(10/19/13)-Justin Jackson, a bonsai enthusiast and owner of Big Air Tree Care, joins us to demonstrate how to start a bonsai from a containerized plant.
I did the same thing with a juniper, it looked pretty good, now I have rosemary bonsai tree that grew from a cutting, it looks very realistic specially the bark, It is starting to look like an ancient Bristlecone pine. Rosemary works great to get that kind of look
Excellent, informative video. Nice to see gentle care as you're working with your new plant. I've watched several videos where they pull the plant out and start chopping top first without visualizing for future growth. Then chopping the roots just makes me ill. I really appreciated your technique. Thanks for sharing.
+OklahomaGardening yah!!!your welcome,im going to built my new house sooner this year so im planning to grow bonzai and try to do myself.,.and hoping for a better snd amazing results....now im very happy and dreaming how my new house look like with those bonzai around it....😁
Starting a bonsai from seed is the long way around. Selecting a likely prospect from the shrubs for sale at a local nursery or garden center is probably the best way for a beginner to start.
I read years ago that we need to cut the tap root and ensure that the plant grows fibrous roots. I don’t see you mentioning anything of that sorts. Is that a myth?
I'm new to the hobbie. I would love some additional conversation about this particular bonsai. From everything I've read and been tought specifically about Junipers is you shouldn't remove more than 1/3-1/2 of the foliage? Then I've been told you shouldn't trim, wire, and repot all in the same day? I get he's doing a tutorial for a small segment but I would have appreciated that input from him if you should wait weeks or even months in-between each of these processes? Having said all of this I would love to know if the tree made it!! I think what I'm going to do is go buy a 2-gallon juniper and do all of this asap and see what happens! Maybe it'll be a good learning experience? Regardless, I'm thinking it will give me some hands-on with trimming and wiring. I do have a small "bonsai" Juniper now that was purchased from big-box store. I trimmed it ever so slightly and letting it grow. It's been 1.5mo now. Planning on waiting many more months before I wire it up.
i dont make a habit of trashing other people's bonsais because beauty is in the eye of the beholder. However, this video is riddled with mistakes left and right that may lead to non-bonsai enthusiasts to be mislead. For one your wiring is sloppy. Its not even tight against the branches so its not even doing what its intended to do which is shape the branches. Secondly there are alot of downward secondary/tertiary growth that needs to be removed. Also junipers are somewhat sensitive to stress so chopping off limbs plus doing a full repot in one session is adding incredible amounts of stress to the tree. It would be better to prune the tree and wire it but let it rest a few weeks before repotting.
I have a ³ foot tall Norfolk Island Pine,and I wanted to know what I cann do to keep it the size it is now.And also I have a bare root bamboo plant, and was wondering how,or if, I could miniturize it.
How long does it take for a nursery Juniper Parsanii to recover from a transplant from a nursery stock pot and for me to start pruning and working on it?
hi i have the same bonsai tree but is dead already well that is what it looks like and i assume because is yellow. so i would like to know if there is a possibility that i can rescue it.
important to remember, remove an equal 2/3'rds roots to the amount of top u remove .. that will let the roots die off a little bit, but have enough root to leaf ratio when re potting.
Sassy TheSpear You seem Knowledgeable about this kind of thing, I air layered a juniper back in the spring and it's time for me to harvest it. Do I need to let it grow for a while in a regular pot or can I go directly to a shallow ornamental pot
I find that the roots were done too hastily. A lot of root stack out of pot. Also the bottom of tree wasnt cut flat enough. Its the starting of root training. So yoy shoyld make sure no roots griw from bottom of plant anylonger. Only to sides.
What happens to those big white spots where you chopped branches off against the trunk. Will it look like a "tree" in a few years, or will it always look like a butchered juniper bush?
Thanks, I work in the garden department of Home Depot and checked Lowe's and other hardware stores and greenhouses. Online is probably my best bet. There's 7 dollar junipers at work I want to experiment with.
dabigdikdangler You probably wont find many pots in Home Depot. But you will find a good selection of trees. Don't forget pay by scan and one year warranty means you can get creative and just return the tree if it does not pull through. For wire, building materials has annealed aluminum wire in a couple different thicknesses. For soil media our Home Depot carries chicken grit, and pavers base. The chicken grit is decomposed granite and the pavers base is just cobble stone, a quick sift and all you would need is a timed release fertilizer and another soil component to retain water and nutrients. And lastly also available in garden is fertilizers and hormones. Hormones such as Auxins or Cytokinins can also be found in the fertilizer isle. Given the nature of bonsai soil it is important to note that if you decide to use inorganic soil then you would most probably want to steer away from fertilizers high in Urea as they work much better in soils with high organic matter. Hope this helps! I too work at THD.
Nice work, loved how you shaped that tree. I am just starting on bonsai, I think I almost killed an 18 years old Chinese Elm. It lost all its leaves, but it starting to regrow them, with new branches. I think it might have been the heat in my apartment, I know it is supposed to be outdoors, but I live in the city so I am trying to get it to survive here, I also have a young juniper tree and just planted some cherry blossom trees. Any tips to keep these alive indoors?
