Youre the best. I picked up a very sad but still trying boug. Superstore had it for 30 in the reduced rack while it being 75% off everything plant. Girl said 15. Talked to the front count , she laughed and said you want that. Got it down to 5. Did my shopping , getting the plant from the counter, calls me back, gives me my money back , and says show me next year. Love knowing what plants can do. You teach a lot of people .
Hi Nigel. My name is Imelda. I'm from N.E. India. I used to have an interest in bonsai when I was a teenager. I have few ficus religiosa,samanea saman,...Well lots of plants but to collect more. It's a bit late but I am training my trees to bonsai. I'm a teacher by profession. But you're a very good teacher in bonsai world. You really have that patience when you explain every detail that even a beginner like me got inspired and learnt more from you. Thank you so much.
Bought a bougainvillea at a nursery and this video has given me so much information on how to start. Total noob here that really appreciates the teaching. Ty so much.
It is growing well, it will take many many years, but I will enjoy the process of trying! I have several trees growing in the home tree style, stay tuned.
Great video! I like the switch up from working on the trees to your outdoor photos to mixing up soil. I really enjoyed watching you work on the " wild like" bougainvillea cuttings and transforming them into young trees. Can't wait to see part 3!
I forgot to mention, the thermal imaging with temperature was really something! And really cool how you put that Avatar tree in your video like holographics! I gotta figure that one out.
Thank you Frank, it felt like spring yesterday, but I'm sure the cold weather and snow will return! I'm actually enjoying the winter and it's giving me a good chance to work on my tropical trees to get them in good shape for summer. I hope I get them all done before spring and winter is already half over. I better get working!
So the best time to work on tropical trees is in the wintertime? What about deciduous trees and evergreens, like pines? When do you work on these? For some reason I can't remember this. By the way, that was another great video and your photographs are beautiful. You have a great appreciation for nature and wilderness Nigel.
Enjoyed watching your work with these plants. Was intrigued that you were outdoors without a hat/coat. Guess you're used to it. The pics from your morning walk were great. Looking forward to the next bougainvillea installment.
Just subscribed now and thanks for this information coz I have a passion in bonsai making. We have different varieties of Bougainville in my hometown Philippines, Koronadal City. God Bless Sir..
Hey Nigel , thank you for all the lessons , they are awesome ! I have some "Arbutus " seeds , Arbutus menziesii , a tree that grows on the West Coast in rocky terrain and salty air .I 'm in Big Valley ,Alberta and have started some seedlings very easily.I would gladly send you some seeds if you are interested in starting a arbutus bonsai ! Cheers ! 😊
oh... Nigel, it is a sorbent. I think that you are using TORF and PERLITE... and in our region I checked every companies to find TORF like I saw in your video every time, but everything was unsuccessfully. TNX for this video, now I found all answers for me.
Thank you Elmar, I spent about 4 hours in the forest that morning taking pictures, time flew by in an instant. I hated leaving the peace and quiet and heading back into the city!
Nigel Saunders, The Bonsai Zone Nigel. Not only you know but you seem to care. I bout a 2-3 gallon pot with two Tibouchina plants with beautiful trunks and they looked as if they had potential for bonsai. I attempted to separate and reduce the roots but i think it was too much stress for them because all the leaves dried out and wilted. I didn’t trim the branches first, i did the roots but i don’t know if i did wrong. Im still caring for them. Need some advise. I have pics but i don’t think i can show you through here. Thanks Alex
Hy Nigel, whats that tree at 14:18 please? Could it be a Ginkgo Biloba? I doubt it a bit, but could it be? Don't you have any Ginkgo trees yourself? Greetings from Berlin!
Hey Nigel thank you for the videos I watch them all I was wondering if you where going to do a update in spring on your Norway maple /site. It's my first tree, grown from seed. 13 years now. So keen to see yours at some point peace ✌️
My Norway maple is really liking the training box that I potted it in. I can see all the buds just ready to go this spring! I think it is ready for a good year of growth. I'll be sure to update the tree on a video.
The leftovers get mixed in with the garden soil as a soil conditioner. I have tried it as a soil for small trees or for starting cuttings, but I find the small particle size doesn't allow water to flow easily into the soil. I think the water surface tension doesn't allow it to seep through the small holes in-between the particles.
hello, I'm a new fan but a big one. have you considered getting the big bags of, course perlight or medium, to avoid sifting. what would you use vermiculite for btw i've always wondered??
I think vermiculite works as a soil conditioner if you have a water loving plant. It holds more water than perlite and may be better for garden plants that don't get checked for water, as often as bonsai. Some people don't sift the ingredients for their soil, but I like to get all the fine particles and dust out, this keeps the air spaces in your soil from getting clogged up. It also gives me something to do on a cold day outdoors! Thanks Joel!
Have you given any thought to changing over from turface to diatomaceous earth? The diatomaceous earth is as inexpensive as the turface and a much better soil substrate.
