I've subscribed to your channel... Cheers bud

My son does an incredible job on the content creation side!

Hi Vladimir I'm glad you found me on RU-vid. Keep in touch

@@BonsaiSociety Yes I will!! Can't-miss such great videos

That's really nice of you Giancarlo

Thanks Sally! Glad you made it to my RU-vid page as well

Yeah! Buy one tree! Buy several trees! That's the exciting thing about this

Thank you this is what I've been doing throughout my entire career

Merci d'être parmi nous!

Sometimes it just all comes together at the last moment! 😁

Thank you for watching Manu!

Were you able to get one yet?

Thanks Cass!

Good solid instructions and very helpful indeed!

Calm is key!! 😂

Yes perfect I will try! But given the young age of the channel I can't do too many follow-ups

You are correct. You need to heat it and then just let it cool. If you heat it and then cool it rapidly it will Temper it which is Hardening it. I've done plenty of blacksmithing and have used copper also.

Tools come later first all you need are trees and water and a place to keep them that's not inside . After you have learned to care for a tree for a season and fimd out what they like and dislike then tackle tools and styling .its estimated that around 80 percent of bonsai trees or trees bought for bonsai in general don't live past the first two months simply bc overzealous bonsai enthusiast buy evry tool known to man and every gauge of wire and they take this newly bought tree and apply 500 years worth of styling techniques in the wrong season and the trees suffer .

But you will need knob cutters long handled bonsai scissors jin pliers concave cutters wire cutters and some wire there are other tools as well but those are the basics that should get you started .stainless are best bc they won't rust and they do need cleaned after every use as to not pass infections and fungus

With bonsai slow and steady wins the race it is easy to get started but hard to resist the temptation to mutilize every tree you come into contact with lol I kno this from experience but everyone kills a few trees it's normal so if you get started and don't do all the things I said not to do and the tree still dies it's okay don't get discouraged

@@MikeHunt-lz2hq thank you Mike

Sure I'll do a follow-up video in spring when it's repotted in its real pot. Not the one used in the video to give you an idea of the finished result

Yes they gave me a deep discount

I'll leave it outside. Ideally the best time to work a conifer is during the late fall and winter months but a lot of the branches were dead so I didn't remove that much actually and we had to let the light in to let the tree survive.

@@BonsaiSociety thank you for replying. Lots to learn! Really enjoy your videos. Your experience shows!

Have you started with any trees yet?

@@KitakuBonsai a couple of juniper procumbens, a few small native pines, and a few Chinese elms. The elms are just saplings at the moment, so just working on getting them a little stronger for next year.

@@rmmc99 sounds great! I’m hunting for some medium sized Chinese junipers for a Tanuki project this year.

Ooooh, that sounds fun! What is the main thing you look for in a Chinese juniper when it comes to starting a Tanuki? I've always thought they looked beautiful when done well, but I don't think I'm ready to try.

@@rmmc99 for my current project I’m looking for 2 things - foliage color, I want a vibrant green like a itoigawa, and size because the 2 deadwood’s I have for the grafts are massive