Japanese White Pine Repotting and Full Styling - Arkefthos Bonsai

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

*** Enable captions - subtitles. To anyone reading this comment, know that I find the dramatic music in the last 3 minutes of the video, hilarious! Have a great day!

[@777greglee]

Definitely the most creative and beautiful bonsai channel I know. Always look forward to your videos.

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

This comment made my day! Thank you Greg!

[@simeonthomas957]

This is bonsai art on another level. So professional & beautiful to watch. Well done.

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

Thank you Thomas, for your beautiful words!

[@1969hornet]

Beautiful video and beautiful tree, as per usual. Thanks for sharing!

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

Thank you very much!

[@bonsaibalkon]

Such beautiful pictures. A feast for the eyes every time. As you say yourself: thank you for your time and your effort for such beautiful videos 😊

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

Thank you for your beautiful words!

[@Myrtuscommunis]

Wow, awesome tree! 💚😃

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

Thank you! It will be good looking!

[@chrissnyder8415]

Great looking tree my friend

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

Thank you Chris!

[@chrissnyder8415]

@@ArkefthosBonsai my pleasure!

[@Bonsaicrazy]

Great video mate looks awesome 👍👍👍

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

Thank you! I appreciate it!

[@harrychristodoulou3782]

Morning what an absolute beautiful tree love it, also your video was awesome you went all out on this, well done ⭐️👍🏼⭐️

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

I'm really glad you like it Harry! Have a great Sunday!

[@78tjeerd]

Thought exactly the same. I always get excited when i see you made a new video hope there be manny more to come. 🙂

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

Thank you Tjeerd! I appreciate it a lot!

[@illka314]

Cool action)) and music))

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

Thank you! I really liked that editing with the music. I've seen it maybe 20 times myself! Cheers!

[@illka314]

@@ArkefthosBonsai Ok.... sorry, im just 5 times)) Great, truly a joy of life

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

@illka314 ha ha ha 5 times! Impressive!

[@illka314]

@@ArkefthosBonsai ....correction: another 5-6 tms))) watch on x2 - another story)))

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

@illka314 respect!

[@TerryHogwood]

Great video and a lovely tree, what is the soil you use

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

Thank you Terry! I explain everything in the captions - subtitles. I used for this tree, zeolite and pumice, 60-40. Cheers!

[@andreasleiker262]

Is that just perlite you're using? Have you had good experiences with it? I currently use expanded clay, coconut fiber, pine bark, pumice stone and lava granules. Maybe I'll mix some perlite in there too. In the end, all components are almost identical in price, so I simply use different components in the substrate to make it balanced.

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

No Andreas, I used no perlite with this tree. As I explain in the captions subtitles, this is 60% zeolite 3-5mm and 40% pumice 5mm. If you are able to locate zeolite at this size, I highly recommend it. It has higher CEC than akadama, holds moisture great but not too much, changes color when wet and does not break down to form a solid clay root brick like akadama. It's a super component. Cheers!

[@jennyxi1157]

Is it safe to do a repot then 10 days later a styling? Do you recommend this?

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

Excellent question Jenny! Long answer though. So, the styling was not 10 days after the repot but rather 18 days, which is very important. 1. There are several levels of repotting, this was a very mild one. If you noticed, I did not use any scissors at all, as I did not cut any roots. Yes, a few of them got damaged from the process, but very few. And the pot I used was of similar size with the previous one. If you start cutting roots to fit into a much smaller container, then you start ascending in levels of repotting damage. 2. The tree was healthy, the roots were actively growing and the content of mycorrhizae was very rich. 3. The soil I'm using is heavily airated, so excellent water and oxygen percolation helps tremendously in root regeneration. 4. Aftercare. With proper aftercare, pine roots heal the wounds in 15 days, plus I watered with root activators 10 days after the repot (not styled as you said). 5. This is October and this means that ahead of the tree and all that has been through, is cold, wet weather and hybernation instead of a hot and dry summer in which it has to create new growth. So, if you consider all of these, plus some experience, I would say yes, I recommend this without any doubt! Now, having said that I have many examples of trees that went through worse that this tree and I have featured them in this channel after that. So if you find my Sumi e video in August, there I display a shohin Japanese pine that went through a less mild repotting, in the last day of August last year and a harsher styling 10 days later. This tree is now one of the healthiest parvifloras in the garden. One more is the literati Japanese white pine I have. Last year went through similar work, styled 2 weeks after a barerooting repotting and now is much healthier than it was. I've displayed this tree in videos, drone shots and on my Instagram. Have a great weekend jenny!

[@bonsai_life_style]

Nice tree bro and video well done, can I ask you if it's not a secret where did you buy that tree and for how much pls?? THX bro, Yep and what a awesome place you live . I live in CZ [Czech Republic ] and we dont have that nice nature but I grow up in Croatia there I hade similar to Greece.

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

Thank you, I appreciate it! If it's not too much, send me a dm on Instagram and I'll let you know! Instagram link in the description of the video. Cheers!

[@bonsai_life_style]

@@ArkefthosBonsai ok thx

[@tompeppi2635]

🥰

[@brucedeacon28]

👍👌

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

Thank you Bruce!

[@yaroslavpronin5111]

I have seen that some artists use regular electrical tape over the raffia to retain moisture, and some say that the branch needs to breathe and don't use tape. Who is right?

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

I guess it's up to the artist. For me, I prefer for the branch to breathe. If I want to develop that branch so that it doesn't stay behind or deform, I prefer it to breathe, so usually I use just raffia. Now, if fir some reason I would want this part of the trunk to fall back in development, let's say reverse inverse taper, then I would tie it tightly with fruit grafting tape, that holds enough pressure and in the same time totally seals the area. Cheers Yaroslavl!

[@alexgess1625]

what are these white stones?

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

You mean the substrate I used for soil in the bonsai pot, Alex?

[@alexgess1625]

Yes@@ArkefthosBonsai

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

@alexgess1625 oh ok. This is 60% zeolite (3-5mm or 8th-5th of an inch) and 40% pumice at 5mm or 5th of an inch size. Sometimes I might use perlite instead of pumice. Cheers!

[@alexgess1625]

Thank you very much for your answer, I have never seen such a white zeolite. I only saw yellowish and gray

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

It doesn't register nicely on video. It is greyish - green and becomes quite greener when wet. This one is from Greece. The one from Turkey I used last year is a bit less green. But highly recommended material.