I usually bring my trees outside when the weather starts to stay above freezing in the daytime and just drops briefly at night. It is very difficult to avoid the roots from freezing, unless you constantly bring your trees outside and then back in when the weather goes cold. I have done this for many years and it isn't much fun. Lately I have been leaving my trees outside for the entire winter on the benches under a layer of snow. So far it has been working for me. This winter will be a real test of this as we had a normal cold winter down to -22 C for over a week. I hope it isn't like Monty python....."Bring out your dead, bring out your dead" My problem with the trees in the basement, which isn't heated, is that the trees tend to come out into leaf a little early and when they do go outside, this indoor growth dies back and you have to rely on back budding to keep the branch alive. Seems no method is perfect!
Eu uso 1/2 perlite e 1/2 turface. Vou adicionar 10 por cento de casca de pinheiro compostado à mistura, se eu tiver em mãos. A casca de pinheiro não parece fazer muita diferença.
I have ficus benjamina which hasn't been repotted for 15 years (it wasn't mine so that's why it wasn't repoted for so long). Should I do it now or wait for the spring?
I like to re pot the tropical trees mid summer if I can. The trees build up strength the first half of summer and then they have good weather to recover from re potting the second half of summer. If the tree hasn't been re potted for a long time, you will probably see some giant potato like roots in the pot! You may have to get out a saw and cut through the root base to get them in order. I do an operation similar to this in this video..... ua-cam.com/video/U8R_6jfEJ5U/v-deo.html Here is the best website on ficus roots for reference..... www.sidiao.com/Ficus_e.htm With the right conditions, warmth, light and humidity, your ficus will survive almost any root operation you throw at it. If you let the new roots that are forming dry out before they grow down more deeply in the pot, the tree could die. Aftercare is the key to success!
Hi Nigel I am Bangalore and have started some tropical plants. I also observed from other bonsai specialists that most of them are doing yemadoi as for as bogenvilia. I have bought some nursery stock and stared. Which one you recommended for. Thanks for update.
Hi Nigel, I have a Bougainvillea Glabra that I've been cultivating from nursery stock for about a year. It's coming along quite nicely, but the leaves are huge. I've not tried defoliation yet, but do you know if it's possible to reduce the leaf size on this particular variety?
I believe mine is a Glabra also. the leaves will reduce as you get more ramification and branch structure. They can be defoliated if they are healthy to get smaller leaves. I find the more leaves you get on the plant, the smaller the leaves grow. The leaves also will grow much smaller outdoors than inside.
Thanks Nigel, good to know. Mine is the more common variety with the lovely bright magenta bracts as I couldn't find the Pink Pixie variety anywhere here in the UK, but I'm sure they all respond to bonsai techniques in a similar way.
The "International Space Station" is a fraud Nigel. I love your channel. Thank you for continuing to share your wealth of knowledge in the art of bonsai. Peace on the plane Earth.
I think it would be cool to sometimes do a special intro where you feature some of your trees at the start of the season while playing a movement in Antonio Vivaldi's ''Four Seasons'' corresponding to that season.
A new one is about 50 dollars, but the better quality ones can cost even more, closer to 1 hundred dollars. I will be re potting a Ficus religiosa in part three!
I use regular nylon screening that is used for windows. You can buy a roll at your hardware store. I've never had a hole get clogged up with this finer mesh and I hope it helps keep insects from entering the drainage holes also! I use this on all my trees. I think the hole size is 1.2 mm.
Nigel Saunders, The Bonsai Zone thanks. I rewatched the video and see you keep the corse material and discard the fines. I recently made a stacked sieve system with various size mesh, 1”, 1/2”, 1/4” and window screen like yours. I thought you were saving and using the fines.
No. many people remove the thorns before working on the trees. The thorns can create a very bad reaction with some people. You can just remove the tips with a small set of pruners.
I got a young lemon tree with thorns. I pricked myself on them at least a dozend times until I decided to remove them. I had bloody wounds a couple of times and once I didnt notice it and contiued working in the garden and it got infected. Removing the thorns didnt seem to harm the tree. I dont think that it could harm a healthy tree.
Yes I use this soil on all my trees. I only fertilize when I water, I don't add any to the soil. Here is a video on this.... ua-cam.com/video/gXIIpxUqxdY/v-deo.html
They just need a sunny window sill. They do loose all their leaves when you bring them from the outdoors to the indoors, but the leaves soon grow back!
While I know I'm very new to your channel and to Bonsai, I don't think I've ever seen you prune the top of a tree while it's out of the pot. Is there a reason you did that or did it just seem like the thing to do at the time, Nigel?
