Bonsaify | Mike Pistello's Fantastic Bonsai Collection

[@TheBonsaiGarden]

Bonsai bench tours are always so interesting and informative - seeing what people are working on, what techniques they are using, the history and how they got to that stage, and plans for future development. Great video Eric, always very gratefully appreciated. 🙏

[@rubber800]

love hearing other people talk about the history of their trees. It really gives a new insight into each specific tree. Enjoyed watching and listening to the dialogue.

[@stephencreswell229]

That Cork Oak was bonkers!!!

[@acooke7574]

This is the perfect collection size in my opinion. Goals.

[@HoundStuff]

Nice tour & nice trees!

[@dermo1981]

Excellent as always. Thanks Gents 👍

[@savageblades360]

The "broom" shaping in this video is on another level, thankyou for sharing.

[@living_sculptures_za]

Mike is a pleasant person to listen too. The audio of this video is great, nice to hear the guest and host clearly. Videos like this, so visits to bonsai collections, are the most enjoyable for me and I would love to see more.

[@GertsBonsaiLog]

Great video. Love this!

[@mattbrennan647]

Thanks for the tour and discussion. Beautiful collection. Thanks, keep growing

[@wreagin1]

Great tour! Thanks as always

[@questionablecooking7019]

Love seeing the good things that happen when the time is put in. Let's get this Bonsai.

[@OjaiBonsai]

Great collection. Thanks for the video. Cheers from Ojai California

[@12345dyar]

Beautiful collection. Thank you for sharing with us. Love your videos.

[@scottbarboza1834]

Great tour! Thanks Mike and Eric!

[@maryperrysmith5815]

Fabulous collection

[@estherlovesveges]

Thanks for sharing.

[@arnoldmmbb]

Great video as always Eric! thanks for sharing

[@percyacutt3110]

Beautiful trees keep it up !!!

[@BenBSeattle]

Beautiful trees

[@ctk39]

Fabulous garden and well done video! Very nice presentation Mike, it was very enjoyable to hear about each one of your trees! Thank you for sharing.

[@paulmoult1916]

Great video, I am really enjoying your videos, keep it up.

[@prof.puggle1631]

thanks a ton, guys!

[@sabikmercuriobravo5976]

Very nice and good qualit trees.

[@Wiratama13]

hello friends, the bonsai is really good, thank you for sharing, it is very inspiring, greetings, one hobby, friend, from a new friend,

[@PSPMHaestros]

Nice little talk about styling a tree as a bonsai or a tree in nature, you don't see many people talking about that. To me, the latter are the ones that really give you a sense of scale when looking at them.

[@jonathanaristone2468]

I loved the way mike described the development process. I have a Dawn Redwood that baffled me , now I know the direction to take for it's next step Thanks Guys .

[@hfestion.]

Great video!

[@asanoen1777]

Beautiful work Mike...

[@SamDoeckeAussiebonsaibloke]

Awesome tour. Cheers 🍻

[@cencalbonsai6429]

sheshh what a collection, some badass trees no doubt! 😍😍 & Mikes gets it man sometimes the best way is to start all over ! #chopchop

[@jayscore7182]

Learned a lot!

[@BONSAIenCORTO]

Great, great question of oak defoliation.

[@MrJcalvino]

With English oak you need a lot of ramification and prolong the repot to reduce the leaf size. And the reduce a lot. One of mine oaks got like 1 inch to half inch leafs and that pretty tiny. You can do it!

[@wilfridmaffio1175]

Very...very..good video.

[@jaycrockett9205]

Interesting ,I think about that ,when making gin ,if I make it to early the gin or dead would will become out of proportion. What an incredibly,deep and vast art this is . Thanks for the great videos.

[@TheBonsaiGarden]

I worry about the same thing, which is seldom acknowledged - that since it is dead wood it will cease to grow and so as the tree continues to grow, the relative proportions will change.

[@jaycrockett9205]

@@TheBonsaiGarden when ,I started working with trees ,I knew nothing about bonsai. I quick became deeply involved, i found this odd. And looked More into the matter , we do not choose bonsai we are lead to it ,it is a special kind of person that is lead to ,work with trees ,in most cases the tree actually chooses you, kind of like adopting a pet ,most people believe they choose the ,cat or dog ,in reality the pet often is the one to adopt the human family, these trees are alive and living beings , incredible beings which,some of us are responsible to insure that they remain safe and alive for many years to come.