+Glen Saltos Since they're still technically trees it's not recommended you grow them indoors. We suggest trying to model the outdoor environment, placing it by a window and let it be outdoors as much as possible.
+Glen Saltos Chinese elm or lack bark elm can be grown inside in the winter months too be an evergreen, tropical tree you need very good lighting grow lights or it can be a deciduous tree which mean in the winter the leave fall off,.
Terry Dean Thanks for advice, it is difficult to keep it in my apartment. Not sure this elm is going to make it, it keeps losing leaves and regrowing them. What kind of grow lights do you recommend?
+Glen Salto yes I understand about living in an apartment little to know space for trees. You can go to Walmart, Menards, Lowes,and Home Depot in the lighting department you'll see all the lights, look for grow lights or plant light there priced about 6.00 to 7.00 dollars for the large bulb or $4 for the single small bulbs..... I've use them both in the past, and they did the job. As of now im experimenting using 6500 Kelvin 60 watts daylight bulbs 4 bulbs for $6 at Walmart. I have my tree's by patio door and I leave the lights on them about 15 hours a day and it seem to be doing the job I need. If your on facebook friend me @ Terry Dean I can inbox you some photos of mines
***** We would recommend going to you garden center and finding just a regular chinese juniper. Or one that looks like it'll be easy to work with and handle.
Hi, I have a schefflera arboricola bonsai that I purchased from a home depot store a few month ago. The plants lost all the leaves and the branches started to die. I think it may have gotten a bit dried out when I went away for five days. So I trimmed all the dead bits and kept watering hoping the roots were still alive. a week later trimmed the truck which was dried out. About 1 week later I bought a fertilizer for it and watered it about 1 week ago with the fertilizer. I just found it with mould on the trunk and so dug out the root. The roots all had a shell on the top that slid off and looks like mould under it. I think it is dead, but put the root back in with the soil for now. Please help! Is the bonsai dead or alive? What am I doing wrong?
well, it too late now, buy for future reference when purchasing a bonsai tree from Walmart, Home Depot,and Lowes I've learned the hard way that you have to repot them as some and possible. For the one reason is that their potting soil isn't that great and the root root bound you can purchase bonsai soil from a bonsai nursery or make your own mix. I some of my Bonsai tree's from Walmart home depot ect...... the Fukin tea, tree and repot them the same day I make my own soil mix.
I like how you can do this to the plants but I wish that they can grow natural like this and also I some time just let the plants grow on there own and not even tuch it
I am a novice, brand new at this, would please advice me, as to how to begin, and the tools, or show me to a place that can lead me, thank you for your video, Sincerely Rick
How come no one ever explains what the wiring is supposed to do ? I know that it's to train the branches, but train them to do what exactly ? Grow in a specific direction or way ? It would be good if you explained it a bit in depth in the video
+Levkin It's to train the branches to follow a certain direction as opposed to letting them grow in directions that may cause issues or aesthetic problems.
Bonsai annoy me. Everytine i look the leaves are falling or its dying. It has good soil and light and care. What is it with bonsai. Im close to giving up.
Hang in there keep goin ,even people who bonsai for years still have similar problems. Im only learning bonsai myself but have found juniper to be trouble free mind you i prefer large bonsai in large pots that need less attention than small ones.
A troutflycrazy yes. I have common elms and one died of another species. I heard elms are easy. It is in good soil. I water not that frequent and not too much. Its on a south facing window. Its worse than a wife to please.
+fat pig It has a smaller root system suited for the pot and if it's to get any larger would probably need to be transferred to a larger pot. Thanks for watching!
Hutch Calledo Prices are going to vary wherever you look. We would suggest looking at your local garden center and see what they have to offer or a quick Google search may help you as well.
+Miguel Esquivel thanks for watching! Keeping the pot size small confines the roots so only the trunk will get thicker not the entire tree! Happy gardening!
U shouldn't cut branches rite bk to the trunck u want to leave a small stump so it dies off naturally some times when I take more than 20% foliage off the tree might not survive iv had 2 die on me because of this there is videos online explained better but nice work wish it well
+Amaan Sajid im just getting into this stuff but i did see today a bonsai apple tree with mini apples, it was quite cool. At the time i was skeptical but i see now it might be real haha
Balu S Hello! I would first see if your local garden center or home store has any in stock. If not I would look online. Here's a company that seems to sell the seeds. www.seedman.com/bonsai.htm
I want to make a bonsai out of a cutting from my favorite blue spruce tree... it is a regular tree, since I can't keep the 20+ foot tree when I move, I want to make a bonsai from a cutting from it. Is it possible?
Sadly, since your Blue Spruce is in the later stages of development there is no way to turn it into a bonsai. Training a bonsai tree begins in the early stages of growth by limiting nutrients and training the tree to stay miniaturized.
"STARTING your own Bonsai" means GROWING the tree as well! if you purchase a tree you certainly didn't start it. I would correct the caption tbh.. I grow my own from germination to grooming. It takes a couple years before the "fun part", but that is the point behind the art of bonsai.