I think I had to get the cutting out of the pot to actually see the structure, the Schefflera cuttings were in the way. Normally I prune the tree first in the pot.
hi Nigel . yesterday i was watching bonsai miri youtube channel about soil the video title is " BSOP series : soils " and at time 36:43 someone ask Ryan why you hate Turface soo much and he start to explain that turface hold water and not give it back and so you can not build good high level root system . i just wanted to share that info with you
I watched Ryan's video last night. I noticed we have a very different approach to bonsai roots, soil and re potting! I understand what he is saying, but I think many of his beliefs are based on tradition rather than fact. The talk about the heart of the root system being under the base of the trunk left me scratching my head! I understand that a well developed tree with lots of branches needs as many fine root tips that you can fit in a pot and that growing them in every place that you can is a good thing, but.... this is a sure way to slowly change your root base into a solid root plate around the base of the tree. Each root is no longer being fed just from the tip of the root, but has root hairs all over the root, so it goes out of round and fuses with all the roots in the surrounding area. I personally don't like this look at the base of a tree. His refusal to bare root the trees will also mean, the root system will never be balanced or corrected over time. For Ryan, the roots you get are the roots you live with! The tree in his video had a root system that was going out of balance and really needed to be worked on. I would sort out the roots before pruning and wiring the tree, I grow the roots first, then the trunk and then finally the branches. The weaker roots needed to be left to grow in a bigger training pot and the stronger roots needed to be pruned back harder. His root pruning on this tree corrected very little, a missed opportunity in my view. The idea of the soil particles being split by the roots and breaking down to naturally get a finer root base also left be wondering about the theory. I have seen the same effect with any standard bonsai soil. The roots grow into all the spaces between the soil particles and then proceed to get finer and finer as the air spaces all get used up. If I left my trees for five years between potting's, I'd have a sold brick of ultra fine roots in the pot also. The roots may be way out of balance by then and it can affect the branch growth up in the tree. The roots that are feeding a strong branch will continue to grow thicker and the strong branch will continue to grow stronger. This will require a major correction one day, rather than keeping the roots balanced shaped and miniaturized over the years. This is like profile pruning the top of your tree once every five years and expecting a world class bonsai to emerge. The roots should be treated very similar to the branch structure, pruned for length direction and ramification. There are no short cuts to a really good root base! Many people will dismiss turface as a poor product for bonsai soil, but when used with perlite, I find it works really well. It moderates the moisture level in the soil to a nice level, not holding too much water, but not holding too little either. I like Ryan, but I get the feeling that he is more concerned about the finished product than about growing a really nice tree from scratch. I hope he is growing trees from seeds, like Mr. Kimura did for his famous slanting forest. I think growing a tree from a seed or a small cutting is the best learning experience you will ever have in bonsai. It teaches you to solve the problems for every stage of the trees development and your work will be reflected in the tree, for good or bad! I get the sense that Ryan is into buying collected trees and then "hair styling" them into bonsai. This trend seems very popular around the world and I think these people are missing the point of bonsai. You grow with your trees.
Nigel. I love your videos and always enjoy your information and opinion. After reading your comments above about the BSOP soil video, I thought I might add some comments to the conversation. I study under Michael Hagedorn, and I will say that he echoes many of the same thoughts that Ryan has expressed. Japanese trained bonsai practitioners do base a fair amount of practice on tradition, but the fact is that the Japanese(and Chinese etc..) do have the best developed bonsai in the world, and are able to consistently create and duplicate the finest material( as any good scientific theory should be). I believe people like Ryan an Michael are taking care to respect the traditional values that work and make sense but are also at the same time making the most of current soil science and plant physiology. I will say that from what I have learned and personally observed, bare rooting a tree completely is always risky business, unless it is collected material that you are partially bare rooting, or a young deciduous tree in training. I have noticed that you often bare root your trees, and noted your trees all seem to be fine and happy. My thought is that it is good to do some root correction from time to time, but if you are constantly bare rooting the tree you are stripping it of it vigor, and it may appear to be happy, but its likely that it is greatly slowing down the long term development of the tree. Bonsai is a personal thing, and if you are happy with the way your trees are growing and looking then I think you are doing a great job. Professionals like Ryan, Michael and Bjorn are, in my humble opinion, at the forefront of modern bonsai creation( aesthetically and scientifically), and have good proof of that. They seem to be truly trying to help everyone improve their technique and knowledge. If they have something to say, its probably worth listening and thinking about. Thats just my two cents! LOL : ) Keep up the great work and keep the videos coming!
yes nigel are bonsaing the trees totally in different way than others . regarding pine bare roots repot , soils and fertilizer and others i am surprised when i saw bare rooted pine for the last 20 years he doing that without problem is there a risk ? i do not know maybe but he succeed . i just has an idea nigel if you can make a video about trees that fail and died with you for the past 20 years and what was the reason of that fail is it because watering or repot or disease or winter weather or pruning that could be good reference for all beginners to not kill trees for learning but to get learn from other mistakes also if you can talk to us more about pests and diseases what is your method to protect your trees from it . thank you for that wonderful channel i am learning from you a lot
"I guess I'm fairly warm" hahaha 😂😂 Anyway, for some reason I thought about the tree that you're trying to grow on a piece of wood.. Is it still doing ok?
The infra red, reminds me of the movie Predator! Yes the Ficus that is on the wooden board is growing well, it was dormant for the first part of winter, but is showing signs of growth again now that the sun is getting stronger. The roots are still growing nicely and it should be ready to attach a flag to sway the tree in the wind this summer. I'll keep posting updates on the project Tom, thanks!
Bougainvillea do not like to have the roots too wet or they will start to rot. Any really good draining sol will work fine, make sure the soil begins to dry out a bit before giving it a good watering again. The plants like warmth and humidity and a greenhouse is an ideal location.
