Hey, just found your channel today. I really like your way to film and present, quiet awesome! Such a pitty your last upload was 1 year ago, i hope you´re keeping up with bonsai and filming it. Really nice and awesome work with a lot of effort .. greetings from germany
I have textbook knowledge of plants, and I have done well caring for easier houseplants. I see the mass produced bonsai at the store, and one day I couldn’t help myself. I saw many plants labeled only “bonsai” on the outside portion of the closest garden center. It was cold and had rained heavily many days that week, and I couldn’t help but try to save one of these poor trees. I knew that bonsai trees can be very difficult, but I had no idea how difficult it could be until I came home and researched more. I hope I can save this bonsai tree that I now know is a Fukien Tea tree. If I can find an experienced home for it, I will, although I live in a rural small town so that is unlikely. Thank you for helping me better understand the amazing art, and I hope I can allow this small and sad tree to one day thrive healthily.
Bonsai Talk it is now set up in a sunny window with a humidifier and all other appropriate conditions that I am aware of. I know this can be an unforgiving bonsai, so let’s hope there isn’t too much damage already done to it!
Excellent video ! Our Bonsai is with fig trees, lemon trees, papaya, grape vines, olive trees and fragrant ... roses. Very different but very beautiful. Greetings from Greece.
Just pruned my friends Bonsai, without her knowing!..... 'lay me on hot coals !'. To be fair she would never know, she was surprised to see a small flower (as was I) after she has been away for a couple of weeks... all I did was water it a bit. All I know is you water it when the soil feels dry, keep it out of direct light (Bonsai Talk has kindly put me straight), When you water it the water must be room temp and you must 'whaft the water on the plant' rather than just shove it under a slow running tap. I did two out of those three. When pruning my first tree (in incognito mode you understand) I really quite enjoyed it. Small clips of tiny branches to strengthen the shape of the whole tree, that's the point right?... thinking of how it might grow, if I clip this small leaf will it give energy to this leaf and tiny branch, improve the shape in, let's say in a year or so? Have I made a right arse of it? Long reply...sorry. After pruning I went on youtube Bonsai. You came up. Fantastic vid, thank you. I have a Sirissa. Learnt so much. Cheers sunshine
Nice video! I’ve had a Chinese elm and juniper that I saved from Walmart now for 3 years now and just purchased another set of 3 Chinese elms I love those little trees, I know your video says they were hard for beginners but mine felt like it was fairly forgiving of my errors
What sets this video apart from all others is that it tells the beginner truly what they need to know. All of these other videos about pruning and wiring are not where the beginner should start. The first hurdle in bonsai is being aware that you have to learn to keep the trees alive once you have gotten them home, and that you may kill a lot of trees. That is what people need to be instructed in. I bought my first bonsai from a nursery and proceeded to kill it once it got home. I will never buy another bonsai, but rather collect them from nature. My advice is to get several specimens of one or two types of trees (I only do maples and pines) and to focus on keeping them alive.Great video...thanks.
Thank you so much Patrick Tracy - Our mission, our quest was too do exactly as you describe things. We felt that there is way too bad information out there, *especially* for the newbeginners when it comes to Bonsai as a subject, but also they way videos are represented and presented here on RU-vid. We tried to be as specific as one can be and cover the most important parts in the very start with Bonsai...I'm glad it gave you that effect, and hope you stay here for more...
My friend, you may have been talking about Bonsai, but with your experience and knowledge you are indeed a mighty oak. Thank you for sharing your wisdom 🙂👍
Well.. i think of it this way.. just because something is "easy" doesnt mean it's complex and has deep layers of understanding.. and "easy" is a question of defintion. Happy new year my friend, bonsai on!
Bonsai. Im on my early 50s. And beginning to choose my hobby as i get older. - presently im learning to play golf. (driving range) - table tennis - hiking - fishing - and now, bonsai !! 😅 (i just gave up playing tennis and basketball, bad knee) - so adding bonsai to my hobbies is realistic. Bansai!!!!
one of the best bonsai intros I've seen. Thank you. I'm more of a succulent enthusiast myself, so a jade bonsai is most likely for me to pursue, however, I am also trying with a pelargonium.... anyway, thank you :)
Good information, but I disagree with many of the comments praising the graphics. The segment animation (hand drawing the titles) is slow and aggravating. If you need to have the separate sections (I mean several of the segments are no more than 20 seconds), just display the section title. I'm here to learn (which I did), not to watch a cartoon draw section headings.
