Thanks Kate! I don't want to sound like a cliche but I think it's doing bonsai that has taught me calmness and internal peace. At least in part anyway. How's the weather in England today? Crappy rain here, forecast for the whole weekend.. bonsai garden work will have to wait. ☔🤷♂️
@Blue Sky Bonsai - Ha, same here, a little gusty, also it was sh***ing it down a few minutes ago; so a bit miserable. 🌧️ I think it's a pyjama day for me today 😁 At least we won't need to water for a while!
There is something really soothing and cathartic about removing coils of wire - one coil at a time, and being left with a pile of little curly noodles of wire. It’s definitely one of my favourite bonsai jobs 😄
What an awesome trunk! The bark is fabulous 😍 I really do love Zelkova, they are a tree for all seasons. Another great video Dave, and you're right, Bonsai is a wonderful thing to do in these strange times. I find it's a way to quiet the mind and enjoy the fact that at that moment it's just me and my tree in our own little bubble xx
Thanks Rebecca! 😊 Yep, I suppose that bubble is what Nigel Saunders calls "the zone"... my bubble keeps getting burst by my kids demanding attention for something or other. Kids and bonsai trees: almost exact opposites! Totally agree about zelkova for all seasons, and they are so resilient too, like Chinese elms but even more resistant to infection.
Tree looking really good , yes it does hurt cutting wire off you cant use again ...now i know why you need relaxing music to take away the upset ;) your wiring looks really good , mine is a bit hap hazzard ..
Thanks Tas, actually some people have asked me following this video if I have a video on putting wiring on... I don't have such a video. Maybe something for the future.. not sure yet.
@@BlueSkyBonsai Yes i read that , Mirai does a good one perhaps some inspiration from that may help , not an easy topic , you do have a great way of presemting , love the white board Dave
Thanks James, unfortunately I haven't yet done a wiring turorial. It's on my list of videos to do, probably every Bonsai TH-camr must do it at some stage! (like I had to do a series on pruning, a series on repotting and a series on watering). So with those out the way, yes I should do a series on wiring. But don't hold your breath, my videos seem to take many weeks to make! 😊
Funny, I just removed mine today! I've really underestimated the vigor of my trees this year, got light wire scars on some places, but they'll heal over the years, I hope. Totally forgot about the wires on my himalayan cypresses, they got pretty severe marks now, but they're very young and very vigorous...
Hehe good timing! Yeah I'm constantly caught out by it.. I have some horrendous wire scars on the trident because they fatten so quickly. Even a guy wire with plastic to protect the branch caused ugly bulges each side. But for defo the more vigorous a species the quicker it should heal over. I still have 5 year old wire marks on a sagaretia, they never really heal, now I only use guy wires on them. Thanks Karliah and have a great weekend 😊
@@BlueSkyBonsai You too! Say, do you know if and how long Azaleas take to heal over? Mine got very(!) light scars now where the wire was too tight, so not everywhere, just a couple of places. They're not necessarily deep marks, just discoloration on the top layer of the bark. I'll probably take some photos next week.
@@KarIiah I wired an azalea in spring 2018, removed the wiring too late that summer and it left some telltale marks. Not light scars. You could still see the scarring in spring this year but assuming it comes back to life like Lazarus I guess by next summer they will be invisible. HTH. If it does come back to life I will call it Lazalea 😊
Hi Dave, wow absolutely amazing videos! Im in love with your channel and subbed right away! Thanks so much for all your advice you seem enlightened to me, I startes Bonsai 1 year ago and im 32 right now and one day I would love to have bonsais like you and visit your garden once! Is this zelkova a yamadori? Looks amazing!!!! Thanks so much for all your videos i binged through all of them for the past 3 days and i learned so much thanks a lot! I would love to get more trees but im broke so i try to get nice yamadoris and also plant seeds! Do you have any advice how I could get more trees and also different species?
