Gary McCarthy my thoughts exactly! I never had that good of luck in doing this

It’s quite impressive how powerful the will to succeed plants and trees have in them .

I'm glad you found it, too!

Thank you! I appreciate hearing that

Thanks @mikbonsai!

abraços!

This is bonsai - time is on your side! I wish you loads of luck with your growing collection!

Definitely! The shari extends through the main trunk, which was dead. This will make for an awesome carving in the future.

Thanks & thanks!! We love our sweet girls, the little punks. ;)

yeah!!! Thanks for the love!

Another one on the way! Editing now.

Ok thankssssss

Sweet, and thanks for subscribing! I hope the tree does well. Keep an eye on it - summertime digging can be extremely stressful on the tree. If you've got others in mind, I'd wait until spring. Until then, keep studying up and checking on that new collection! Good luck, DB!

Appalachian Bonsai yeah I did have another couple in mind. Good to know, I'll wait till spring. Going to give the one I gathered yesterday some compost tea after work.

Thanks Blues Barn!! More coming soon.

can't wait ...im a complete beginner would you please do some videos for complete beginners like me in which you explain the basics of bonsai , the root structures (what to cut and why) soil maybe a hommemade soil /substrate for bonsai ...and please keep sharing . thank you

Fantástico! Obrigado pelo amor e apoio!

Thanks, @mike_Scott! More coming, and hopefully soon

Thank you!

You don't have to find them in the woods. They're in the city, in people's backyards, old businesses. If I see something I like, I stop & ask. There's a man in Florida, USA who collects what he calls 'urban yamadori.' He finds abandoned lots or construction sites & asks permission. He has some beautiful trees from it. Give a try if you can't get into the woods.

COLLIN BONSAI Que Dios te amo mucho mucho y yo yo voy a ver que tal ves hccvv a vccccvcccçg hora hora que ccvçc çcç

I posted an update on this a few weeks ago! Thanks!!

I love working hard. It's what I do. Go go go!!

We shall see. It's definitely healthy!

I find it rewarding, too. There's a hesitation until it leafs out. Then I start to breathe easy. But, then there's sadness for those that don't. Of the 13 trees I collected last year, I only lost one (92% success!). But of the 5 trees collected this year, I've, again, lost one, with another I'm having to keep an extra eye on (80%). Hurts my feelings to lose them. Such is bonsai, neh? Thanks for the comment!

Absolutely! Hope this was helpful, and I wish you luck with them!

I have more of these videos coming.

Update*

Did you read my mind?! That's going to be the next video!! I'm editing now

Wonderful! Maybe we'll run into each other one of these days, like at the NC Arboretum for the annual expo. Until then, keep having fun!

Fantastic! Thank you for the support!

Be absolutely honest. - I'm digging up trees for bonsai. 'What's that?' - Those little trees that are often seen in Japanese culture. "Oh! Those are neat. I know what you're talking about. You do that?!" - Yup, and you can create them from local materials, not just Japanese trees. "Wow. Sure, dig them all up."

Appalachian Bonsai i don’t get the fuzz about people getting mad at you taking a tree trunk here or there. Honestly, it is of little value unless you go through the hassle of making it a bonsai. It’s not like people are regularly caught „stealing“ trees from public forests....cause it has no value to them. Quite the opposite, the state pays people to cut down a certain portion of trees so it doesn’t get out of control and each individual tree has more light. These weeded out trees are often just discarded as they are too small to use in the wood industry. You are doing just that for free the way i see it (unless it’s private ground)

В этом году мне нужно будет обновить видео

yahoo!!

Will do!

hi do you only work with collected material and can i ask what soil would you use for mugo pines thanks.

Only some of my bonsai are created from collected material. I have many that were started from nursery stock, and in fact, when I first started, it was all nursery stock. I have some pines, including some mugo. The mugo were bought at my local nursery. When I transplant them, I'll do the same as other pines: Sifted fired clay, diatomaceous earth, and pine bark. I'll mix them 40:40:20. Here in the States, I use Turface brand clay, NAPA #8822 or Oil-Dri for diatom earth, then pine bark soil conditioner - all of it bought at local hardware stores & nurseries.

Thank you

This thing rocked! It grew more than two foot by the end of May. As healthy as it grew, I felt comfortable giving it the same early-summer prune I give my other trees. It's back to two foot again! *Note: most collected materials need a full growing season to renew their health. This one took off like a weed (and probably that's why it's so invasive around here).

Abraços!

Thanks!

You're right! Bonsai soil is very different from normal potting soil. It's actually akin to hydroponics medium. Coarse well-draining soils allow water to fully penetrate the roots, allow the roots to grow very freely and vigorously, and helps prevent compaction over the years. The nutrients are provided through fertilizers, which are absorbed by the porous components of the mix, then slow-released back to the plant. My mix is roughly 66% inorganic to 33% organic materials. I'm almost finished with the next video, which is on soils. Hope you'll stick around for it!

