Triple Whammy! Making Bonsai’s from field material

Today is the 28th of January and I've Been back from India for two weeks and I'm gradually getting back to the Grind Back to the routine and I'm raring to go And because the sun is shining although It's a bit chilly I'm wearing a Hawaiian Shirt over my Thick fleece and jumpers so let's go and See what we have because I want to do Some actual Bonsai projects simple ones Which you can follow and try yourself Rather than go into complicated stuff I Know that Um time and space for everything but Let's get Back to Basics as it were Things which you can do and while Walking around the nursery There are things that I have spotted And I will just pick them up at random And see what we can do Okay so look at our stock this is called The kinokis pines and various things but I came across A tree that has been rather overlooked Or neglected So let's do that Now just believe it or not Is a spruce of some kind And look at the root coming right out of The pot so it's been growing on the Nursery for at least 30 years and I know I can do something with it so let's see What we can do with this one Okay

And then there's also another simple one That I can Find for you Oh well hey look where the buds [Music] All these sort of Little Gems are lying Around the nursery this is a San Jose Cutting that I made I would say 10 years Ago So it's time I did something like that So this is the sort of thing that you Can pick up from Gardens and it's quite Easy And it's really knowing what to do with Them that is at the heart of bonsai and For good measure We also have Quite a few use Look at these these all use And I just spotted a very interesting One here look at that that's a beauty Isn't it yeah so we've got three Projects here so we're going to do all Three of them okay So here are the three items that I've Picked up So I don't know whether they will all Fit in one video I may do them as one Video Ordinary trees that have been growing on The nursery So this one as I say must be at least 30 Years old maybe more look at the way the Root has come out so let's begin by

Doing this and then we'll deal with the Other ones in time so we're going to get It out of the pot first So we will use the Lopper This is a very useful tool very very Useful tool when I was out in India People didn't have the proper tools and They were struggling so it's very useful To have good basic tools a lot was such A good basic tool that if you don't have A thing like this you really would Struggle I know you can use an ax or Whatever but why do that when you can Use something like this The roots are not that thick you can use The ordinance sectors I always try to save my pots I never Waste pots so I'm going to use a chisel To cut this off so no point filming that So we're using a root cutter to nibble Away A little at a time So this is another very useful tool so I Don't do special videos just on the use Of tools but as I go along I always Explain how various tools I use so you Can see how useful this root cutter is It nibbles away And hopefully you should be able to get That entire thing out of the pot So the object again is to save that pot Anyone else will just cut the pot and Throw it away and pollute the Environment with more plastic I don't

Like doing that People laugh at me Even my staff laugh at me they don't Realize how important it is to be both Frugal and also to be environmentally Conscious Okay so you see how clean we've got it And now with one tap we should be able To get it out Cut all the roots off and with the wood If you tap it gently with the wood so it Spreads the load just very gently there You are that comes out and you can see How pot bound it is and we're going to Be very careful how we tease the roots After we've done the tree so let's work On the tree now So Looking at this tree I will first of all Explore the different angles that this Tree can be stood at you can see that There's a line what I always look for When I get raw material is I look for The potential line of the tree Unless you're making a dead form up Right You should always introduce an Interesting line so this would be an Interesting line like that that is not So interesting so let us aim to work With the tree With this sort of angle in mind Let's see what comes out of it yeah so

That's a potential Solution to the tree So all we have to do is put some wires On this and that I don't think we need these long Branches So basic triangular shape I'm just going To cut off some of these very long bits I'm not sure if I want that to put Either I'm not sure about that but I won't cut It off just yet So Let's put here to do a bit of wiring And we're going to wire it like that This is a spruce of some kind for those Of you who don't know your trees Everyone calls these fir trees for want Of knowing what the Botanical species is Anything which is Evergreen they call it A fur they would call this a fur they Would call this a fur but how to tell The difference is that spruces have Foliage like this I don't know what the exact type of Spruce but this is certainly a spruce Okay so we're going to wire this and That two Branch principle every time [Applause] Always aim to use the right grade of Wire Then you won't have to waste too much Time doing it again Sometimes you can use