Hi, I'm very happy to hear your story. And thanks for your kind words! I would suggest to you a slightly different philosophy, not necessarily changing anything you do, but to view it in a different way: Think of bonsai as a 5 to 10 year plan, or even 15 to 20. The trees you are developing right now can be fantastic beautiful bonsai in 20 years, worth a lot of money, but you will love them like old friends so you wouldn't sell them. Bonsai is a slow and gradual happiness that builds with time and patience. Get several different species in cheap grow pots, and experiment on them. Get a few good specimens of bonsai that you know will give good results including chinese elm, ficus retusa, a juniper and a boxwood. Those last two should be outside. Expect some trees to die over the next years. It happens. Learn from what caused each one to die and incorporate preventative measures in your routines. If you can, purchase a few cheap but substantial prebonsai trunks, with nice shape (tapered and with some movement), and develop them slowly thinking they won't be nice bonsai for at least 5 years. Similarly, you could get some cheapo Chinese Elms in bonsai pots and consider a development plan for each one, like a) keep small, already prune to shape, (b) plant in large pot and let it grow wild and big for 3 years before retraining into a small pot, and (c) grow huge dor 6 to 8 years and get a much bigger trunk. Consider between 20 and 60 trees. Less than 20, your loss will seem worse when some die. More than 60 trees, then you can't really give them all the attention and treatment they need. By the way, I'm interested in your opinion on my latest video since it's a bit different from the others. ("This simple technique might surprise you") If you haven't seen it yet maybe you could take a look and comment your opinion on that video? Every like and comment helps!! Thanks again! 😊
@@BlueSkyBonsai i will absolutely like and comment on the other video! I love how you always edit in graphical explanations! And thanks a ton for your advice! It is absolutely my goal to get over 60! I currently have a few species and i enjoy the long term process so this spring i will try to airlayer and grow trees from prunings, so to get more variety of species as i said i try yamadori and raising from seeds! Once I will have some budget I will try to collect prebonsais from tree schools as you mentioned! I absolutely love the process of bonsai and will enjoy every moment of it...my sister will give birth to her first son this december and i have a lot of seeds ongoing...some sprouting and some still in the fridge and whichever will sprout the closest to its birth date i will present to him once hes older :) i already planned for failure so ill always try to raise several if one might die...im surprised how well my wisteria seeds are doing in such a short amount of time! Thank you again for your time and amazing answer i will take this comment right to my heart! And from now on ill try to like and comment every video you update, already looking forward to the next one :)
Lol still being mocked by the kid...love it. Isn’t bonsai just for huge dorks or WHAT?? I’ve watched people unwrap every single wired branch from a heavily wired tree. I can understand the urge to reuse, but I just feel like the more to unwrap, the higher the chance you’re gonna snap a delicate little branch jere or there. Too much anxiety for me, but good on those with the patience!
Hehehe she is insisting on doing the voiceover on my next video, a bit of a risk... common sense says bad idea, but hey I like to live dangerously! Removing the wires, and talking of dorkishness it occurred to me we don't really need to recycle aluminium because it's completely abundant everywhere on earth. So yeah probably best to just snip it all off and bin it 🤓
I’m worried that you find wire removal relaxing. lol. I hate it. I often find my self questioning why and how I was able to get the wire on. It’s so bloody fiddly trying to get it off half the time 😂
Thanks Garrett! Yes you can wait until spring; the wires will do no harm over winter. But I suggest wait until the first flush of leaves has grown and hardened before removing wires, because the wires have a permanent bending effect only while the tree is actively growing leaves and new branch shoots. Also, in spring keep a close eye on those wires to make sure they don't bite into the bark. Hope that helps! 👍🏻
Thanks so much! Most of my bonsai tools are Ryuga brand. I buy them here in Spain - they're not the most expensive but they are high quality. Also, in this video: th-cam.com/video/_wsGWXRfhNA/w-d-xo.html I use two powertools wich are very useful for trunk carving work. The description of that video includes my affiliate links to those tools on Amazon, in case you are tempted!
that is a nice ass zelkova I need me one of those I got elms but no true zelkova, I'm thinking my broomstyle elm i made video on i made the 2 branches to spread out but we will see how it turns out next year, to me even unwiring is sort of relaxing in a way I just go little by little I cut down piece by piece cus I'm scared of breaking any branches while unwiring (cus my small ass trees)
That's right man you gotta get yourself a zelkova!, They are great, it might live longer than me, my future grandchildren will have to look after it someday!
You have a lovely calm manner, so this was relaxing to watch, on a lazy Saturday morning! Thanks Dave 😊
Thanks Kate! I don't want to sound like a cliche but I think it's doing bonsai that has taught me calmness and internal peace. At least in part anyway.
How's the weather in England today? Crappy rain here, forecast for the whole weekend.. bonsai garden work will have to wait. ☔🤷♂️
@Blue Sky Bonsai - Ha, same here, a little gusty, also it was sh***ing it down a few minutes ago; so a bit miserable. 🌧️ I think it's a pyjama day for me today 😁 At least we won't need to water for a while!
@@katedodd79 My thoughts exactly! Natural watering 😊🌳
What a gorgeous zelkova. Nice branching, powerful trunk. Well done Dave!
Thanks so much Sauli! 😊
Thanks
Thank you so much! 😊
There is something really soothing and cathartic about removing coils of wire - one coil at a time, and being left with a pile of little curly noodles of wire. It’s definitely one of my favourite bonsai jobs 😄
Me too... as long as wire has not caused wire bite in the bark!
