Life on Herons Bonsai Nursery

So what Am I doing today On the nursery many people think that It's always about playing with trees Pruning fish shaping trees but even the Boss like me are to go around the Nursery sweeping the nursery so it's not As simple a life as you think it is So apart from sweeping look at their Debris I was sweeping just about half an Hour ago So let me show you what we have to do at This time of the year it's one of those Jobs that you can't put off There are a lot of touring to do and you Must be wondering why I don't do it the Rest of the year there's very good Reason because I always go this point so This has been gone this is a Korean Whole beam I'm going for taper so you See how the tape is made over there and Because I don't want to waste it this is A very rare treat I'm going to Airline From then I'll get another uh hornbeam From there but I don't want these Branches to be too long So this is going to be kept aside for Air hearing literally in about six weeks Or two months time I will be doing air Layering to it so I'm just Pruning some of these back So it can produce your ramification So as we grow you can see how the taper Is being created so that's that

Now another tree that You will see lying around the nursery Things like that we let it go to get Strong and then when we feel it's strong Enough there's a spiral cancer I then Prune it back to shape Now this is a bit strong so I'm going to Prune this long shoot back As tall as that Pirate hunter in the UK Is A bit sensitive to frost and cold So they need some protection so that's What I put back there so you can see how Much I've taken off now these are crab Apples that we go from seeds so can you See how tall they are See it's almost like Two meter tall you know So this is all one year's growth all That is one year's growth and if you Keep letting it go it'll reach the sky So last year it was cut there I'm going To cut it there this year so all these Crab apples I don't want them to go that Tall So we have to head it back To produce branching If you don't do this General pruning you Don't get these shrubs or trees to Produce side shoots so this is a general Principle that is worth knowing So all these poetries We prune back like that

So this is a very general sort of chore That we're doing Let me look at some other things now This for instance the tried Maples It's a magnificent tree and you must be Wondering how I get this ramification so To do that I just go around the ends and Keep doing this I do this all the time Even in the summer I do it but this is a Tree that I don't want to grow any Taller so I stopped it here I'm not Going to keep adding more and more table This is where the taper will end So it is just pruning the fine tricks And not letting any more Strong shoots grow Because I don't want to add tape I don't Want the tree to get Too Tall so this is Just showing you the point that will Probably take me 10 minutes to do the whole tree because There are literally hundreds if not Thousands of little shoots that I have To pull the ends off So this is a very very routine job that One is always always doing now let's go To another one this is the Dawn Redwood That I Grew From A Long Tricky tree This is probably the 15th year of Training you can see where it was Chopped there if you come to the back You can see that big cut So that is where I chopped it initially

After making an airling and the airline Was earlier twice so I've got three Trees out of it so that's how I add the Taper chop there more table chop there And that's where it ends so all these Ends I'm going to Head back to produce more ramification So ramification Lot is written about it a lot of Mystique to it but generally speaking it Is just the process of pulling the tips And by pulling the tips you get more Butt break And that's how you get The fine Twigs forming Like so those are sprouting up I can Wire if I don't want too many branches I Can take that off this was only produced Last year so you can see how vigorous These trees are extremely vigorous See some of them have to be wired though So You have to constantly wire and rewire To get the shape you want because the Natural tendency of all plants is to Spring upwards so all these I'll Probably have to use thicker wires now So this is how I deal with this one Now I need to say something about these Horse chestnuts this is not a very good Example because it's a red horse Chestnut very tempting to leave the Shoots One touch but you should take it off

Because if you don't take it off now It will just get extended But if you take it off now you will Encourage side shoots to go so you've Got to sacrifice some of this I will show you on a bigger one too this Is privet privet is so prolific all These hedging Parts you have to Constantly do this all the time see this Uh zalkova Serato again all the ends Keep trimming keep trimming these are Maples Maples of course the only way to Get ramification is to constantly Constantly cut back the tips cut back The tips No substitute for that a lot of people Think that ramification occurs naturally Without any effort it does now look at This whole wheel that branch is coming Back on itself is going the wrong way I've got to be a bit severe and take it Back to that and all the tips again Headed back couple of inches Create more density So all these Maples you have to do the Same because you see hundreds of them That keep me busy So even a tree like this where there's Already quite good ramification this is A Korean horn beam and all that Ramification is achieved by constantly Pulling the ends just keeping it tipping Tipping at random just have an eye on The overall shape and that's how it's

Created and again see how we create Taper You can see how we've cut it And then the new leader takes place you Will notice I'll just point out that I Haven't sealed some of these trees if You don't seal the trees it doesn't come To any harm it'll make the natural Hollow so it's all these Hollows are not Achieved by carving they're just left Unsealed and they will make the hollows On their own automatically it will be Created I will show you another two Develop on the throne See this is here look See this how when it heals over you get The whole effect that has been cut it's Not sealed now this is a very very good Example this is an ancient Chinese Zone That we have we never seal the cut so it Makes these Hollow features which you Will find in nature which is much more Pleasing than having to Uh seal it and Getting it to heal over so this will Become completely Hollow natural feature I will show you another one which is Very very natural These features come about Just letting the wood rot They are not sealed when the cut is made We did a little experiment in fact this Is parma priya's work

He used the type of paste to put over The cut which was done to a big Japanese Maple And you see how the callus forms there Once it forms it will carry on forming And it will heal over eventually all This will heal over eventually on some Maples I will show you this very big one Which I use the Crowbar to make this Tree if you remember Now this one if you come around this Side This is a cut paste we use called black Balsam means you can see how the callus Is forming it does help the callus to Form And it'll heal over completely but where I didn't put paste look at this one I'm Letting this form a hollow naturally so Sometimes You don't have to put paste on it and Just let the things Hollow themselves Off naturally I will show you one very Big Posture it's not Now this horse chestnut Must be every bit 35 or 40 years old And look at the ramification on this but Even though it's got a lot of Ramification I will still have to go Through Especially the extremities of all these Sticky Buds we call them Sticky Buds Because just before the leaves come out