Two coils of the same wire same gauge Is I think three and a half possibly Four millimeter So two bronze principles literally means I'm wiring these two branches together Make sure I have enough to go through That end To that end And then this enough to go to the top I always prefer to cut the wire to the Requisite length rather than to dangle a Whole coil sometimes I do do that but It's better not to dangle a coil This is better to have the exact length You require okay I've now anchored that One And we will know Proceed to do this By the way I'm going to make a special Announcement on another YouTube video Because for those of you who live in Holland or in Belgium I'm going to visit Lauder's Nursery On the 11th of March to do a Demonstration And because I know many of you like to Meet me If you can be there 11th of March I'm Going to be in Europe Demonstrating and meeting people so you Are very welcome to come and meet me There and I look forward to seeing you So we are taking Three of our staff

To Lotus so we will have a great time There Right to the end Again the Gin plus another very useful Tool Foreign Give it a Bend when you bend the Branches always grip it with your palms Like that because should it break you Can feel it breaking so it prevents it Snapping so it can always feel it so This gives you better control Put it back on the turntable you can get It off of you now Got to ask yourself do I need that one Keep a little bit of that I try not to Take everything off in case I regret Doing it Now this one It's really a problem branch Anyone would remove this straight away Because it's from the inside of the Elbow it is a normal And but I may keep it in case I need a Backbone so I'm going to do a bit of Cheating So very often you can break the rules Because you really have to And I'll explain to you why when I've Done it I'm going to break the rule by Using this Branch so I'm going to wire This branch and that Branch together So that I still apply the two Branch

Principle The two brush principle I can't Emphasize enough how important that is Two Branch principle is really what we Call non-negotiable If you follow the two Branch principle You're bound to succeed and produce good Wiring And have neat wiring If you go to exhibitions if they do use Wire on the trees sometimes it is Permitted you will see examples of very Good worry so when you're doing a double Coil always make sure that they are Tight to each other literally what we Call hugging each other kissing each Other So don't let it be wide apart so Foreign These four plants are just left to fend For themselves on the nursery I don't think they're even fed But they survive somehow and of course Being left in this small pot Has already done part of the work It's not the Ghost Dog stunted the tree So Most of the Bonsai work has been done Okay now we will deal with some of these Very long shoots because if it's going To be a pad it needs to be like a Arrowhead fashion So this is cut the arrowhead shapes you See what I mean these long shoots can be

Cut back so that they come to a point Wide at the base Terminating in a point Now You Must Be Wondering does it harm The tree by doing this no it doesn't Because by doing this you are Encouraging more ramification Or more density in future Buds and twigs So don't worry about that Now even this one which has been wired I'll make it roughly a herringbone shape Wider the base narrowing to the tip Okay now I just noticed something else You may have also noticed it look at the Shape of the tree from this side I didn't even consider using this as a Front I started off by looking at this as the Front So you should always keep an open mind So just by chance I discovered that this Is a very nice shape yeah So there you go So this is what I mean if you keep an Open mind you will always come across Interesting Solutions now I got to ask Ourselves do I need this I probably Don't need this and I don't want to just Do a gin for the sake of doing a gin so Let me come back see how nice that is Now that's good how nice that is and This will become a nice taper I can then Pair this down and I will just do some Rough wiring

To make the pads more presentable Every little exercise not only am I Passing on my knowledge but even I learn New things and this is reinforced What I often talk about keeping an open Mind and this was a clear case of Keeping an open mind now this tree looks Nice from this side even the more you Look at it it looks nice from this side It looks nice from this side which was The original front and it also looks Nice from this side so whichever side You look at it look at it this is a very Nice formula this I would say is a very Nice fact How interesting is that lovely See and then these we are going to just Support And make more detailed wiring I Shouldn't waste too much time doing a Lot of the detail As I always remind people most of my Videos are to show you principles Rather than detail Okay let me just do this I'm going to switch the camera off for a While because It's going to be just very tedious Wiring that I'm going to do I'm going to just wire this and this I'm going to wire some of the thinner Branches when I wired it I will show you What it is the main Part of the exercise of design has