Love to follow your videos Dave. I like the calmness in your voice that so fits Bonsai
Thanks!! That calmness I believe comes directly from the therapeutic nature of working on the bonsai trees.
Beautiful bonsai thanks for sharing success from indonesia
Thanks for your kind words! 🌳👍🏻
Great relaxing video, the trees looking good 👌😀
Thanks J, glad you liked it! 😊👍🏻
What an awesome trunk! The bark is fabulous 😍 I really do love Zelkova, they are a tree for all seasons. Another great video Dave, and you're right, Bonsai is a wonderful thing to do in these strange times. I find it's a way to quiet the mind and enjoy the fact that at that moment it's just me and my tree in our own little bubble xx
Thanks Rebecca! 😊
Yep, I suppose that bubble is what Nigel Saunders calls "the zone"... my bubble keeps getting burst by my kids demanding attention for something or other. Kids and bonsai trees: almost exact opposites!
Totally agree about zelkova for all seasons, and they are so resilient too, like Chinese elms but even more resistant to infection.
Tree looking really good , yes it does hurt cutting wire off you cant use again ...now i know why you need relaxing music to take away the upset ;) your wiring looks really good , mine is a bit hap hazzard ..
Thanks Tas, actually some people have asked me following this video if I have a video on putting wiring on... I don't have such a video. Maybe something for the future.. not sure yet.
@@BlueSkyBonsai Yes i read that , Mirai does a good one perhaps some inspiration from that may help , not an easy topic , you do have a great way of presemting , love the white board Dave
@@tasanastasi7799 thanks again, maybe wiring is possibility for another 3D CGI model 🤔 uh oh, that takes sooo long to create! 😂😂
hey Dave, I am slowly working through your excellent channel and I was wondering if you have an instructional video on wiring techniques?
Thanks James, unfortunately I haven't yet done a wiring turorial. It's on my list of videos to do, probably every Bonsai TH-camr must do it at some stage! (like I had to do a series on pruning, a series on repotting and a series on watering). So with those out the way, yes I should do a series on wiring. But don't hold your breath, my videos seem to take many weeks to make! 😊
Progressing well!
Thanks Jack! Yep I think it will only be 4 or 5 more years to become a really full broom 🌳👍🏻
Funny, I just removed mine today! I've really underestimated the vigor of my trees this year, got light wire scars on some places, but they'll heal over the years, I hope.
Totally forgot about the wires on my himalayan cypresses, they got pretty severe marks now, but they're very young and very vigorous...
Hehe good timing! Yeah I'm constantly caught out by it.. I have some horrendous wire scars on the trident because they fatten so quickly. Even a guy wire with plastic to protect the branch caused ugly bulges each side. But for defo the more vigorous a species the quicker it should heal over. I still have 5 year old wire marks on a sagaretia, they never really heal, now I only use guy wires on them.
Thanks Karliah and have a great weekend 😊
@@BlueSkyBonsai You too!
Say, do you know if and how long Azaleas take to heal over? Mine got very(!) light scars now where the wire was too tight, so not everywhere, just a couple of places. They're not necessarily deep marks, just discoloration on the top layer of the bark. I'll probably take some photos next week.
@@KarIiah I wired an azalea in spring 2018, removed the wiring too late that summer and it left some telltale marks. Not light scars. You could still see the scarring in spring this year but assuming it comes back to life like Lazarus I guess by next summer they will be invisible. HTH. If it does come back to life I will call it Lazalea 😊
Hi Dave, wow absolutely amazing videos! Im in love with your channel and subbed right away! Thanks so much for all your advice you seem enlightened to me, I startes Bonsai 1 year ago and im 32 right now and one day I would love to have bonsais like you and visit your garden once! Is this zelkova a yamadori? Looks amazing!!!! Thanks so much for all your videos i binged through all of them for the past 3 days and i learned so much thanks a lot! I would love to get more trees but im broke so i try to get nice yamadoris and also plant seeds! Do you have any advice how I could get more trees and also different species?
Hi, I'm very happy to hear your story. And thanks for your kind words!
I would suggest to you a slightly different philosophy, not necessarily changing anything you do, but to view it in a different way:
Think of bonsai as a 5 to 10 year plan, or even 15 to 20. The trees you are developing right now can be fantastic beautiful bonsai in 20 years, worth a lot of money, but you will love them like old friends so you wouldn't sell them.
Bonsai is a slow and gradual happiness that builds with time and patience. Get several different species in cheap grow pots, and experiment on them. Get a few good specimens of bonsai that you know will give good results including chinese elm, ficus retusa, a juniper and a boxwood. Those last two should be outside. Expect some trees to die over the next years. It happens. Learn from what caused each one to die and incorporate preventative measures in your routines.
