I'm not knowledgeable about pines so this video was very informative.... I took away "attentiveness" to your plants and the changes that may require action.... Great video 🎉🎉🎉🎉
It is so important to be able to see the signs and act before it is too late… well done Fotis! Best wishes for a fast and full recovery for this beautiful tree!
That was an internal conversation since July, when I saw the new needle color not improving, patiently waiting for appropriate time to work the roots. It was rather a lengthy process. Thank you my friend, I appreciate it greatly!
Great job on getting this tree transplanted. I had a simulator situation with mine. It’s doing awesome since I transplanted it. Thank you for all your great content.
I watch all your videos Fotis but only comment when I have something supportive to say and in this (very well produced) episode I have to commend you on your alertness and skill. I think you handled this pine well and I wish you the best my friend 💪🏼💚
Thank you very much for everything said in this message! I think I dodged a bullet there, as well, but now the tree feels safe. It's been raining 3 days in a row and with the previous soil, it would be sooo bad.... Have a great night!
Hello my friend,you were right to repot this japanese white pine now because the color of the needles indicated that the roots were suffering. The pine is very beautiful with a fantastic trunk,and your project is very interesting. To facilitate rooting i recommend a product based on group B vitamins. I wish you a great weekend!👍👍
Yes, you've told me before Roberto and I said I'll look into it. Couldn't find something like that easy, so I gave up. Instead I use fucus extract, that has proven to be a repotting weapon for me! Have a great day!
@@ArkefthosBonsai I have just heard some people talk about a smell of decay almost like rotten leaves or any other kind of bacterial over-activity in these situations, so I was curious. Typically I have heard people say this when transitioning from field/collected soil to bonsai medium, that field soil or potting mix can go sour. Maybe your attentiveness took care of it before it got stinky enough! :)
@bubbaw1234 I do believe that my soil mix helped in avoiding this even though not enough to keep a healthy root system. I did not remove enough of the old broken akadama soil at the previous repot. Lesson learned. Thank you for the info!
Altough zeolite might differ from region to region, my experience is that it holds too much water. The smaller the particle, the more water it holds. Pinus parviflora benefits from having roots very dry and zeolite can impete this situation nearly as much as broken down akadama. In my garden I stopped use zeolite at all and exchanged it for all pines to mixture of pumice + lava + terramol (instead of akadama) in ratio 1:1:1 with beautifull results with pinus parviflora. It took me more than 3 years to recover tree from akadama. Your usage of pure zeolite can make this situation even worse, what is quite obvious when you took the tree out of pot after 2 years sitting in nearly the same soil mixture like you used again. In this situation, I would water the tree very carefully, tilt it a little to allow excesive water to escape easier and also I would hide the tree from every rain, especially in winter by sheltering it in a green house to keep it mostly on a dry side. Good luck.
That was 60% zeolite 40% pumice with zeolite being 4-5mm large and pumice 5-6mm so they are not small. The condition of the roots was not the same as 2 years ago but actually worse. But that was because I removed a very small percentage of the initial akadama substrate in the first repot and not because of the new soil I introduced (in just the corners). In the corners with my mix, were the only health roots. In these 2 years the akadama moved and filled the new soil and made my changes obsolete. The water holding capacity of zeolite is exactly perfect (much less than akadama) but quite substantial. It doesn't matter how much water it holds though (that only affects the watering schedule). What matters is the gaps between the particles that provide the roots with oxygen. As long as the gaps are there to provide oxygen, substrate particles can hold all the water they want. Plus zeolite has better CEC than akadama and most materials used for bonsai substrates (except compost). You should reconsider the use of zeolite in your trees, that was not the reason for your issues. I have several white pines on this mix (and many more pine species) that are doing fantastic, just because they had way more if the original akadama removed, or they never went near that thing. I'll look into teramol, don't know what that is, thank you for the advice, cheers!