I use 1/2 turface and 1/2 perlite. I screen the soil to remove the fine dust and particles. Here is a video on watering and fertilizing this soil.... ua-cam.com/video/gXIIpxUqxdY/v-deo.html
I think I actually have more upright trunks than slanting trunks in my collection. I'll have to count them and see! It is mostly determined by the initial root base that the tree started out with.
Youre the best. I picked up a very sad but still trying boug. Superstore had it for 30 in the reduced rack while it being 75% off everything plant. Girl said 15. Talked to the front count , she laughed and said you want that. Got it down to 5. Did my shopping , getting the plant from the counter, calls me back, gives me my money back , and says show me next year. Love knowing what plants can do. You teach a lot of people .
Hi Nigel. My name is Imelda. I'm from N.E. India. I used to have an interest in bonsai when I was a teenager. I have few ficus religiosa,samanea saman,...Well lots of plants but to collect more. It's a bit late but I am training my trees to bonsai.
I'm a teacher by profession. But you're a very good teacher in bonsai world. You really have that patience when you explain every detail that even a beginner like me got inspired and learnt more from you. Thank you so much.
I hope your trees grow well as bonsai, thanks Imelda.
Awesome pictures of winter on your surroundings. You inspired me to create an Avatar inspired bonsai tree on a fire tree I grow.
Sounds good Alain, it should look great!
These photos are absolutely stunning ! Thank you Nigel
Thanks you, I must get out taking photos again, it's been a while!
nothing better than waking up to a new video from Nigel!
Thank you very much!
Bought a bougainvillea at a nursery and this video has given me so much information on how to start. Total noob here that really appreciates the teaching. Ty so much.
The videos I watch the more I get inspired .
Thank you, I find my interest in bonsai just keeps increasing every year!
Always like to see pruning, root pruning, and repotting videos. Thanks Nigel.
Thank you, I have lots of trees that need re potting, lots more to come!
Really interested about the avatar home tree project. It's will be amazing to see from a normal looking bougainvillea to such majestic look.
It is growing well, it will take many many years, but I will enjoy the process of trying! I have several trees growing in the home tree style, stay tuned.
Great video! I like the switch up from working on the trees to your outdoor photos to mixing up soil. I really enjoyed watching you work on the " wild like" bougainvillea cuttings and transforming them into young trees. Can't wait to see part 3!
Thank you bonsai J!
I forgot to mention, the thermal imaging with temperature was really something! And really cool how you put that Avatar tree in your video like holographics! I gotta figure that one out.
So close to spring! I can't wait. Awesome as always, Nigel.
Thank you Frank, it felt like spring yesterday, but I'm sure the cold weather and snow will return! I'm actually enjoying the winter and it's giving me a good chance to work on my tropical trees to get them in good shape for summer. I hope I get them all done before spring and winter is already half over. I better get working!
So the best time to work on tropical trees is in the wintertime? What about deciduous trees and evergreens, like pines? When do you work on these? For some reason I can't remember this. By the way, that was another great video and your photographs are beautiful. You have a great appreciation for nature and wilderness Nigel.
That must be spagnum moss at 14.9, beautiful! Loved all the photos from your morning walk
The red image was actually a flower from a Staghorn Sumac. You can make a nice sweet tea from them!
A ceiling fan should be enough to move that hot air down - just gotta make sure the blades are moving in the right direction.
I’ve for along time had a fascination with bonsai. Right now I’m playing around with adeniums or desert rose.
Enjoyed watching your work with these plants. Was intrigued that you were outdoors without a hat/coat. Guess you're used to it. The pics from your morning walk were great. Looking forward to the next bougainvillea installment.
Thank you Patricia, yes when it goes from -20 to above freezing. it feels like summer!
Just subscribed now and thanks for this information coz I have a passion in bonsai making. We have different varieties of Bougainville in my hometown Philippines, Koronadal City. God Bless Sir..
De très belles images, bravo Nigel. J'aime beaucoup ton travail méticuleux...
Nigel will you ever do any plant giveaways?? I would love to win a cutting of one of your trees!!
I'm just 17 and tries to start with my mom's bougainvillea hahaha thanks for this wonderfull video from ph
Always good to see you’re videos Nigel, keep up the good work!
Thank you Owen!
Hey Nigel , thank you for all the lessons , they are awesome ! I have some "Arbutus " seeds , Arbutus menziesii , a tree that grows on the West Coast in rocky terrain and salty air .I 'm in Big Valley ,Alberta and have started some seedlings very easily.I would gladly send you some seeds if you are interested in starting a arbutus bonsai !
Cheers ! 😊
That would be wonderful! My email address is....
thekwbonsaisociety@gmail.com
Thank you Michel
Did you ever use that rock in a landscape?
I thought you would show your bonsais in infrared. They are warm? Meaning: alive (even if without leaves at the moment).
The thermal imaging was so cool! ♥
I agree, my friend Peter has all the latest tech!