If you can, purchase a few cheap but substantial prebonsai trunks, with nice shape (tapered and with some movement), and develop them slowly thinking they won't be nice bonsai for at least 5 years. Similarly, you could get some cheapo Chinese Elms in bonsai pots and consider a development plan for each one, like a) keep small, already prune to shape, (b) plant in large pot and let it grow wild and big for 3 years before retraining into a small pot, and (c) grow huge dor 6 to 8 years and get a much bigger trunk. Consider between 20 and 60 trees. Less than 20, your loss will seem worse when some die. More than 60 trees, then you can't really give them all the attention and treatment they need.
By the way, I'm interested in your opinion on my latest video since it's a bit different from the others. ("This simple technique might surprise you") If you haven't seen it yet maybe you could take a look and comment your opinion on that video? Every like and comment helps!! Thanks again! 😊
@@BlueSkyBonsai i will absolutely like and comment on the other video! I love how you always edit in graphical explanations! And thanks a ton for your advice! It is absolutely my goal to get over 60! I currently have a few species and i enjoy the long term process so this spring i will try to airlayer and grow trees from prunings, so to get more variety of species as i said i try yamadori and raising from seeds! Once I will have some budget I will try to collect prebonsais from tree schools as you mentioned! I absolutely love the process of bonsai and will enjoy every moment of it...my sister will give birth to her first son this december and i have a lot of seeds ongoing...some sprouting and some still in the fridge and whichever will sprout the closest to its birth date i will present to him once hes older :) i already planned for failure so ill always try to raise several if one might die...im surprised how well my wisteria seeds are doing in such a short amount of time! Thank you again for your time and amazing answer i will take this comment right to my heart! And from now on ill try to like and comment every video you update, already looking forward to the next one :)
@@SVIMXNmtg thanks Simon, and congratulations to your sister, enjoy your bigger family!
Lol still being mocked by the kid...love it. Isn’t bonsai just for huge dorks or WHAT??
I’ve watched people unwrap every single wired branch from a heavily wired tree. I can understand the urge to reuse, but I just feel like the more to unwrap, the higher the chance you’re gonna snap a delicate little branch jere or there. Too much anxiety for me, but good on those with the patience!
Hehehe she is insisting on doing the voiceover on my next video, a bit of a risk... common sense says bad idea, but hey I like to live dangerously!
Removing the wires, and talking of dorkishness it occurred to me we don't really need to recycle aluminium because it's completely abundant everywhere on earth. So yeah probably best to just snip it all off and bin it 🤓
Nice tree and nice end.
Thanks a lot bro!
I’m worried that you find wire removal relaxing. lol. I hate it. I often find my self questioning why and how I was able to get the wire on. It’s so bloody fiddly trying to get it off half the time 😂
Hahaha 😂 but the question is, was it relaxing watching someone else doing it, or did you find your blood pressure elevated even watching??
Another amazing tree. If I already wired my deciduous tree , can I just wait until spring to remove them?
Thanks Garrett! Yes you can wait until spring; the wires will do no harm over winter. But I suggest wait until the first flush of leaves has grown and hardened before removing wires, because the wires have a permanent bending effect only while the tree is actively growing leaves and new branch shoots. Also, in spring keep a close eye on those wires to make sure they don't bite into the bark. Hope that helps! 👍🏻
@@BlueSkyBonsai Yes that does! Thanks!
Great ❤️
Thank you! 😊
I love your channel.
I was windering what kind of tools/manufacturer do you use?
Thanks so much!
Most of my bonsai tools are Ryuga brand. I buy them here in Spain - they're not the most expensive but they are high quality.
Also, in this video: th-cam.com/video/_wsGWXRfhNA/w-d-xo.html I use two powertools wich are very useful for trunk carving work. The description of that video includes my affiliate links to those tools on Amazon, in case you are tempted!
that is a nice ass zelkova I need me one of those I got elms but no true zelkova, I'm thinking my broomstyle elm i made video on i made the 2 branches to spread out but we will see how it turns out next year, to me even unwiring is sort of relaxing in a way I just go little by little I cut down piece by piece cus I'm scared of breaking any branches while unwiring (cus my small ass trees)
That's right man you gotta get yourself a zelkova!, They are great, it might live longer than me, my future grandchildren will have to look after it someday!
@@BlueSkyBonsai god willing 🙏
like bonsai
Thanks for watching and commenting!
Are the branches not supposed to be proportional to the trunk?
Yep - definitely. Still developing the branches.
FIRST
...I don’t want brag but that was some good reaction time there.
Bloody'ell that was impressively quick Mr C.! 🏃♂️🙌👍