What a beautiful tree! I hope it recovers quickly. It’s frustrating and quite shocking to encounter such a situation. Best of luck with it! I also have a Pinus parviflora on its own roots that developed similar problems last winter. In July, I performed an emergency repotting because the situation was deteriorating. Since then, the tree has still been struggling; it has lost a lot of foliage, and some of the needles turned brown, starting from the tips until they completely dry out. The situation seems to be stabilizing now, and I see many new buds. Currently, the tree is on a heat mat, with a temperature of about 20 degrees at the bottom of the pot. Do you think this could help with root recovery? Could you share more about the root activator you use? I don’t have any experience with it. What should I pay attention to when using it? Is it still useful to use in this periode of the jear? Thanks for all the useful information, another great video as usual.
Let me try and answer everything! If I missed something just let me know. July was a very dangerous time to do repotting. Parviflora roots are weak and as an alpine species July is probably a hybernation time, but definitely about the worst time to do it. I waited all summer until I got to a cool weather, with rain forecast to do so. The browning on the tips and then moving down, means that the needles could not receive enough water from the damaged roots, transpiration was greater than the supply. Classic symptom. If you had waited until September you would have more foliage on the tree now. New healthy buds are a really good sign but I'm afraid you are not off the hook yet. I would protect the tree from even the slightest frost this winter. The mat is good, but keep it rather on the low heat side. This is an alpine tree. The root system is probably at around 12 to 15 deg year round in its native environment. Root activator. It is a product called Alga Max, a water extract of Fucus, that has natural auxins and amino acids. Just dilute these kinds of products at the suggested amount and water deeply at the suggested frequency. Now it's the perfect time to do so. Roberto also suggested products with B12 that seem to help as well. I do mine 10 days after the repot and 2 weeks after that a second application. I usually have no loses. If there is anything more David, let me know! Thank you!
Thanks for the extensive answer, the browning of the needles had already started before the repotting, that is why I did not want to wait any longer. I was afraid that the tree would have lost a lot of strength by the end of the summer if the loss of foliage mass would continue. I will certainly try to avoid exposure to frost this year. Good to hear that the heat mat is in principle a good idea provided that I keep the temperature relatively low. I will try a treatment with root activator. Thanks again!@@ArkefthosBonsai
I explain everything on the voice-over and the transcript at the description if the video. It is pure pumice for the bottom and then 60% zeolite (which is a bit finer than pumice) and 40% pumice. These don't break down between repottings but with time organic matter slowly accumulates like in every substrate. Still much better than akadama, especially for alpine trees. Cheers!
@marcoreptile86 ha ha yes it might be, or the exposure on the camera is set for the shadows, so the bright white pumice appears glowing. Perlite tends to break down a bit, doesn't last as long as the other two, so I use it mainly on young trees, seedlings and cuttings. Cheers!
Great video, we're under the dome) ) About about the roots. perhaps, a little succinic acid to activate the roots? I also went a little overboard with the water on the pine
There are going to be 2 applications of root activators (containing auxins and amino acids from fucus) starting next week. This was the less watered tree in the garden, like, half the times did not get watered during the summer. Cheers!
@@ArkefthosBonsai Last spring I applied hydroxycinnamic acid to juniper: 1 time at the root. A week later, along the trunk and needles of 24-epibrassinolide
Great lesson dude 👊👊 You could have given the roots a 30-70 bath in Hydrogen peroxide and that would have given a boost of oxygen and disinfected the roots to treat the root rot !! Incase you didn’t know!! Like you wouldn’t know 😂😂 look at me giving someone like you advice 😂😂😂👊👊👊👊👊
Thank you for the advice! I try to avoid invasive stuff that I haven't tried before on .... cheap.... trees! Ha ha ha and yes I did not know about the diluted hydrogen peroxide bath on the root system! Is this a thing in the UK?
