Bonsaify | Black Pine Seedling Root Trim

Black Pine Bonsai seedlings repotting and root trim! Eric shares tips for working on nine-month-old vigorous young Japanese black pines out of their growing containers to examine roots, wire the flexible trunks, and work cut the roots back prior to transplanting into larger pond basket containers.
Music by Bensound.com

[@FloridaWildlife]

Here in Florida JBP's just grow amazing. 33 yrs. in Bonsai, now retired and mostly grow JBP's and will take about 30 JBP's to the Florida Bonsai Convention in 2025 just to blow folks away with what I can grow in only 3 years. I use the Brexit Hydroponic method of propogating ' 8 weeks of 17 hours of light, then straight into the Florida Sun for 12 hours next to my lake. I use wool cubes to start them for awesome root division. Love what you do! Subbed and Loved The wool cubes I use are covered on 4 sides, so the roots naturally grow down.

[@gustavfranklin]

This was excellent. I have like 50 pinus nigra seedlings, and come fall I'll have to do pretty much this to most of them.

[@Bonsaify]

Thank you, and let us know how your pinus nigra seedlings fare!

[@DarthMasiah]

excellent tips 👍

[@TonysBonsai]

Superb instructional video again. Loved this, and I'm looking forward to trying this technique on some seedlings next year.

[@steisdre]

It's been hard to find advice like this for a 1 year old black pine. Mine is no where near as established as those two though. I might leave it where it is for now until it grows more. Good video, thanks.

[@Bonsaify]

Thank you Stephen!

[@tonyt3588]

Wonderful! Thank you 🙏🏽

[@coltranem]

Thanks for the videos Eric. It is good for taking my mind off things. Sadly Bonsai in the Northeast is slow right now.

[@Bonsaify]

You're welcome! Glad you like them!

[@user-bd2dd1nd5g]

Very useful, thanks!

[@frankmcdermott3467]

Thanks much this was great information!

[@Bonsaify]

Very welcome!

[@juniperus.itoigawa]

I always wonder how you get this insane growth on your black pines in just one year. I planted 15 pinus silvestris last year and all of them still have juvenile foliage. Maybe its species dependend or mabe im not fertilizing enough. Good job tho. Nice walter pall reference 👍

[@FloridaWildlife]

I have some 8 month old cutting with 4 layers of branching and a half inch trunk. I use 1/4 sand and azalea bonsai mix with the best results in over 30years. I would love to send pics if anyone wants to see.

[@albeer292]

Hi Eric, appreciate the videos and tips, they are very helpful. May I ask when do you take the wire off the pine especially around the roots?Do you leave it till next repot?Cheers

[@Bonsaify]

Hi - yes, typically the wire around the roots isn't a problem like it can be on the trunk. So when the wire on the trunk starts to bite in, I remove it, and then remove the wire around the roots at the next repot. However, if you are potting into a larger container, you can just dump out all the loose top soil and get more of the wire that way...then replace the loose soil when you're done.

[@albeer292]

@@Bonsaify Thanks Eric, looking forward to more videos and tips👍

[@MrBabysumo]

Brilliant vid thank you 🙏🏽 when is best to do this kind of work!? Can it be done in the summer?

[@Bonsaify]

No, pine root work is best done in late winter or early spring right before the candles begin to elongate. Summer repotting is quite tricky to get right and while tiny (2-4 month old) trees can handle it, even 1 year olds are much more challenging. For older trees repotting should be only in late winter or early spring. This is not to say it's not possible at other times, but that is the safest time.

[@MrBabysumo]

@@Bonsaify Thank you 🙏🏽 appreciate the advice .

[@brucedeacon28]

👍👌🙂

[@TheModoodle]

Hey awesome video! Do you feel like without the seedling cutting technique, you have low enough buds for a shohin sized tree?

[@Bonsaify]

Yep, absolutely. Especially if there is significant bending of the trunk. I actually just potted a couple into bonsai pots and the low branches are only about 2" above the soil. However, if you incorporate a lot of height from the root mass also then they could be a bit high.