Awesome video! All the information needed for a beginner to consider before bonsaying :D I would love to hear some details about coniferous, juniper, pines, cedars etc. Good job, keeping going!
I find your videos so informative and thorough! Especially, I love the little bit at the end where you go through different bonsai trees, what they need and how hard they are to grow. I used to have Chinese Elm but had to leave it with my folks when moved. I am currently looking to grow bonsai trees from seed. So I'd like to get it right from the start. I'm looking at Wisteria, Red Maple, Flame tree, Judas tree and Japanese Black Pine. Do you think you could make a video about those five as well? It would be so super helpful just to have a snippet of the trees' requirements!
Well thank you Mr. Conn... I used to work as graphic designer yes, but alot of it is just hard work and experiments with software. We really wanted this one to stand out and be smooth, easy, fun, but packed with facts and info.
Superior tutorial video. Very well and professionally presented with much value added information. I am a senior and the information you provided is thorough and a perfect introduction to Bonsai. Thank you, very much appreciated.
Do you always complain about things you get for free? If you don’t like it go watch something else. No point on kicking a man for trying to help. Don’t be a dick.
Great video. Thank you so much!! I just bought the Jade bonsai tree. I am glad I made the right choice. Saved your video for future reference. Thanks again!
Of course with my luck I would begin with a hard bonsai plant without knowing it, Serissa. lol My wife liked how it looked so we bought it. unfortunately we are going through a lot with our living situation and I have to keep it indoors with little light exposure until we find a new place to live...I am determined to bring back all the fallen leaves and the color to the leaves that have survived so far. It's motivating that there are 2 little sprouts growing quickly from opposite ends in the pot. I'm glad I'm finding all this info though. I've been watching Nigel Saunders on and off for a couple years and recently found Herons bonsai, I'm going to put in that time it takes to learn and make this happen!
Dang all the cool looking trees are hard to grow, I think I will start with Jade. I still have to learn more and wait till I get some more free time, but I should start before the end of the year, I have to try this. My past plants all died, but I think it will be different with bonsai, I am 5 years older since my first cactus died, I think I can give it enough care and want to try out something new.
Really nice video and beautiful and understandable information. I am a follower of your channel now. I live in California and am ready to learn more and more about the bonsai world. Martin
Nice Video just a small addition from my side: When it comes to the light, not only the Lux degree is important, but also the degree of warmth measured in kelvin should be taken into account. Plants use only light with a special wave length for their photosynthesis. While growing for example 6500 Kelvin is the optimum they can grow with. Light with over 10000 for example is as dark as the night blue so they cant process it.
Nice clarification, that's true.. We wanted this clip to be as factual and precise as possible without going into any details that are unlikely, I can safely say that there are very few artifical lightsources that are beeing sold as growing lights that have 10.000 kelvin or more (dark blue light).. Because 2500k around there is for Flowering phase...6500k is for normal growth/growing i reckon, and higher values like 9500k is for seedlings and early stages.. So you will often find *only* those values 2500, 6500 and the highest 9500k.
I just got a small olive tree and it is in organic soil. The tree has several small olives. Should I wait until the fall to transplant in non organic soil? Would you consider this an easy, medium or hard plant for a beginner? I plan to have it outside. I live in So. California on the coast. I enjoyed your video thanks
What's up Michael.. Welcome to BT. Youre in Cali? If you have warm weather all year long you could probably repot it now.. But make a slippot *don't disturb the roots* Olives want cooler dormancy periods tho (sort that out) , but not frost..
Bro i just bought a kit not knowing what i got myself into.. after your video im feeling confident and excited...still habe more research to do but great vid boss!
Oh my goodness...in the beginning of the video when you knocked on the computer screen, I literally JUMPED!!!...scared the jeepers out of me...LOL. Nice video. Thanks.
Very enjoyable video it has shed a lot of light on the subject, But what I would like to know is which out door bonsai would you recommend for a beginner.
Wow so glad I happened to see your name on another video u commented on. Great video. I’m new to the Art of Bonsai and And found your video to be very interesting and informative. I like your format I kept my interest and I learned a few thingsHe specifically referred to indoor growing and care. I live in a tropical climate and plan to keep them outside so most of these trees you mention would do well
Eexxxcccellent video! Would you consider other videos as a beginners guides such as soil, fertilizing, making fertilizer cakes, wiring, prunning techniques like on different kinds of foliage for intended growth...etc. ALL your videos ARE great! Also dedicate videos to types/groups of trees like conifers, tropicals...etc. Happy New Year from Mily in Florida.