@@ArkefthosBonsai it’s a thing in bonsai it’s advice I received from a well respected bonsai practitioner. So it is known in the bonsai world You can even dilute in water at a 10-90 % ratio and water with it ! It helps give them nitrogen 👊👊👊👊👊
I really hope this tree bounces back for u. I thought white pines usually go yellow in fall or is that only certain species? I have a mugo and our weather here has been drastic as its fall here in the US and going from 80f to 50f at night for the last 2 weeks my mugo went completly brown in no time. Do u know why that could be? Will a swing in temperature really effect a mugo pine like that. The needles went like a real dry brown on the whole tree. And no green cambium in sight.
Mugos are sensitive. But conifers in general die way before the first signs are visible. Probably the tree died in August. There are several reasons why this might happen. In hotter climates, an alpine species like mugo can become critical from heat and radiation and low humidity. In cooler climates, usually wet root system during prolonged periods is what kills them. I suggest very well airated substrate, like pure pumice with just a little akadama (if you use akadama) so that you can water the tree frequently without the fear of waterlogging. But mugo usually lose a branch or two before getting worse. I don't think it's the temperature but rather overwatering during cooler weather. I hope you get another even better mugo as they are good material (otherwise). Thank you Chris!
@@ArkefthosBonsai thank u very much. And i do believe u are right my mugo was left in its nursery soil and i slip potted it with prob a bad mixture and into a bigger pot and due to water logging it must have killed it. I hope to get another again but it was turning out to be an awesome full cascade mugo. I hope to make another like it one day. Thanks for the info!
@Chris-oq6kn that is pretty much what is happening with my tree in this video. But a larger tree has more time, so I managed to act before losing parts of the tree. Good luck!
They definitely prefer drier conditions but the frequency of watering depends on the climate, the size of the pot and the substrate around the roots. That's why I use large size aggricates for my Japanese white pines, keep them in the dry side. Definitely the less watered bonsai tree in my garden. Thank you Timmy and good luck with your tree!
I think the "auto translate" feature will do the trick, but I'll see what I can do, while uploading. I don't add any language, UA-cam does it automatically. I will check it out. Thanks!
I'm not knowledgeable about pines so this video was very informative.... I took away "attentiveness" to your plants and the changes that may require action....
Great video 🎉🎉🎉🎉
Thank you! You have excellent perception!
@@ArkefthosBonsai thank you 😀
Great video. Loved the shot from above. I've really enjoy a walk- thru video of your garden.
Thank you! Not really ready for a full walk through. Still need to construct a few parts. But soon!
Great video, Fotis - very instructional, and I loved the opening overhead shots!👍
Really glad you liked that. Many times it's not easy to know what works and what doesn't. Thank you John!
I’m sure it will bounce back to its original grandeur. It’s worth all the effort. It’s such a beautiful tree. 🤞🏻
We have a saying in Greece which translates something like "from your mouth, to God's ear", so thank you very much Martijn! Have a great night!
It is so important to be able to see the signs and act before it is too late… well done Fotis! Best wishes for a fast and full recovery for this beautiful tree!
That was an internal conversation since July, when I saw the new needle color not improving, patiently waiting for appropriate time to work the roots. It was rather a lengthy process. Thank you my friend, I appreciate it greatly!
Amazing specimen Fotis, beautiful bark, hope it bounces back please keep us posted.
Thank you Wesley! Will do for sure! I believe that it will bounce back. I don't think it is that much in danger. Cheers!
Great job on getting this tree transplanted. I had a simulator situation with mine. It’s doing awesome since I transplanted it. Thank you for all your great content.
Good luck with your tree! Acting before it is too late is imperative on these situations. Have a great evening!
Super informative, and I really enjoy this open insight you provide. Looking forward to a positive recovery of this white pine:)
Thank you Kemal! I will update on this one in June! Cheers!
Beautiful tree! Thanks for sharing
Thank you!