Already been done by choosing Possible fronts So we've come to the conclusion that This is a possible front of the tree so We're going to wire these support these And then we will show it to you again The wiring in progress look at the Beautiful pad pad formation Perfect herringbone shape So the principle is to just wire Everything in sight and then see what Happens so this is what we've done Precisely what we've done and as I said We started out with the other side of The Foreigner we are looking at this as The front So we changed our concept completely but As long as it works and you're prepared To change your mind so let me remind you What did we start off first I think we Started off With this as the first Option So we started off with this and then When I turned the tree around I found That there were so many other options Even this is a nice front so I'm more or Less going to Choose this is the front But as I always say because we are a Commercial Nursery Anyone who comes to the nursery may Eventually buy this tree and they would Decide to use something else as the

First so can you see just by wiring all The branches we've got quite a dense Talk to it So let me just do a little bit of Pruning with my scissors So remember by pruning you get more Density As spring comes you will get more growth That's right it's watering it So I would leave it like that that's Quite Creditable yeah and then How are we going to repot this you see The roots are if you're forming on it You see how tight it is Solid Because it's so tight I'm going to have A go I'm teasing some of the roots out I Don't think it would be that difficult So we will just tease it gently this is Certainly a case of the tree Bean Hot Pot I don't know what compost this is Probably all pea soil that I used to use 30 years ago Because I bet you anything this tree has Been on the nursery for 30 years or more Together And it's going to be put in a trading Pot So I'm not going to show you in the Process of teasing The Roots out that is Going to be the subject of another Video about me parting that this the

Object of this exercise is to show you How we've made this tree so look at it From this side this is how we would view The tree so this is the final outcome of This tree so I hope you like this and We'll move on to another project okay so This one is done let's go into something Else Now this is another little plot that we Found San Jose cutting that I made about 10 Years ago I just leave these things lying around The nursery they fend for themselves if They survive they survive And because they are not hard long if I Were to grow this in an intensive matter Put it in a field it would have got that Thick in 10 years but because it's been A pot all its life it hasn't thickened That much So We don't always rush to put everything In the ground So there's a time and place for Everything we do different things to Suit different uh Objectives So this one again when I get a piece of Material like this what do I do I always Look at the potential line of the tree To see how I can get an interesting line So tilt it In all sorts of directions and see what

Comes of it Now This is a rather difficult tree to bend Because it is almost like an iron bar It's so stiff so not all junipers are That flexible San Jose is a very very stiff Juniper So if I were to bend it I would have to Use a bronze splitter to split it I will Use a broad splitter just to see what Happens Even if I did not bend it with the brown Splitter eventually I can at least Um Make it to Produce some gnarled looking effects So this is how I would use the brown Splitter We just literally Put the blades in To the two blades meet And that split the trunk And it becomes Slightly more bendable So if I were to try and bend it I might Be able to get some shape I always talk about using thin branches These are the branches that are Potentially usable But This tree again Is not that exciting as it stands So what can we do let me see if I can Introduce

A very subtle Bend to the tree Let me use some of my secondhand water [Music] So easy to keep throwing water away So where I can I try and use the old Scraps of wire this is a really thick Piece of wire here And I'm putting it around the main trunk I don't need to go all the way up I Could have taken it all the way up but I Don't need to so Let me terminate the end of The Wire With the gym class Such a thick piece of wire would be Impossible to bend with your fingers so The Gin plier comes into its own and now These two are of a different thickness So I can put another piece of wire on Here to Try and give it a Bend Okay so these two are fairly similar in Thickness so I will Wire these two branches So choosing the right grain of wire For the job in hand Is a critical part Of the Bonsai creation process We are now into Almost very early spring It's the 28th of January today And before you know it it'll be February And February is going to be our most Uh I think busy month for repotting The UK and Southern England this is when