Hi Nigel, I notice that you don't wire the bonsais into their pots, just relying on the weight of the soil mix. Could you comment on this please?
oh... Nigel, it is a sorbent. I think that you are using TORF and PERLITE... and in our region I checked every companies to find TORF like I saw in your video every time, but everything was unsuccessfully. TNX for this video, now I found all answers for me.
Thank you! Good to hear.
Loving how much the channel has changed. Keep up the good work Nigel. :)
Thank you, I'll keep trying to make it better!
Amazing pictures! Congratulations! I really liked this bougainvillea too.
Thank you Elmar, I spent about 4 hours in the forest that morning taking pictures, time flew by in an instant. I hated leaving the peace and quiet and heading back into the city!
Hi Nigel, beautiful bouganvilleas, very interesting video, any update of them?
I loved the music you played when you were showing the photos from your walk, please who was the composer and which composition was it?
Check the link in the description, it's music by Jo San
Waiting for next episode. and thanks for tha awesome slide show.
Thanks, I just finished it, it will be uploaded tomorrow!
Me encantan tus trabajos!
¡Gracias, espero que crezcan bien en los próximos años y espero verlos florecer de nuevo!
Nigel. Why is it that when you mix your soil, you discard the fine or smaller particles????
The roots like to grow between the larger particles in the moist pockets where they get water and oxygen! They need the spaces to breathe.
Nigel Saunders, The Bonsai Zone Nigel. Not only you know but you seem to care. I bout a 2-3 gallon pot with two Tibouchina plants with beautiful trunks and they looked as if they had potential for bonsai. I attempted to separate and reduce the roots but i think it was too much stress for them because all the leaves dried out and wilted.
I didn’t trim the branches first, i did the roots but i don’t know if i did wrong. Im still caring for them. Need some advise. I have pics but i don’t think i can show you through here. Thanks Alex
Hey Nigel, what are your thought on making a video about the trees that have died and possibly tell us what you tried to do with the tree?
Great video and great photos!
Thank you Eduardo!
Looking forward to part 3!
Thank you, it will be coming soon!
Hey Nigel, a boxwood would make a great home tree.
Avitar flat top, that's rad! Go Bonsai!
Long way to go, but it's good to have a goal in mind!
Very productive dat room gets with tropical cuttings
I just wish the sun would shine every day!
Hy Nigel, whats that tree at 14:18 please? Could it be a Ginkgo Biloba? I doubt it a bit, but could it be? Don't you have any Ginkgo trees yourself? Greetings from Berlin!
Those are Larch tree branches, the buds are long, very similar to Ginkgo!
ah you right :-) thanks
The thumbnail for this video is awesome.
Thank you!
Hey Nigel thank you for the videos I watch them all I was wondering if you where going to do a update in spring on your Norway maple /site. It's my first tree, grown from seed. 13 years now. So keen to see yours at some point peace ✌️
My Norway maple is really liking the training box that I potted it in. I can see all the buds just ready to go this spring! I think it is ready for a good year of growth. I'll be sure to update the tree on a video.
Awesome stuff thanks! Lesson from a true Sensai!
Thank you Ray!
Love watching your videos, and those photos are so lovely!
*still a good video, a variety little used in France to make a Bonsai*
Wow, you have sun now, there in Canada ... I got so jealous, all we have in Poland are clouds
Today we got the Polish weather, rain and clouds!
I'm curious if you have any use for the dust that you sifted out?
The leftovers get mixed in with the garden soil as a soil conditioner. I have tried it as a soil for small trees or for starting cuttings, but I find the small particle size doesn't allow water to flow easily into the soil. I think the water surface tension doesn't allow it to seep through the small holes in-between the particles.
What is the soil you use on your bougainvillea?
hello, I'm a new fan but a big one. have you considered getting the big bags of, course perlight or medium, to avoid sifting. what would you use vermiculite for btw i've always wondered??
I think vermiculite works as a soil conditioner if you have a water loving plant. It holds more water than perlite and may be better for garden plants that don't get checked for water, as often as bonsai. Some people don't sift the ingredients for their soil, but I like to get all the fine particles and dust out, this keeps the air spaces in your soil from getting clogged up. It also gives me something to do on a cold day outdoors! Thanks Joel!
Have you given any thought to changing over from turface to diatomaceous earth? The diatomaceous earth is as inexpensive as the turface and a much better soil substrate.
I may give it a try this year as a soil ingredient. I find the turface works well, so I would have to do a comparison test.
What's the ratio of organic matter and inorganic matter for potting soil for bonsai bougainvillea Nigel
Can tell me the ingredients for bonsai soil? I’m having a little trouble upstanding what you were saying on this video.
Hi, nice video! I really enjoyed the pictures that you took outside. I think they are some really nice wallpapers! :D
Thank you, I spent about 4 hours in the woods taking pictures, I hated leaving, I was having so much fun!
Awesome Video as always!!
Thank you J.P.!
Dear Nigel, always look forward to new videos on your channel! And if a New video is delayed for more than 5-6 days, I start to panic))))))
Don't panic, I'm hoping to reach season 50 if I can, 45 years to go!
I have a question tho, I get scared for the plant when you trim its roots. How do you know when to stop trimming?