Hey Mily! Nice too see you here... We have videos like that, *have you watched our older content?, you really should go do that now* It's packed with facts, advices and things like that..
Wow this video gave me good knowledge. Cool video and info. I am strating twin trunk green island ficus bonsai (Chinese banyan). As in india 🇮🇳goa there lot of rain 🌧and it's going to 🌧 for next 3 months which will ancourage new arial roots and days are hot humid now. Banyan is a good bonsai for rain areas I feel.
Damn what an awesome work with the editing on the video. Very pleasing to watch! I have experience with aquascaping making miniature worlds underwater. I hope this experience will help me with growing my first bonsai tree. We also use aqua soil sort of akadama but with lots of NPK and micros in it. Thank you very much and keep up the (hard) work.
I had some little juniper sprouts that were growing in a crack in my driveway. They were going to die where they were. I dug them up to see if I could relocate them. I think I may turn them into some bonsais.
I'm trying to have a rosemary that is bonsai instead of just being an indoor rosemary plant. I want it smaller, more aesthetically pleasing, and I want to keep it by my kitchen window so that I can flavor pork and chicken with it. It's also probably decent for beginners because it's easy to propagate and it gets flaky bark. I was thinking I might try to cut it like a small Christmas tree, but now that it's the 29th I'm like "eh... hah." "" I really like rosemary, but it dies in my area. I've kept one plant going now for 3 years by taking cuttings and repotting the cuttings and leaving the mother plant to die. This year, I dug up the bigger mother plant that was a cutting from the previous year, and I potted it in my patio. So far it's alive still and I also took another cutting and am keeping it in a smaller pot. I should definitely break up some bricks and rocks to make some inorganic soil. Can I feed them with beer and coffee? I'm trying to do everything extra cheap.
Fukien Tea listed as Hard, and P. Afra listed as Easy. I've been having the opposite experience lol. Last year, my Fukien Tea was knocked off the bench no less than twice last summer and had to be repotted. This was after repotting in the spring with root pruning. That tree never dropped leaves and is still going strong right now; constantly putting out its white flowers and new shoots. I live in 4b climate zone, and it's in a south facing window with a (new) LED grow light bar. Right next to that is my P. Afra. My P. Afra - I got that tree in September. It dropped about half of its leaves right away. Fine, i expected that from shipping. Then the days started getting shorter and shorter, and the leaves have been dropping one by one. Figured could be a root issue. Repotted into inorganic bonsai mix i use for all my trees. Leaves still dropping. It's in the window next to my Fukien Tea. South Facing window. Confirmed temperature never dropped below 60. Still dropping leaves. Humidity tray. Still dropping leaves. Now I figured the issue might be lighting, so that's when I bought the LED grow light bar. It has maybe 15 leaves left on it, but they're not dropping anymore lol. Hopefully i got it worked out, and now my Fukien Tea, Jades, Ficus, and Serissa get more light too from installing the light bar haha. I've heard many times that P. Afra is easy. Well, I have found that no tree is easy. Each tree has different needs that you need to be aware of. What's good for one, isn't always good for another. Just because a tree is supposed to be "easy", doesn't mean it will be for you. Just learn from your mistakes, and do your best to care for the trees. Learn everything you can about them.
Well you are a minority and congratulations on keeping that Fukien Tea alive (even after accidents)! *However, Remember, evaluating the situation within the timespan of only 4 months is not valid data for Bonsai, it's insufficient with time to really tell anything about the trees final destiny and future health status, mayby you need a year atleast to really understand what you are doing right / wrong, some trees takes years to fully understand and how to evalute their cycle* Succulents are by far easier for a complete newbeginner. if we look on the broader scale of things in bonsai horticulture...I agree also on your personal journey and how that can differ from individual to individual.. we all have different experiences with our trees, of course and your climate might be the reason why you can cultivate carmona with ease. Once again, Thanks, interesting subject // BT-crew
Problems with jades most often stem from over-watering them. The leaves should "deflate" and even shrivel a bit before watering. You don't mention watering in your comment, which is why I bring it up. :D
@@artao5 I didn't know if watering were the issue or not. When I got the tree it was planted in peat. When I repotted it, it was dried out in the middle. I know that peat has a water-repelling effect when it fully dries out. So I repotted into my bonsai mix of 1/1/1 DE/Lava/Pumice.