I watch all your videos Fotis but only comment when I have something supportive to say and in this (very well produced) episode I have to commend you on your alertness and skill. I think you handled this pine well and I wish you the best my friend 💪🏼💚
Thank you very much for everything said in this message! I think I dodged a bullet there, as well, but now the tree feels safe. It's been raining 3 days in a row and with the previous soil, it would be sooo bad.... Have a great night!
@@ArkefthosBonsai 😘💚💚💚
Beautiful bonsai my friend keep up the good work mate thanks
I appreciate it Phillip! Have a great week!
Hello my friend,you were right to repot this japanese white pine now because the color of the needles indicated that the roots were suffering. The pine is very beautiful with a fantastic trunk,and your project is very interesting. To facilitate rooting i recommend a product based on group B vitamins. I wish you a great weekend!👍👍
Yes, you've told me before Roberto and I said I'll look into it. Couldn't find something like that easy, so I gave up. Instead I use fucus extract, that has proven to be a repotting weapon for me! Have a great day!
@@ArkefthosBonsai Ok perfect! Have a great day you too! 💪
Very beautiful tree. I hope it will make it over the coming winter.
Thank you! I'd say the chances are good. Cheers!
Beautiful tree. I look forward to seeing its recovery.
Thank you, I appreciate it!
Such a beautiful tree. I hope it recovers.
Thank you Susan! I believe it will be fine. Have a great Sunday!
Hope it goes well for the tree and look forward to a future update. Thank you
Thank you Nerina! I'll keep you updated!
This is the reason why I am an advocate for bare rooting pines during repotting.
That is true. Like I say, every pine should be barerooted at least once in its life as a bonsai. Thank you!
Ottimo lavoro grazie per i consigli!
You're welcome Emilio! Have a great evening!
Thank you for taking the time to make and share these! Perhaps a strange question, but was there any smell of decay/other off smell with this repot?
Thank you! No, there wasn't. What are you thinking? Fully rotten waterlogged roots?
@@ArkefthosBonsai I have just heard some people talk about a smell of decay almost like rotten leaves or any other kind of bacterial over-activity in these situations, so I was curious. Typically I have heard people say this when transitioning from field/collected soil to bonsai medium, that field soil or potting mix can go sour. Maybe your attentiveness took care of it before it got stinky enough! :)
@bubbaw1234 I do believe that my soil mix helped in avoiding this even though not enough to keep a healthy root system. I did not remove enough of the old broken akadama soil at the previous repot. Lesson learned. Thank you for the info!
Altough zeolite might differ from region to region, my experience is that it holds too much water. The smaller the particle, the more water it holds. Pinus parviflora benefits from having roots very dry and zeolite can impete this situation nearly as much as broken down akadama. In my garden I stopped use zeolite at all and exchanged it for all pines to mixture of pumice + lava + terramol (instead of akadama) in ratio 1:1:1 with beautifull results with pinus parviflora. It took me more than 3 years to recover tree from akadama. Your usage of pure zeolite can make this situation even worse, what is quite obvious when you took the tree out of pot after 2 years sitting in nearly the same soil mixture like you used again. In this situation, I would water the tree very carefully, tilt it a little to allow excesive water to escape easier and also I would hide the tree from every rain, especially in winter by sheltering it in a green house to keep it mostly on a dry side. Good luck.
That was 60% zeolite 40% pumice with zeolite being 4-5mm large and pumice 5-6mm so they are not small. The condition of the roots was not the same as 2 years ago but actually worse. But that was because I removed a very small percentage of the initial akadama substrate in the first repot and not because of the new soil I introduced (in just the corners). In the corners with my mix, were the only health roots. In these 2 years the akadama moved and filled the new soil and made my changes obsolete. The water holding capacity of zeolite is exactly perfect (much less than akadama) but quite substantial. It doesn't matter how much water it holds though (that only affects the watering schedule). What matters is the gaps between the particles that provide the roots with oxygen. As long as the gaps are there to provide oxygen, substrate particles can hold all the water they want. Plus zeolite has better CEC than akadama and most materials used for bonsai substrates (except compost). You should reconsider the use of zeolite in your trees, that was not the reason for your issues. I have several white pines on this mix (and many more pine species) that are doing fantastic, just because they had way more if the original akadama removed, or they never went near that thing. I'll look into teramol, don't know what that is, thank you for the advice, cheers!
