Bonsaify | Japanese Black Pine Root-Over-Rock Creation

[@thesuperiorgamer7524]

I really hope your channel takes more root in the bonsai community. Your videos are so informative and high quality, I find them a very affective teaching tool in my bonsai journey. Keep up the good work!

[@corysutton1383]

Appreciate the comment about grooved stones. My natural tendency would have been to aim the roots for the grooves in the stone. Your point about further emphasizing those contours makes sense.

[@WanderingBobAK]

Same here. I purposely place sphagnum down these grooves to channel roots on my orchids as the roots follow areas with more moisture. Then you hide the cool features of cork bark mounts and in this case ... the rocks.

[@dermo1981]

Thanks Eric. Hope you had a great Christmas and all the best for 2023

[@jyudy7dytcjux]

I can’t wait to plant the seedlings I purchased from you. Thanks for sharing these tips- I especially like the way the 1 gallon pot is stacked and secured with wire. Also, I hadn’t thought about tying the roots to the rock with raffia. Thank you for sharing ideas that will work.

[@Bonsaify]

You are so welcome!

[@alexandros1973]

I love your videos because they are very informative and nicely done ✅. I also love them because you are so charismatic and charming. Well done 👌

[@hyperionhelios190]

Needed this today. Thanks for another great video Eric.

[@estherlovesveges]

Looking mint..

[@bonsaibythesea]

Nice video thanks 😮

[@timmywood9677]

I made a root over rock Camellia with white flowers last year

[@mrdrewdrew20]

How long should you leave it buried? And when should you gradually expose the roots on the rock so they harden off?

[@Bonsaify]

Both good questions - Generally, I leave them buried for an entire growing season, then expose them, adjust (did a video on that recently) and then re-bury them if they are still too small to expose. You can do it gradually also, like removing an inch of the soil, then wait a couple months, and remove another inch.

[@teaniner]

I plan doing a root over rock composition similar to this video this spring. I go back n forth on purchasing a pine from you with the longer grown roots or just using some of the pines I purchased from you last winter, they are very healthy and nice looking. So my main question is. How to determine the size of rock? Will that one you are doing in this video always be Shohin size? In 20-30 years will it have a similar feel? Due to the size of the rock and a tree just naturally growing. I’m struggling with the size and it getting naturally bigger. Please shed some knowledge on sizing and longevity. Always look to a new video each day or week. You are my Netflix. ❤

[@Bonsaify]

Think of the combination of the roots and the rock as the "trunk". That should be your guide for how large the tree would be. So for a shohin - the rock shouldn't be more than about 4" tall at the most, but it can be wider. You can extend the trunk upward with a good transition, but if you move the foliage too far away from the rock you get a weird separation of the visual.

[@mattbrennan647]

Amazing tutorial. How long will you keep it in that container? Thanks, keep growing

[@mattbrennan647]

I see you already answered this question. Thanks.

[@eeeealmo]

New camera?

[@Bonsaify]

Actually, we filmed this over a year ago, (I had a friend filming with his SLR) but it was only available for folks that purchased the ROR kit from our site. I just did a follow up video, which we'll release in a few days, so you get step 1 and 2.

[@ThePhilClark]

I am in Southern California. When can you do this kind of work on a pine with out killing it? I have not had much look with root type work like this. Thank you.

[@Bonsaify]

When I lived there it would have been January that I would do it. You can do it even in December, but in either case, plan to protect from freezing afterward if that is something you deal with in your location.

[@ronniebruce9624]

Eric do you sell the JPB root over rock trees without the kit?

[@Bonsaify]

We generally do - but our inventory is low on these right now, so I had removed them from the store. I should have more ready for sale by June or so.