Wow, very good video and very interesting, although I do not agree with your inorganic materials. You can easy mix sand and sifted potting mix (to keep ony the smallest parts) for them to grow in (I use a kids beach sand sifter for this), it gives them food and good drainige. I usualy use 1/3 sand and 2/3 sifted potting mix. And to get rid of the soil where you buy them in, I missed in your video. I usualy use a bucket of water and put them in there and move the root system of the tree around in it to wash out all the old soil. I poke the dirt with a small thin skewer (don't know if that word is right but google gave me this as a translation. Its a small bamboo stick we use here to stick meat and vegetables on for the bbq) to help it get lose and when almost all of the dirt is gone I plant them in my mix and keep them in the shade for a long time so they can adept and grow new roots into my soil. This usualy works fine.
Really appreciate your thorough explanation of bonsai. Question: Can you help me with jasmine bonsai? The leaves are huge. How do I make a bonsai from it? I know it can be done. I've trimmed the roots 2x, and each time, it gives about 5 new growths/branches. I've trimmed according to the 12 bonsai rules just recently, and it doesn't seem bushy. What to do from here? When should I fertilize?
Frankly i'm not a Jasmine bonsai expert, sorry. General rule is to *never* give a tree fertilizer when it's repotted or newly pruned... the roots can take damage from salt-build-up inside of the fertliizers..Wait until you see new strong growth, then you can start fertilizing.
Thank you very much, i bought a Carmona at my local shop this afternoon and would like to ask you a question about it if i may. The tree has sticky leaves and has these small white/greyish balls on it. I believe that they are small insects on top and under the leaves. Should i remove these? (also i wish that i hadn't fallen in love with this one since it was aparantly a very hard one to tend to... whoops.) thank you in advance, A beginner bonsai owner.
Vin are they little spheres? Or are they small dots/ specs on the leaves themselves? Because I also own a Carmona, and these trees always have small specs/ dots on their leaves. Nothing unusual!! People often think it’s due to insects or fungus, but it’s normal for a Carmona!!
Vin hm very interesting. Yea maybe some kind of aphid/ spider egg sac/ any kind of insect eggs. I would definitely remove them, as they may hatch and damage the leaves of the plant! Just be mindful when you’re removing them. Maybe remove a few initially and see what happens to the plant to determine what affect this would have. If the plant seems fine after taking a few off (undamaged, etc.) then I would say pull the rest off. Definitely seems likely that it’s some sort of insect that may feed on the leaves!
Thank you for your video! I live in Norway, and I planted a oak tree and I want to keep it very small and indoors. It's about 10 cm now, very thin stem, growing fast. How do I go about to do this? Thank you so much for answering if you have the time.
One major issue, don't look for lux because lux is a measure of how much light your eyes use, plants use a different kind of light measured by PAR, not LUX. If lux is all you have then it's a tolerable alternative but getting a par rating for your lights is much better.
First i had 50% organic soil, then i saw one of your old videos and reduced it to 30%, but i think i will reduce it to around 20-25% now. :) Thanks for another great video.
Happy new year Petter... Only trees growing outdoors we add lets say 10% at tops to our trees, and when we do it.. it's always chipped bark. When it comes to our indoortrees we have 0%.. So the risk of rootrot, pests, mold, waterlogged trees are minimum.
Any sources on specific tips for specific tree species? I just started to care for a cypress. In a very dry and generally warm but not hot indoor climate.
Thank you my german (?) friend. Just got my little bonsai friend and was wondering how to mantain it properly. It appears i got the first "hard" one, hope it doesn't die lol
Good video about indoor bonsai, but to be honest, I was more interested in not just commercial bonsai from China, so unfortunately I was slightly disappointed. Still, a good and informative video about imported indoor bonsai.
Any tips for a wrightia religiosa. i know very little about gardening and bonsai and this responsibility was sort of thrown on me but i am determined to make this work and have a healthy plant.
are lights like, 100% necessary? are some species able to grow with just like, sitting by a window with the normal lights on? id be willing to move them around each day and stuff but idk if i can set up a light and all that.
"Normal lights" will not do anything.. Nothing. Only sunlight produces good photosynthesis. This is a hard question to answer because there are so many answers to it. This all depends on where you live and exactly how your microclimate looks. Necessary or not - Extra artificial lights are very good, especially in the winter months.
Wow... It's like beginner's guide with good information. Good video after long gap fro bonsai talk. Will you suggest some plants to grow in tropical area like Bangalore India.
Thank you Mr. Joshi.. Since you are living in India you can almost grow any semi / tropical species that you can get your hands on... you guys have perfect conditions and climate, especially if you live close to the countryside, rural places..
