yeah. ive been using peter's professional 20 20 20 at 2g per gallon about every two weeks. i also give them real growers recharge (a microbe/kelp/humic acid) once a month.

the big one has been in that 3 gallon for 5 years. ive been using Bonsaijack inorganic mix.

this cultivar just loves my zone 8a climate. it reminds it of home 😁 plus I feed a lot because my trees don't need to be reined in so to speak.

at the moment im using coco/perlite for seed starting sifted perlite/vermiculite for cuttings coco/perlite for one to to two year old cuttings pumice/lava/fired clay for older trees.

Awesome! Thank you so much :)

i was using inorganic universal bonsai soil from Bonsaijack

as long as i wake up to water these guys, we won't give up 🖖

these low shoots are really sacrifice branches, too. just as these shoots came from adventitious needle buds on the main trunk, the final branches will be selected from adventitious buds closer to the base of these low shoots; though probably more like the adventitious buds of those buds. in the first zoomed in shot you can see some small needle buds coming out. these are what we cut back to to compact the size of the tree. really healthy shoots will back bud on jbp, so i didn't want to prune too much at this stage of growing out. ill probably decandle a few shoots that i want to slow down, but i don't really need bifurcation of these shoots at the tips for more ramification at this stage because these shoots are still just sacrifice branches. see what i mean 🙂

@@DarthMasiah thank you for the great reply! I totally understand what you mean.

i buy Thunder Group brand name colanders from restaurant supply shops on the internet. they start at 8".

Thanks

It looks like you can get them on Temu. Not seeing that style anywhere else yet. I really like that bowl style.

@@samuelmula5570 search for 'Thunder Group colanders'. they're on amazon, too.

Many thanks! Found the Thunder Group ones. Now I'm being overly picky about color options. Where did you get your cage table tops?

it starts by doing the seedling cutting technique so there's no long initial growth of the stem. instead of elongating off it's first tap root(s), the needles have to make new roots after you cut the stem off. that's why i cut close to the first needles. out of these needles you get the adventitious buds.

hoard hoard hoard 😄

I've thought about it. I'll definitely give a holler when i put some out there for sale.

ive rooted pencil thick cuttings with no special treatment. just cut right off the tree and stuck in soil. this kotohime cultivar is a very strong rooter naturally, so you shouldn't have too many problems.

these are the 8" size Thunder Group brand colanders

Thanks for the help. Wish we could get that brand here in the UK. They look great.

yep, all the ones in blue colanders are 5 years old this spring. the main tree i cut back in this video looked exactly like this after i chopped it back in 2019, only it was finger thick. in june i took five cuttings from the new shoots and here they are today 😊 ill have to do a video on cuttings later on. i took some already right before buds were opening, but we can try some after the shoots have extended and leaves harden off.

@@DarthMasiah Thank you for your reply. A video on cuttings would be highly appreciated. Always eager to lern other peoples methods and your results really speak for themself.

thanks. zone 8a

I’m in zone 8b…….. WTF is the difference between a and b? I’m in Washington state btw, just south of Seattle, WA. I appreciate ur videos, man, thanks for sharing.

they're the 8" Thunder Group brand.

thanks, brother. it's been a lot of fun incorporating different techniques to try and fight some of my pet peeves in the bonsai I'm developing; like you mentioned, slow trunk growth and ugly nebari. i just hope someone will get a cool idea to try from checking out my bs 😁

not too bad. they look healthy this spring. should be a good growing season. going to start decandling this year. here's my latest post www.bonsainut.com/threads/jbp-from-seed-for-the-1st-time-the-force-is-not-strong-in-this-one.40009/post-1109669

i wasn't selling any of these older cuttings. i have some one year olds i might sell down the road after a little more development.

@DarthMasiah ok thanks I know how it is letting go of a tree you have worked on for years.

@@jameswalker3416 feels good to help out others in a shared hobby, though. I'm definitely working on having some trees to sell later on. I'm not a big nursery, so my prices might be high, but quality is what I'm striving for.

@DarthMasiah no worries, I'll see what you got when the time comes

not at the moment.

Ok, thanks for the reply@@DarthMasiah

actually amazing. i let this tree grow free for awhile and it got huge. it's been a great mom too. ive started quite a few more bonsai from cuttings and it airlayers great. i have a kotohime playlist with a few more videos, but i really post a lot to bonsainut.com. link to my threads in my channel description.

i wouldn't cut off any small buds low on the trunk. i was only taking off side shoots on the sacrifice branch.

@@DarthMasiah but would it hurt the tree if i cut that part?

@@berryfrenkal not much. it'll just send more strength to the top of the tree.

@@DarthMasiah thanks!

trying to make exposed root style trees.

this one didn't make but a couple other ones did.

thanks for the props. im in zone 8a. i water the pines almost every day in summer because they dry out pretty fast in inorganic substrate combined with the colander. i get a lot of rain at different times of the year, so the fast draining substrate helps with overwatering. for the pines wet/dry cycle, they like going over the line toward the dryer side before watering again, so like now in the fall months with the temps dropping, especially at night, i haven't had to water as often. 4yr olds: still almost every day. 3yr olds about every 2 days. the seedlings in coco coir/perlite get watered about once a week now. i do leave the pines on the bench in winter. i haven't lost any to cold yet. it usually gets down to around 20f consistently.

thank you!! @@DarthMasiah