When the plant says ouch. Lol
Hi Nigel, great video, where do you put your newly reposted bougainvilleas? Do you place it under the shade or in a full sun? Thanks
Hi Nigel, when can the trees come out of the basement and on to the close-end porch? I live in northern New England.
I usually bring my trees outside when the weather starts to stay above freezing in the daytime and just drops briefly at night. It is very difficult to avoid the roots from freezing, unless you constantly bring your trees outside and then back in when the weather goes cold. I have done this for many years and it isn't much fun. Lately I have been leaving my trees outside for the entire winter on the benches under a layer of snow. So far it has been working for me. This winter will be a real test of this as we had a normal cold winter down to -22 C for over a week. I hope it isn't like Monty python....."Bring out your dead, bring out your dead" My problem with the trees in the basement, which isn't heated, is that the trees tend to come out into leaf a little early and when they do go outside, this indoor growth dies back and you have to rely on back budding to keep the branch alive. Seems no method is perfect!
Quiero saber el nombre de los sustratos gracias por todo excelente trabajo saludos desde P.R. Bendiciones
Eu uso 1/2 perlite e 1/2 turface. Vou adicionar 10 por cento de casca de pinheiro compostado à mistura, se eu tiver em mãos. A casca de pinheiro não parece fazer muita diferença.
Nigel, do you ever bring some mixed soil to the meeting for sale?
I have ficus benjamina which hasn't been repotted for 15 years (it wasn't mine so that's why it wasn't repoted for so long). Should I do it now or wait for the spring?
Jean-Simon Lavertu Yeah, I'm curious, too. I'm ipatient to repot my ficus but I don't want to hurt it.
I like to re pot the tropical trees mid summer if I can. The trees build up strength the first half of summer and then they have good weather to recover from re potting the second half of summer. If the tree hasn't been re potted for a long time, you will probably see some giant potato like roots in the pot! You may have to get out a saw and cut through the root base to get them in order. I do an operation similar to this in this video.....
ua-cam.com/video/U8R_6jfEJ5U/v-deo.html
Here is the best website on ficus roots for reference.....
www.sidiao.com/Ficus_e.htm
With the right conditions, warmth, light and humidity, your ficus will survive almost any root operation you throw at it. If you let the new roots that are forming dry out before they grow down more deeply in the pot, the tree could die. Aftercare is the key to success!
Nigel Saunders, The Bonsai Zone Thank you very much! I will keep in mind the things you've said.
What size sifter is that Nigel?
What soil mix do you use for your Bougies? Or is anyone else has a recommendations, please share 🙂
Hi Nigel
I am Bangalore and have started some tropical plants. I also observed from other bonsai specialists that most of them are doing yemadoi as for as bogenvilia.
I have bought some nursery stock and stared. Which one you recommended for. Thanks for update.
I hope your trees grow well, they are so nice in flower!
Hi Nigel, I have a Bougainvillea Glabra that I've been cultivating from nursery stock for about a year. It's coming along quite nicely, but the leaves are huge. I've not tried defoliation yet, but do you know if it's possible to reduce the leaf size on this particular variety?
I believe mine is a Glabra also. the leaves will reduce as you get more ramification and branch structure. They can be defoliated if they are healthy to get smaller leaves. I find the more leaves you get on the plant, the smaller the leaves grow. The leaves also will grow much smaller outdoors than inside.
Thanks Nigel, good to know. Mine is the more common variety with the lovely bright magenta bracts as I couldn't find the Pink Pixie variety anywhere here in the UK, but I'm sure they all respond to bonsai techniques in a similar way.
The "International Space Station" is a fraud Nigel. I love your channel. Thank you for continuing to share your wealth of knowledge in the art of bonsai. Peace on the plane Earth.
How so?
He's a flat earther Hahaha ha idiots
He's 4ight, they have hkaxed 5he world, by the way, the moon landing is also fake.
Thank you!
If you buy a regular telescope you can look at the international space station with your own eyes, just in case you're being serious.
I think it would be cool to sometimes do a special intro where you feature some of your trees at the start of the season while playing a movement in Antonio Vivaldi's ''Four Seasons'' corresponding to that season.
I love the "Four seasons"! Great idea!
Love your videos
Thank you jack!
Hellow , very good video Nigel I liked very much because I love buganvileas.
By by from Barcelona.
Thank you Virginia!
Bougainvillea part two was the video posting.
Good video Nigel Sir
Waiting for 3rd part
How much is the price of your knob cutter
Thank you, I bought it used at our club meeting for 20 dollars.
Nigel Saunders, The Bonsai Zone
Means 2nd hand
How much is the price of new one in Canada or USA
Waiting for your ficus religiosa video
A new one is about 50 dollars, but the better quality ones can cost even more, closer to 1 hundred dollars. I will be re potting a Ficus religiosa in part three!
Thank you so much sir
You are a great human being
Wow. Amaxing work. Love every sec of it. Btw. Do you reuse the soil. Mr. Expert...
I don't reuse the soil for bonsai, but it does all go into the garden or pre bonsai garden.
plz, share potting mix.