What a beautiful tree! I hope it recovers quickly. It’s frustrating and quite shocking to encounter such a situation. Best of luck with it!
I also have a Pinus parviflora on its own roots that developed similar problems last winter. In July, I performed an emergency repotting because the situation was deteriorating. Since then, the tree has still been struggling; it has lost a lot of foliage, and some of the needles turned brown, starting from the tips until they completely dry out. The situation seems to be stabilizing now, and I see many new buds.
Currently, the tree is on a heat mat, with a temperature of about 20 degrees at the bottom of the pot. Do you think this could help with root recovery?
Could you share more about the root activator you use? I don’t have any experience with it. What should I pay attention to when using it? Is it still useful to use in this periode of the jear?
Thanks for all the useful information, another great video as usual.
Let me try and answer everything! If I missed something just let me know. July was a very dangerous time to do repotting. Parviflora roots are weak and as an alpine species July is probably a hybernation time, but definitely about the worst time to do it. I waited all summer until I got to a cool weather, with rain forecast to do so. The browning on the tips and then moving down, means that the needles could not receive enough water from the damaged roots, transpiration was greater than the supply. Classic symptom. If you had waited until September you would have more foliage on the tree now. New healthy buds are a really good sign but I'm afraid you are not off the hook yet. I would protect the tree from even the slightest frost this winter.
The mat is good, but keep it rather on the low heat side. This is an alpine tree. The root system is probably at around 12 to 15 deg year round in its native environment.
Root activator. It is a product called Alga Max, a water extract of Fucus, that has natural auxins and amino acids. Just dilute these kinds of products at the suggested amount and water deeply at the suggested frequency. Now it's the perfect time to do so. Roberto also suggested products with B12 that seem to help as well. I do mine 10 days after the repot and 2 weeks after that a second application. I usually have no loses.
If there is anything more David, let me know! Thank you!
Thanks for the extensive answer, the browning of the needles had already started before the repotting, that is why I did not want to wait any longer. I was afraid that the tree would have lost a lot of strength by the end of the summer if the loss of foliage mass would continue. I will certainly try to avoid exposure to frost this year. Good to hear that the heat mat is in principle a good idea provided that I keep the temperature relatively low. I will try a treatment with root activator. Thanks again!@@ArkefthosBonsai
Pines roots are so tricky man. I hope this one pulls through.
Thank you! I believe it's safe. A rich in akadama substrate makes them look tricky. Especially on weaker species like parviflora. Cheers!
What's your compost mixture?
I've got voice-over that explains everything! For this, it was pure pumice on the bottom and 60% zeolite 40% pumice for the roots. Cheers!
What kind of soil did you use? I see something like perlite
I explain everything on the voice-over and the transcript at the description if the video. It is pure pumice for the bottom and then 60% zeolite (which is a bit finer than pumice) and 40% pumice. These don't break down between repottings but with time organic matter slowly accumulates like in every substrate. Still much better than akadama, especially for alpine trees. Cheers!
@@ArkefthosBonsai Yes, I made the comment before watching the whole video, your pumice it's soo white than mine, i thought it was perlite
@marcoreptile86 ha ha yes it might be, or the exposure on the camera is set for the shadows, so the bright white pumice appears glowing. Perlite tends to break down a bit, doesn't last as long as the other two, so I use it mainly on young trees, seedlings and cuttings. Cheers!
Great video, we're under the dome) ) About about the roots. perhaps, a little succinic acid to activate the roots? I also went a little overboard with the water on the pine
There are going to be 2 applications of root activators (containing auxins and amino acids from fucus) starting next week. This was the less watered tree in the garden, like, half the times did not get watered during the summer. Cheers!