I do most of my repotting even leaving It to March is possible but it can get a Bit late if you suddenly get a warm Spell so we are going to be very busy Next month okay so I put these two Pieces of one now let's see if I can Bend it without cracking it I think I did tell the story what is Going back to 1980 I did a program on The BBC And I managed to break One of these San Jose junipers and of Course When you break it and snap it you have To carry on as if you meant it It was deliberate it wasn't deliberate Which was accidental but you got to go Ahead and say that oh I meant to do that It was a bit of a cheating but this is What television is about is so Artificial But what I'm trying to say is that okay I broke that one Foreign For breaking so I'll show you I don't Try to hide anything So this has split I was tempting fate I know the species San Jose Juniper is a Very brittle Juniper you look see what's Happened here I could repair it now sometimes if it Happens like that what do you do you Could tie it together and repair it it Will heal because it hasn't been

Separated So You could do that I might well do that Just as an exercise isn't it and see What happens Because it hasn't separated So I'll keep it on I just want bend it That far So do be warned That some of these unicorns can split Like this but as long as it hasn't been Torn away completely from the trunk you Could Salvage it and save it so again I'm trying to create some sort of shape To the tree And we'll see what happens Let's see what Comes out of it Every little thing I do is geared Towards creating an interesting line By creating an interesting line the Whole Bonsai will become more interesting to Look at so what was a very straight talk I've now managed to do a little Bend Here you can see it has bent So now let's wash some of these branches Together And we see what happens okay so there's More wiring to do I'm going to wire all These together I may not show you this Size I always feel that many of these basic

Things Are not worth showing It's more important to show the Essential parts of the process Called it in tedious wiring All it needs is wiring branches in pairs Two Branch principle Foreign Keep everything until I'm absolutely Sure I don't need it and then I will Eliminate them Why some more at the top but I think That I think it's sufficient So if we can show the before picture So that is Something out of nothing Again bending the trunk to create an Interesting trunk line And then we've got another tree now Let's move on to the third project I hope all this will be in one video So this is a English View Foreign The interesting thing about this tree is That the base here is quite nice It's at least Two inches across over there And what I'm looking for Now this front would be almost Impossible to bend that is very straight So I don't think I need all that at the Top so properly to save Confusing you that's I always say you begin by making a rough

Conical shape It will give you some encouragement Because the tree will then begin to look Something like upon sign now Keep an open mind so don't just think That this has to be the front it could Turn out to be the back Depending where we can find the nice Leading shoot Put it up like here so we can put it up This way and see if that's a very strong Shoot If you wanted to make a really short Tree you can make that the leader So again I'm looking for thin branches To use Really thin branches to use So I keep turning the tree around Reduce all this unwanted stuff So this was a two foot high tree It's already down to about 12 inches So That's good for a start that's still Very interesting It's between this side Even this side could possibly be Interesting With this as a possible leader I'm Always looking for a leading shoot And that can be a leading shoot So it's a process of analyzing the tree This is open But I don't think this is necessarily Nice you see this is an ugly feature

This I would say is not nice so this is Possible This is possible And that is the top I don't want to be too radical just for The sake of being radical So I'm still looking for a leader leader To take up to the top Taken up to the top of the leader This could be a leader so many possible Leaders So I'm still looking for 10 branches to Use This is where A lot of decisions have to be made Foreign There are Pointing branch It's dead the noise look at it I more Attracted to this side I'm trying to avoid using that because That's a thick branch Flattening it but I'm not going to use That possibly So I'm still looking at the tree Analyzing this is the difficult part for Those of you who are starting to make Bonsai for more green nursery material Choosing the front and taking major Decisions is the key to successful Bonsai creation once you can get the Right solution and everything falls into Place I was looking at this initially But it is not exactly interesting