I use 1/2 perlite and 1/2 turface. I screen the soil to remove the dust and fine particles. I screen it to a 3 to 4 mm particle size or 1/8 inch.
Couple of questions. What size mesh or hole size in your sieve? Do you use the same make x in all your trees? Thanks.
I use regular nylon screening that is used for windows. You can buy a roll at your hardware store. I've never had a hole get clogged up with this finer mesh and I hope it helps keep insects from entering the drainage holes also! I use this on all my trees. I think the hole size is 1.2 mm.
Nigel Saunders, The Bonsai Zone thanks. I rewatched the video and see you keep the corse material and discard the fines. I recently made a stacked sieve system with various size mesh, 1”, 1/2”, 1/4” and window screen like yours. I thought you were saving and using the fines.
Bel video come sempre ! Grande
Grazie mille!
Did you do any infrared images of your plant room from the outside? That would tell you where heat is escaping vs being retained.
We'll try that next, good idea! Thanks Bob.
I like bougainvillea bonsai!
Question: does it hurt to cut or trim back thorns on bushes?
I have large bougainvillea that gophers were getting to in ground now in pot to rescue.
No. many people remove the thorns before working on the trees. The thorns can create a very bad reaction with some people. You can just remove the tips with a small set of pruners.
I got a young lemon tree with thorns. I pricked myself on them at least a dozend times until I decided to remove them. I had bloody wounds a couple of times and once I didnt notice it and contiued working in the garden and it got infected. Removing the thorns didnt seem to harm the tree. I dont think that it could harm a healthy tree.
Beautiful photos!
Thank you Joseph, I like the challenge of trying to get some nice pictures, no matter what the conditions!
do you use this soil type in all of your bonsai trees and do you put slow release fertilizer on top ?
Yes I use this soil on all my trees. I only fertilize when I water, I don't add any to the soil. Here is a video on this....
ua-cam.com/video/gXIIpxUqxdY/v-deo.html
THANK YOUR VIDEOS!
Thank you for watching them!
Quite harsh shadows in the video. Maybe a small lamp on the other side would help. Love the videos, keep em coming.
Yes, I have to get some lights, it got dark really fast that day. I'll try and get them for the next video,
It would be interesting to see you do a avocado bonsai
I have had on in the past. It died after 5 years, one dark and cold winter. I will try another one!
Are the bougainvillea hard to keep through the winter.
They just need a sunny window sill. They do loose all their leaves when you bring them from the outdoors to the indoors, but the leaves soon grow back!
New video from you is like a good news for me sir, Everytime 😁
Thank you Sindhura, I'll keep them coming!
While I know I'm very new to your channel and to Bonsai, I don't think I've ever seen you prune the top of a tree while it's out of the pot. Is there a reason you did that or did it just seem like the thing to do at the time, Nigel?
I think I had to get the cutting out of the pot to actually see the structure, the Schefflera cuttings were in the way. Normally I prune the tree first in the pot.
hi Nigel . yesterday i was watching bonsai miri youtube channel about soil the video title is " BSOP series : soils " and at time 36:43 someone ask Ryan why you hate Turface soo much and he start to explain that turface hold water and not give it back and so you can not build good high level root system . i just wanted to share that info with you
I watched Ryan's video last night. I noticed we have a very different approach to bonsai roots, soil and re potting!
I understand what he is saying, but I think many of his beliefs are based on tradition rather than fact. The talk about the heart of the root system being under the base of the trunk left me scratching my head! I understand that a well developed tree with lots of branches needs as many fine root tips that you can fit in a pot and that growing them in every place that you can is a good thing, but.... this is a sure way to slowly change your root base into a solid root plate around the base of the tree. Each root is no longer being fed just from the tip of the root, but has root hairs all over the root, so it goes out of round and fuses with all the roots in the surrounding area. I personally don't like this look at the base of a tree. His refusal to bare root the trees will also mean, the root system will never be balanced or corrected over time. For Ryan, the roots you get are the roots you live with! The tree in his video had a root system that was going out of balance and really needed to be worked on. I would sort out the roots before pruning and wiring the tree, I grow the roots first, then the trunk and then finally the branches. The weaker roots needed to be left to grow in a bigger training pot and the stronger roots needed to be pruned back harder. His root pruning on this tree corrected very little, a missed opportunity in my view.
The idea of the soil particles being split by the roots and breaking down to naturally get a finer root base also left be wondering about the theory. I have seen the same effect with any standard bonsai soil. The roots grow into all the spaces between the soil particles and then proceed to get finer and finer as the air spaces all get used up. If I left my trees for five years between potting's, I'd have a sold brick of ultra fine roots in the pot also. The roots may be way out of balance by then and it can affect the branch growth up in the tree. The roots that are feeding a strong branch will continue to grow thicker and the strong branch will continue to grow stronger. This will require a major correction one day, rather than keeping the roots balanced shaped and miniaturized over the years. This is like profile pruning the top of your tree once every five years and expecting a world class bonsai to emerge. The roots should be treated very similar to the branch structure, pruned for length direction and ramification. There are no short cuts to a really good root base!