@@ArkefthosBonsai Good luck 🤞... great idea✍️
@@ArkefthosBonsai in the spring I will use a pentasulfate mixture
@@ArkefthosBonsai Last spring I applied hydroxycinnamic acid to juniper: 1 time at the root. A week later, along the trunk and needles of 24-epibrassinolide
@illka314 never heard of that. What is it supposed to do?
Great lesson dude 👊👊
You could have given the roots a 30-70 bath in
Hydrogen peroxide and that would have given a boost of oxygen and disinfected the roots to treat the root rot !!
Incase you didn’t know!!
Like you wouldn’t know 😂😂 look at me giving someone like you advice 😂😂😂👊👊👊👊👊
Thank you for the advice! I try to avoid invasive stuff that I haven't tried before on .... cheap.... trees! Ha ha ha and yes I did not know about the diluted hydrogen peroxide bath on the root system! Is this a thing in the UK?
@@ArkefthosBonsai it’s a thing in bonsai it’s advice I received from a well respected bonsai practitioner. So it is known in the bonsai world
You can even dilute in water at a 10-90 % ratio and water with it !
It helps give them nitrogen
👊👊👊👊👊
@Bonsaicrazy I'm a chemist, so I'll look into it! Thanks man!
@@ArkefthosBonsai wicked
I really hope this tree bounces back for u. I thought white pines usually go yellow in fall or is that only certain species? I have a mugo and our weather here has been drastic as its fall here in the US and going from 80f to 50f at night for the last 2 weeks my mugo went completly brown in no time. Do u know why that could be? Will a swing in temperature really effect a mugo pine like that. The needles went like a real dry brown on the whole tree. And no green cambium in sight.
Mugos are sensitive. But conifers in general die way before the first signs are visible. Probably the tree died in August. There are several reasons why this might happen. In hotter climates, an alpine species like mugo can become critical from heat and radiation and low humidity. In cooler climates, usually wet root system during prolonged periods is what kills them. I suggest very well airated substrate, like pure pumice with just a little akadama (if you use akadama) so that you can water the tree frequently without the fear of waterlogging. But mugo usually lose a branch or two before getting worse. I don't think it's the temperature but rather overwatering during cooler weather. I hope you get another even better mugo as they are good material (otherwise). Thank you Chris!
@@ArkefthosBonsai thank u very much. And i do believe u are right my mugo was left in its nursery soil and i slip potted it with prob a bad mixture and into a bigger pot and due to water logging it must have killed it. I hope to get another again but it was turning out to be an awesome full cascade mugo. I hope to make another like it one day. Thanks for the info!
@Chris-oq6kn that is pretty much what is happening with my tree in this video. But a larger tree has more time, so I managed to act before losing parts of the tree. Good luck!
I have a white pine bonsai large tree similar to that it doesn’t like much water I only water it two or three times a month and it seems to thrive.
They definitely prefer drier conditions but the frequency of watering depends on the climate, the size of the pot and the substrate around the roots. That's why I use large size aggricates for my Japanese white pines, keep them in the dry side. Definitely the less watered bonsai tree in my garden. Thank you Timmy and good luck with your tree!
what region do you live in? very beautiful nature
Thank you! Southern Greece, Peloponnese peninsula, mount Mainalon at 900m (2600ft) elevation. Cheers!
@@ArkefthosBonsai Wow!
Great❤
Thank you!
Hopefully it will recover fast 🤞
Thank you Fili!
👍👌
Thank you Bruce!
This is why I will never use akadama in pines. Since they love a dry soil mixture, I dont see a need for akadama.
Nothing more to add here, well said! Thank you!
Sakadama a new beter harder soil!
Hello, if possible, add Persian language for better use of your useful videos
I think the "auto translate" feature will do the trick, but I'll see what I can do, while uploading. I don't add any language, UA-cam does it automatically. I will check it out. Thanks!
@@ArkefthosBonsaiHello, thank you for your sincere support