I can definitely go more in depth about it, and should. I'm working up ideas on collection techniques vid and will put that in there. If it runs too long, I'll do a stand-alone.

They were definitely beautiful, but there were a few things that kept me from collecting them. First, there wasn't anything really interesting about them. They were very pretty, but not stellar. I determined they would look better on the mountainside where they were than in a pot at my home. Second, the nodes between branches were long. For bonsai, they need to be closer and more compact. It's easy to correct this issue in deciduous trees, but pines & junipers have limitations on breaking adventitious buds from old wood. Lastly, creating a bonsai out of these particular trees would take an extreme amount of time. Assuming I collected it and it lived and I was able to get it to bud back, the time involved to create a nice bonsai could take decades. Yes, this is bonsai and that means a lifetime of work, but starting with good material first means my decades are spent refining an amazing tree, not correcting and hoping it works out with a okay tree. All that said, I collected a pine this year that has the potential to become an incredible bonsai. I think you'll see the difference, and why it pays to be picky & choosy about what you collect or purchase. Maybe I should do a video about what I'm seeing when it comes to selecting material, both in the woods and in the nursery. What do you think?

Thank you very much for a structured and informative answer. Indeed, it would be very nice to see this thinking process both on the nursery plants and on the wild trees, I will definitely enjoy such a video as it is a great way to learn something from someone who has more experience than I have. And looking forward to seeing that pine you wrote about.

Estou espantado com quantos brasileiros assistem meus vídeos! Eu estou trabalhando em obter traduções para todos vocês. Posso usar o Google Translate, mas algumas coisas podem se perder sem um alto-falante verdadeiro. O que você acha? Apenas usá-lo? Muito obrigado!!

Only subtitles are sufficient, it will be of great help. Here in Brazil we have many good bonsai, but we have a lot more apprentices, sedentary people for information that we can not easily find in Brazilian videos. And believe me, there will be many more people accompanying your work. Thanks for what you do.

Delivered one for you today! Thanks for checking in

I will!

You can, but if it's large you want to cover the wound with some kind of paste so that it doesn't dry out. Otherwise, if it lives, it will send shoots from the base. No guarantees, but it's a possibility.

For my area, it's just so I can find it again. There aren't many people who collect trees around here, so I'd be safe. But it does bring an awareness.

Yes & Yes, thought I prefer the spring. For me, it's late February - early April, depending on weather and what the trees are doing.

The signs you should look for is the swelling of buds in the tree. The water & sugars have been pushed into the trunk of the tree in preparation for growing, which means it's ready to come out of dormancy. I can't say when that will happen in your area, but it occurs with all trees. You just need to keep an eye out for it. The more you watch over the coming years, the more you'll see when the time is right. Some branches are okay, but you don't need them all. Leave as many roots as you can. As said before, the nutrients that have been pushed into the trunk should help sustain the new growth for some time. Check out Nigel Saunders' channel. He's over in BC and may give you some more insights about collecting in Canada from his collection videos. I wish you luck, and hope this is helpful for you!

Tanks, yes it help :)

muito legal!

I usually give it two to four weeks, depending on how severe the cuts were and when it starts to grow. Once it starts growing, I gradually start giving the trees more light. Morning and/or evening sun are excellent, because the light isn't very intense. And, depending on species, some trees stay in partial shade. My junipers and pines love full sun. My maples and hornbeams like a little shade. Does that help?

Alguns são da minha propriedade, alguns são de amigos, alguns são de estranhos. Todos eles estão com permissão. É melhor perguntar do que problemas de risco.

I haven't kept tropicals for a number of years, but I do have friends that continue to keep ficus, serissas, and others. They generally use a little finer mix with more organic media in it. One uses the same mixture as I do (Turface, diatom earth & pine bark), but also peat moss and coconut coir with some coarse sand in the mix. Check out Nigel Saunders' KZfaq channel. He has loads of ficus, serissas, and tropicals, with plenty of tutorials about tropical bonsai care. Whatever you use, make sure water can reach all areas of the root ball and that it drains well. If you're still uncertain, contact a bonsai nursery in your area. If there isn't one, there are several in Florida that could answer better. Wish I could help you better on this one.

oh! I see. It's been a while since I didn't look at Nigel's channel. Thank you so much bro it helps a lot. :-)

by the way i have here some of your videos collection from spring time those hawthorn, hornbeam, dogwood etc. collecting videos kept in my pc. its a little funny though 'm collecting your videos collecting bonsai... 'm a fan of appalachian bonsai for a year now and I've found some of your work inspiring...hope you didnt stop uploading these kind of collecting videos... more power!

