You have a young tree and want to make it into a bonsai - but how do you begin? Two year old starters like Japanese Black Pine are to bonsai hobbyists, what a fresh ball of clay is to a potter. It's what Eric finds so exciting about starting a bonsai from scratch! In this video, Eric demonstrates three examples of what you can do with a two year old JBP starter. "Think of all the steps of bonsai design with the end point in mind!"
It's early October in the San Francisco Bay area. These two year old trees have been growing in the field for the past year. They were germinated in January 2020, wired as one-year-olds, and have now experienced two full growing seasons.
Example 1: Creating a Shohin bonsai
2:38 This tree has nice movement, acquired from it's first wiring as a one-year-old. To create a Shohin, the tree needs tight movement, which with Japanese Black Pine, can only be created by early wiring. By year two, the tree will already have too much wood. Eric looks at the tree to figure out his plan for it.
3:13 Eric decides to design it into a shohin-size tree. To do this, the trunk needs to get a lot bigger; he needs to set a starting point for all the primary branches, keep everything relatively compact, and most importantly, this is the best chance to give a cut point for sacrifice branch. Eric adds wire, and explains why he wires the roots.
5:18 The very good reason why Eric uses non standard wire techniques.
7:32 Sometimes the best way to avoid an "S" curve is to make an "S" and then change it - bending to give yourself choices in the future.
9:05 Eric explains why he removes most of the large side buds at the top of the tree.
10:40 For our climate, repotting is safe at this time. Eric puts it into a 6" Finofil pond basket, and anchors the tree to the side of the container.
Example 2: Creating a Bunjin bonsai
13:50 This starter will become a tall, bunjin style tree with an elegant line. First, Eric exposes the surface roots and removes those he doesn't like.
16:20 Wiring the tree, aiming for a nice tapering base. Eric creates twisting movement, avoiding the dreaded "S" curve, varying between gentle and sharper curves.
18:53 At the top, there are 4 side buds at whorls plus the main junction; Eric removes all but the smallest to avoid reverse taper at that node.
21:46 Repotting to provide for vigorous but controllable growth over the next few years. Eric shares how to create guide wires.
Example 3: Creating a Mame bonsai
23:17 Watch Eric start this tree on its way to becoming a very small, mini tree, or mame. Eric plans to pot the tree into an Mitunobu Ito mame container: www.bonsaify.com/collections/....
25:05 Why does Eric trim off more roots than in the first two example trees?
26:13 Watch One Big Cut!
27:45 Eric repots the tree into a tiny container.
31:19 One final note on seasonality - pay attention to this!
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Music by Bensound.com