Although that might seem attractive this Is a bit ugly to me So this is more attractive it gives more Scale to the tree [Music] Back check again It may seem a bit radical but what was Going through my mind Was doing something really really Radical and keeping the tree only that Tall yeah like that That could be really radical Really radical So that's a possibility Or if I didn't want to make it that Small I can do this Use the tree this size Take that up as the leader So that's impossible too So you can see there are so many Possibilities To this tree So It's really a confusing choice that we Have Conflicting a lot of conflicting Balances But just to leave it like a ball Is not the answer Is not the answer certainly not the Answer I'm reminded back in the 1970s in the British Bonsai scene

People used to just grow trees like this And put them in little Patty dishes and Call them bonsai It looks quite interesting but it's not Really What I would term as a satisfactory tree These branches are a bit thick I may have to make new branches go from There This is a Difficult rods to use This one here coming up So what I might do Is I might just start ginning it because This we don't need The support growing one we don't need I'm going to Gin all this This would be Gent All this is going to be Gent Foreign Okay let's bite the bullet I was looking at Wikipedia about the Origins of white the bullet and Apparently it had origins in India Because the British commanders used to Make the native soldiers seapoys who Were either Muslims or Hindus bite the Cartridge before they put it into the Barrel of the gun and the bullets were Greased with either cow fat or pig fat So if you were a Muslim you wouldn't Bite the bullet which had pig fat and if You were a Hindu you would fight the Bullet with cow fat so when the bullet

Was a very radical decision that one had To make and so I was quite interested in Reading that you might like to read it So when you hear me use the Expression Bite the bullet it might be interesting To research the origins of that Expression so all that is going to be General I've bitten the bullet I decided to take this up as the leader So all this is going to be gin yeah from There I just could avoid this Okay so We will now proceed to generate and We'll show you the end product of the Journey Why I show you what we've done so far I've got Josh to Gin the entire top of The tree And we've kept the tree low so we reduce The height by I would say 60 percent We've taken sixty percent off Yeah that was how tall the tree was Notified she's taking it down to here So I'm just doing some rough wiring to See what shape I can get Remember that this is only the structure It's not meant to be the finished Article Views are quite difficult trees to Maintain because They don't like their roots tinkered With And they don't like it Frosted

To use Just hitting on this I have a rough idea though Okay again make sure it goes to the top Always conscious of the two bronze Principle once you do it without Thinking then you've probably mastered The art I find that in the winter The frost and the cold Can transmit Through the Wire Onto the stems and that can cause Some distress to the tree I remember back about 40 50 years ago when I first started Doing bonsai I used to have the problem with larches In the winter the larches if they're White and you leave the wire on they Don't seem to survive the winter so well If the wire is left on the trunks or the Branches they always have a habit of Dying back You see so even with thin branches you Can see the effect I can get with this Tree I don't think I need too many branches I've got A lot of Branch here To wire that Fall Look Foreign

So this is as far as I've got with this Tree So I don't think it looks bad But I'm not going to be tempted to Put it into a bonsai pot I will put it Back in a flower pot and let it grow and Then I might consider Putting it in a on-site training pot I Will decide but the roots are quite soft So I might do it but meanwhile let me Show you what I've done with these are The two trees Foreign Look at that [Music] Okay that's good and then let's show you The Spice here [Music] No not much Beautiful There you go And this was the branch coming from Inside the elbow I'm glad I didn't get Rid of it because from inside the elbow I've taken it to this side and I can do A little more refining by trimming the Ends by trimming the ends I get more Ramification And uh Hopefully is a very credible tree the Trouble is when people see these trees They all want to buy it but I want to

Keep it To see how it develops so there you go Three projects in one three and one hope You enjoyed it thanks Joe for doing the Filming foreign [Music] Foreign Foreign [Music]