I get them at various places. As part of a bonsai club, there are plenty of older bonsai artists who can no longer care for (or carry) larger trees, so they lighten their collection of pots & materials at our annual summer auction for a very low cost ($250 pots for $25?! - can't beat it - join a club!). Additionally, almost all of my BIG pots (Ø16"+ are either mica or resin/plastic that I bought at auction or bonsai expo. The trees in them aren't for show yet, so who cares what they're growing in right now. And for the trees in training, or newly collected trees like this honeysuckle, I even go so far as to use large rubbermaid tubs (

Some of it is experience from trial and error. Trees with large leaves are harder to make smaller. Some trees grow straight as an arrow, which can be difficult to make the bottom limbs look proportional to the supposed age of the bonsai.

Yes it is, but usually just before they start to wake up. For instance, here in Virginia, USA, I collect in late February-end of March, but I wouldn't collect any winter time before that. Hope that helps you!

I took part of it. Just after the video section, it broke in half! It's turned out to be very brittle.

bummer. anyways.. the honeysuckle looks like it will turn out to be an excellent bonsai specimen

The slab is called Schist by the way :) In case you would like to find more like those !

It's a great question. I haven't tried this with bonsai but I have done some gold panning. Shaking loose particles will separate out the small from the large and the heavy from the light. This process is used to great effect in gold panning, where stratification (created by shaking) allows the heavy metals like gold to settle and the loose to be washed away. My guess for bonsai soil would be, the particles will definitely fill the pockets, but heavier particles like granite or sand would move to the lower parts of the pot & compact, and the lighter organic materials would move to the top, only to be washed away when you water it. If you use a chopstick, you still create this process, but on a smaller scale. The mixture is still relatively mixed, and by the time you bump the pot/container at the end most of the soil is already in place. I hope that helps! Let me know

No. The tree does a pretty good job of quarantining areas off. However, with larger cuts, it never hurts to add a paste or glue to prevent moisture evaporation.

Thug life!... and it was below freezing and super windy.

Sneks.

I'm about 2.5 - 3 hours south of you near Ferrum, VA, and I am part of the Hinoki Club in Roanoke (an hour away). The closest club I can think of near you would be Lynchburg, but that's a haul. Since you don't have one nearby, have you thought of creating your own? It may be something as simple as getting a flyer or ad in the local paper, finding a free or cheap community space, and having some basic lessons. The more people you can drum up, the stronger your bonsai community comes. You could invite guest artists who would volunteer their time (I'd come given enough notice for planning), and do some lectures & demos. What I'm saying is, you might have to plant the seed and nurture it to fruition. And you never know, other artists may already be out there. I have several friends in Floyd that do bonsai. We all found each other through word of mouth. Go to a party and suddenly, "Oh! You do bonsai! Do you know so-and-so?" And, that's how we've become our own micro bonsai community. It wouldn't be hard to start a club from this point. Think about it. It's possible!

Check the video description for full details. Aquarium gravel can be used, but beware of colored varieties. The paint wears off over time & can clog the holes. For display, colored gravels would look unnatural & detract from the tree & composition. However, for training purposes, go for it!

Para a maioria das árvores por aqui, posso usar o mesmo substrato que o meu bonsai regular. 70:30 inorgânico a orgânico, como Turface e casca de pinheiro. Se a bola de raiz fosse muito apertada, como em uma rocha, eu poderia mudar isso, mas muitas vezes não encontro essas árvores.

Que bom que você gostou!

sempre acompanho seu canal, show de bola

Estou tentando convencer minha cunhada a escrever legendas em português e espanhol. Me deseje sorte!

toda sorte do mundo brother, abração.

Appalachian Bonsai

I don't put it in full sun for the first several weeks after collection. Once it starts growing new leaves, I gradually move it from partial to full sun depending on the species. This honeysuckle is now in full sun & growing very vigorously! Some species like dogwood and maple can handle full sun, but they're also understory trees, so they see to do best in partial sun here. I have them in a spot that gets morning and evening sun, but not midday.

If you plant seeds, would you put them outdoors in the sun or in house?

Depends on the species of seed & time of year. For instance, tomatoes we usually start indoors during the late winter/early spring, because they don't prefer the cold. Then we transfer to the garden in mid-May after last frost. But, we put beans, beets, and squash directly in the ground late spring/early summer. For trees, I'd put them outdoors if they're cold tolerant. Many temperate tree seeds won't even take unless they've had at least one cold spell (chestnut & paw paw are good examples). If they're hardy-zoned for your area, then, like temperate bonsai, they belong outside.

Turface MVP, pine bark, diatomaceous earth, coarse sand. Ratio 3:3:2:1

Sorta. Check the video description or my Tips & Tricks video for full details.

sometimes, you do what you gotta!

It is still evolving! This was only collected this year, and has several more years to go.