Many people will dismiss turface as a poor product for bonsai soil, but when used with perlite, I find it works really well. It moderates the moisture level in the soil to a nice level, not holding too much water, but not holding too little either.
I like Ryan, but I get the feeling that he is more concerned about the finished product than about growing a really nice tree from scratch. I hope he is growing trees from seeds, like Mr. Kimura did for his famous slanting forest. I think growing a tree from a seed or a small cutting is the best learning experience you will ever have in bonsai. It teaches you to solve the problems for every stage of the trees development and your work will be reflected in the tree, for good or bad! I get the sense that Ryan is into buying collected trees and then "hair styling" them into bonsai. This trend seems very popular around the world and I think these people are missing the point of bonsai. You grow with your trees.
Nigel. I love your videos and always enjoy your information and opinion. After reading your comments above about the BSOP soil video, I thought I might add some comments to the conversation. I study under Michael Hagedorn, and I will say that he echoes many of the same thoughts that Ryan has expressed. Japanese trained bonsai practitioners do base a fair amount of practice on tradition, but the fact is that the Japanese(and Chinese etc..) do have the best developed bonsai in the world, and are able to consistently create and duplicate the finest material( as any good scientific theory should be). I believe people like Ryan an Michael are taking care to respect the traditional values that work and make sense but are also at the same time making the most of current soil science and plant physiology.
I will say that from what I have learned and personally observed, bare rooting a tree completely is always risky business, unless it is collected material that you are partially bare rooting, or a young deciduous tree in training. I have noticed that you often bare root your trees, and noted your trees all seem to be fine and happy. My thought is that it is good to do some root correction from time to time, but if you are constantly bare rooting the tree you are stripping it of it vigor, and it may appear to be happy, but its likely that it is greatly slowing down the long term development of the tree.
Bonsai is a personal thing, and if you are happy with the way your trees are growing and looking then I think you are doing a great job. Professionals like Ryan, Michael and Bjorn are, in my humble opinion, at the forefront of modern bonsai creation( aesthetically and scientifically), and have good proof of that. They seem to be truly trying to help everyone improve their technique and knowledge. If they have something to say, its probably worth listening and thinking about. Thats just my two cents! LOL : )
Keep up the great work and keep the videos coming!
yes nigel are bonsaing the trees totally in different way than others . regarding pine bare roots repot , soils and fertilizer and others i am surprised when i saw bare rooted pine for the last 20 years he doing that without problem is there a risk ? i do not know maybe but he succeed . i just has an idea nigel if you can make a video about trees that fail and died with you for the past 20 years and what was the reason of that fail is it because watering or repot or disease or winter weather or pruning that could be good reference for all beginners to not kill trees for learning but to get learn from other mistakes also if you can talk to us more about pests and diseases what is your method to protect your trees from it . thank you for that wonderful channel i am learning from you a lot
Nice pics
"I guess I'm fairly warm" hahaha 😂😂 Anyway, for some reason I thought about the tree that you're trying to grow on a piece of wood.. Is it still doing ok?
The infra red, reminds me of the movie Predator! Yes the Ficus that is on the wooden board is growing well, it was dormant for the first part of winter, but is showing signs of growth again now that the sun is getting stronger. The roots are still growing nicely and it should be ready to attach a flag to sway the tree in the wind this summer. I'll keep posting updates on the project Tom, thanks!
LIKE IT. THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
Very nice to hear, great channel you have, I subscribed!
ua-cam.com/channels/Meoh4JMpUNMLlGtcuxzhJA.htmlvideos
Which kind of soil is best suitable for bougainvillea bonsai
Bougainvillea do not like to have the roots too wet or they will start to rot. Any really good draining sol will work fine, make sure the soil begins to dry out a bit before giving it a good watering again. The plants like warmth and humidity and a greenhouse is an ideal location.
Nigel Saunders, The Bonsai Zone thank u sir
Hi Nigel your bonsai zone is brill can you help me interested in bonsia forest. 3D print tray please thank
Hello Jim, if you send me an email, I can send you the files...
thekwbonsaisociety@gmail.com
What is your soil mix recipe
I use 1/2 turface and 1/2 perlite. I screen the soil to remove the fine dust and particles. Here is a video on watering and fertilizing this soil....
ua-cam.com/video/gXIIpxUqxdY/v-deo.html
Is June to late to repot mine
No, anytime in the summer is a good time! Just keep it watered and out of full sun for a week or two.
Great video as always ; )
Your son is really adorable. May I ask how old he is?
He is 12, thanks!
:) thanks for sharing great video
Thank you again!
What size holes are in the sifter?
I think about 4 mm!
Was that 1/4" or less on the screen?
The screens for the bottom of the pot are 1/8 inch nylon window screening.
Is it by design or coincidence that all your bonsai plants have a sloping trunk and none are upright?
I think I actually have more upright trunks than slanting trunks in my collection. I'll have to count them and see! It is mostly determined by the initial root base that the tree started out with.
i love your videos. but the new lighten is way to dark.
I have to get some lights, I usually have the windows, but it got dark fast that day!