[@TheModoodle]

@@Bonsaify Gotcha, thanks for the insight!

[@jc-wx3sm]

About the bottom part of the soil, you used pumice and bark for demo purposes, but what would you more commonly use? Is the point just something that holds less water?

[@jerjhawkr]

Eric do you suggest doing this going into the sprint for the spring growth push?

[@Bonsaify]

You would typically do it in your repotting window - prior to bud elongation in spring. However, given the right aftercare, young pines can be repotted at other times also, but the early spring repotting window is the safest...

[@jerjhawkr]

@@Bonsaify That’s what I thought but you have done it so I wanted to check

[@GertsBonsaiLog]

When the wire starts biting in come summer, do you remove the wire above the soil but leave the coil around the roots untouched until next spring?

[@Bonsaify]

Yes! The roots do not swell nearly as fast as the trunk. You can sorta wiggle some of it out, or pour out the loose top soil temporarily to get to more wire, but even if you leave it in for a few years it's normally not a problem. I often remove the whole thing after the second or third year when I do a bit of minor root work to correct any problems.

[@GertsBonsaiLog]

@@Bonsaify Thank you so much!

[@sadoldgit313]

Is this the Pinus Nigra or Pinus Thunderbergii? Not quiet sure what you term JBP in the USA! Also, I see you’re stripping all of the soil from the rootball which denudes it of its microrysal fungi.

[@Bonsaify]

Japanese Black Pine - Pinus thunbergiana. We don't work with P. nigra at present.

[@user-tm9eo9rv2r]

will black pine die if I cut vertical tap root? the tree is about 5+ years old wildling

[@Bonsaify]

It's possible, but black pine are resilient trees - if you do it in early spring it is normally fine.

[@T1374]

I didn't cut the tap root as shown. What happens if I let it go till next spring? It's summer now, can I still do this?

[@Bonsaify]

Depends on the age. Safer to wait until your repotting interval in spring. The roots can be improved each time you trim them. It takes at least 10 years to make a good tree, so take your time.

[@T1374]

@@Bonsaify Thank you 😊 🙏 it's my first time trying to grow a bonsai.

[@danielkalyanrai]

Hellow can you upload this follow up video? How it looks now?

[@Bonsaify]

Hi - I would suggest you consider our JBP shohin eCourse - it contains a more detailed series of videos about this topic. www.bonsaify.com/collections/ecourses

[@mirandusings]

What’s the ratios in the soils you used in this video?

[@Bonsaify]

Check the video at the 1:20 mark. 😀

[@mattdemoraes]

Hi Eric - what's the main reason for using Perlite? I thought perlite held a lot of water which might be worse for pines? Between you and Jonas, the world is finally starting to understand how to make great JBP for Shohin :)

[@Bonsaify]

Matt - I've done tests and perlite/coco will develop young JBP a lot faster than bonsai mix. In fact, it's twice as fast or better in some trees. You do have to be careful not to over water, the water retention is significantly higher. I can water seedling JBP in perlite every 3-4 days when I'm watering them daily in Akadama/Lava/Pumice. Obviously you need to be cognizant of the water and judge for yourself. The other reason is that Perlite is a LOT cheaper than even pumice, let alone akadama. So if you're doing any volume, it'll save you some significant cash.

[@mattdemoraes]

@@Bonsaify Those are really insightful and practical reasons- thanks for taking the time to explain that to me. I guess when trying to grow big sacrifice branches you want maximum woody growth not refinement; I'd forgotten that. It's easy to get caught up in just using high oxygen mix for everything... Saving cash is always a plus!

[@jerjhawkr]

@@Bonsaify Since were talking about Japanese back pine seedlings Is there a good place I could buy in quantity? Any suggestions. Thanks guys

[@Bonsaify]

@@jerjhawkr We have about 2000 we'll be releasing this winter as bare-root 1YO's. They're seedlings from our favorite mother tree in Alameda and looking really nice as of now!

[@uunzullasmi9688]

Media?

[@Bonsaify]

Perlite: Coco 4:1 (v:v)

[@uunzullasmi9688]

@@Bonsaify thanks u