[@HAJUBONSAI]

Beautiful

[@arnopienaar8111]

Bravo

[@ralphlaurencastro]

Hello, i watched some of your video and you mentioned you keep some conifers in garage? I also have unheated garage. Can i overwinter conifers/evergreen in garage with poor light? Thanks a lot

[@Bonsaify]

We do not get cold winter temps, so no protection is needed. However, keeping trees in an unheated garage is something a lot of people do. Light is better than no light. (Maybe you can install a window.🙃. ) But even with no light they should do okay. Keep in mind light duration is also a dormancy starting and ending trigger for many trees, not just temperature.

[@frisbeephil]

Beautiful tree work. As a carpenter I wish I could make him some quality bench tops and display plinths. That treated wood just doesn't give his work the honor it deserves. Like a Michelin meal on a paper plate.

[@Bonsaify]

I actually think Mike has a nicer display garden than many I've seen. But, to your comment in general - yes - better materials in a good garden are warranted, but often fall down the list to acquiring and taking care of quality trees. I would also mention that there is some uncertainty in the community if raw wood can harbor harmful pathogens - so treated wood can be preferable if folks believe that this is the case. I don't know of any hard science one way or the other.

[@BonsaiEnthuasit222]

Great stuff. I loved the Goldenen Shimpaku and I would like to see more of that (grafting and styling process). By chance does anyone know more details about the subspecies/variant/cultivar and where can I acquire that in the SoCal (LA) region? Does Mike Pistello have a website for his work? I couldn't find one online. Thanks!

[@Bonsaify]

you can contact him via instagram @mvpbonsai there.

[@BonsaiEnthuasit222]

Thank you so much!

[@BonsaiEnthuasit222]

⁠@@Bonsaifyps, thank you for your videos! They have really inspired me to focus on honing my skills on mame and shonin kishu/shimpaku juniper. I look forward to more of your videos

[@mrscotchguy]

What are the red spongie globs on the surface of the soil on the trees? Is it a type of fertilizer?

[@amgguy4319]

Incredible collection... it made me pull out my book: Bonsai: Trees and Shrubs, A Guide to Methods of Kyuzo Murata" Lynn R. Perry ...

[@Islamskie44]

Ма ша Алла

[@luongden242]

những cái cây của anh . chúng thật xanh tốt

[@MauricioVarelaE]

¡¡¡ALV!!! 🤘👍

[@Douglas-Heffernan]

6:55

[@ericksepulveda5850]

What type of fertilizer does e use

[@Bonsaify]

Biogold, Dyna-Gro and Omakase (OOF).

[@ericksepulveda5850]

Thank you

[@brucedeacon28]

👍👌🍎🙂

[@yoteslaya7296]

Its a shame you didn't ask him to explain how he grows in colindars. I need to fast grow my junipers

[@Bonsaify]

Junipers actually grow much faster in solid-sided containers. (As do most trees.) Use of colanders is not my recommendation to you. Use a large solid-sided container or a fabric grow bag; use a heavy dose of time-release fertilizer, and regular watering. Once the plant has a good rootball going, nestle the bottom of the container in the ground and allow roots to escape out the drainage holes to increase the speed further.

[@yoteslaya7296]

@@Bonsaify if junipers grow faster in solid sided pots then why does Mike have his in colanders?

[@Bonsaify]

The primary advantage of colanders is that they can help form a more radial root spread. Since that's not a priority in junipers (due to deadwood/lifeline) the colanders are not much benefit. The practice was popularized based on black pine, which do benefit from using colanders, but not all trees are the same. Junipers can absorb more water and don't grow well in the drier conditions that JBP prefer. Mike is a hobbyist, not a professional grower, and I suspect he is doing this from a lack of a complete understanding. (not dissing him, he's very good at bonsai.) This is actually why I did not mention it in our tour - I don't agree with how he's doing it.

[@yoteslaya7296]

@@Bonsaify are there any other conifers that would do well in colindars like cedar/Cypress etc?

[@Bonsaify]

Cypress (Cupressus, Hesperocyparis) do okay, but they grow more slowly. Quercus do not like colanders in my experience, nor do anything deciduous. Arborvitae (some have cedar as the common name) would also do okay, but slower than in a solid container. Eastern Red Cedar is in the juniperus genus. Swamp cypress (taxodium) would not do well, they actually prefer being sunk into a bucket of water. No idea on incense cedar (Calocedrus ssp.)

[@JAMES-dv5ns]

Is this Bonsai Mike ??

[@Bonsaify]

Yep, Bonsai Mike!

[@charliezheng6924]

Mike...Sylvester Stallone?