They give a sap which is very sticky That's what they call sticky buns so That's how I do With my concrete trees in in England we Call these concrete trees horse chestnut Escalus hippo casternum So this is the treatment they do to Horse chestnut To increase ramification And again if you see what I'm doing I did use some cut paste on it And you see how it's callousing but Where the wood is very thick That would eventually rot and I look Forward to having a nice Hollow in there And see the neighbor is quite nice on That I love this so-called native trees Because In England they grow very naturally into Mighty great victories With a massive canopy and spread What else can I show you oh while we're Here look at this this is Corner's mess Cornelian Cherry if you hold in look at How delicate the flowers are absolutely Divine About 30 or 40 flowers in one head and They are scented They are scented And they have little red berries which Are called cherries and that's why it's Called cornelian Cherry now this Juniper While we're talking about following

Trunk look at this feature here This was carved very early on but not Sealed and see how the wood is rolling Over If you don't watch it the callus will Roll over and join up again so if you Wanted that feature to be permanent you Have to keep carving it Keep carving it because that of course Is a mighty great big Three to five hundred year old Juniper This is not a Tanuki all this is live Vein Live in I owned this tree from 1974 But it now belongs to another customer So this is just a quick tour another Little chore there's a great big Mighty Trident Look at what I have to do now if you Just go around all these long shoots you See this got beautiful ramification but The ramification is created by Constantly doing this all the time going On doing this if you get any strong Rogue shoots you got to cut the strong Ones out So that you just encourage the young Twigs to develop Occasionally you get a very thick shoot There are crossing branches I try to Deal with it And this has got intense ramification Really beautiful ramifications

And this is simply achieved by Constantly constantly pruning Like so anything going vertically Upwards we take out From time to time we may need to put the Wire on to take the branches down or put A piece of bamboo and weigh the branches Down like that This is certainly a very good example of How to create ramification And for those of you who want to know Whether these trees are protected I find That dried Maples when they're in large Pots like this They are not protected and this winter We've had a very harsh winter in the South of England where we had Temperatures of minus seven And I believe at Wednesday where we have Some of our trees the temperature went To minus 10. And all our trees are not protected They're left right through the winter Unprotected in the open and they all Survive extremely well So this is almost the last week in February and we've had a very mild spell When we had yesterday temperature of 16 Degrees Starting to break butt This is the solid show We have to keep doing before they come Into leaf But you if you home in closely you can

See that they are starting to break butt Already You see the green tips of the shoots or Breaking butt So this is a very exciting time of the Year But there's a lot of work to do and this Is the main chore at this time of the Year So while we're here let's look at some Of the other that big Maple too This was a chicken pluck a tree about Five or six years ago I did a lot of leaf plucking in the Summer No it couldn't be that much because I Showed in a video about four years ago And I called it plucking the leaves or Plucking the feathers like you would Pluck a chicken so we call this a Chicken plucker tree I love the trees this size you know not Everyone can handle feel this soil but For exhibitions this is a beautiful size Of vehicle this is the back by the way The front is the other side so during The growing season we do turn the trees Around so it gets light from every side If you don't have light from every side Then the tree will become one-sided and You will get problems of not having Enough branches on the back side one Final thing to show you We have a lot of tried and Maples on the

Nursery and this is a typical Example of how we develop Both the taper this tree was imported From Japan 30 years ago up to here and All this was grown the table was grown On the nursery over 30 years so it's a Long period of time but every year again Tedious chore but I don't regard it as a Chore because I enjoy doing it This is what we do cut it back don't let These Twigs go vertical encourage them To go horizontal And this is how we make the Ramification of these trees you see how Long some of these shoes I'll just plug One off cut one of this And they all will go look at that that's At least Almost 50 centimeters 60 centimeter long You will get shoots as long as that I Let it go to strengthen the plant But I can't leave it there indefinitely They have to be cut back and you're Cutting it back to create a pad Horizontal pad Some of these tricks you can wire if you Saw a desire But the object is to keep it growing Horizontally These are our long-term projects Many people are You know curious as to why I don't Always Rush to sell these trees

Many of these trees are grown on our Nursery as part of long-term experiments Because most of my knowledge has been Acquired by just doing things and Experimenting and discovering How certain trees grow what you do In such certain situations and if you do Certain things to certain trees why will It do this or do that so it's a learning Experience Develop Ed simply by experimentation and That is the great fun of the sort of Bonsai I do Most of my tree work Is As experiments And this gives me a lot of satisfaction And pleasure Observing how trees grow and observing What will happen if I do this or do that Nothing could be more satisfying Because I always maintain that in Different countries Trees behave in a certain way While they may grow in Japan in a Certain regime The fact that they are brought into the UK doesn't mean that it will continue to Produce the effects they do in Japan now Look at another feature I will show you Here look at this great big Nepali here This was a root I let it rot And this rotting has created a hole here That's going to be a beautiful feature I

Just learned not to rock naturally I may cut that off to create nibari so I Again I'm not in a rush to seal that I Same with this one here look at this one There's another Trident maple and you See the beautiful features you see So you see how the neighbor is forming On this Gnar looking and beautiful whole Features what the Japanese called Euro You are Euro And all these vertical grain branches Have the big cut so that they go Horizontal And this is how ramification is created So it's really really simple Not rocket science certainly not rocket Science although people may like to kid You into thinking that it is very Complicated it is not Okay so I hope you enjoyed this video [Music] Foreign

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