Mondays at Mirai: Repotting in the Rain

In this episode of Mondays at Mirai, the garden team gets their hands dirty with a massive workload of bonsai trees to repot in the gardens this winter season. With fog descending below the tree line and ice cold rain beating down, the team works diligently to transform a long list of trees.
Starting the day off with some remote learning, Ryan helps his son with his math lesson in the office while the team looks at their weekly tasks. Ryan then unloads his trunk full of deciduous nursery stock from his recent trip to see Tom Roberts in Coos Bay; these trees are a peek at some of the streams to come on Mirai Live for this deciduous-focused repotting month. As Ryan zig-zags around the garden, he ties little green flags to all of the trees to be repotting this season, a monumentous amount that will be a feat for the garden team working without the extra help of students this year due to the pandemic.
This week, meet our returning garden hand Sam Tan who is at Mirai to help with repotting. Under a small rain cover, Troy, Sam, and Kauffman are up to their usual teasing antics teasing one another as they sift soils to separate particle sizes. Over in the greenhouse, Ryan starts to chopstick away the dense soil mass of a black pine grafted onto ponderosa pine. The sound of scraping kamas and the steady beat of chopsticks gently gliding along roots and pushing in new soils fill the greenhouse. Ryan shares with Josh his ideal dinner date of bonsai trees, the bristlecone pine. Which species would be your dinner date?
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[@acanadianwoodworker]

I was just touring a nuclear power plant for a video job. It was so hot, loud, and oppressive. You can't touch anything for fear of picking up radioactive particles. You're constantly being shoved into grimy scanners. ~ Working in nature, in fresh air, with living things you can touch is truly a blessing!

[@64ccd]

Monday’s at Mirai is no joke one of my favorite things of the world. I hope I get to visit you guys some day.

[@mephitis4343]

I'm sure it's madness over there, but I think we'd all like to see some more of this series! Even a quick clip a week. Thanks for the hard work.

[@BonsaiMirai]

There's more coming soon! :) Thanks for the thoughtful comment.

[@HansKaramottoBonsai]

Repotting Pine, that early is an eye-opener for me? Would love to hear your reason/answer some time Ryan?! The video is mouthwatering and very inspiring as always! 🙏👌👏👏 Cheers from Holland and stay safe everybody!🙏🙏 Hans van Meer.

[@Bigninjon]

I could watch this kind of video all day!

[@MrYoumitube]

I love repotting until you reach about your 20th tree. Good luck with the 200+

[@davidjohnson7508]

lt's a tsunami of repotting. All hands on deck. This video gives a great feel of what is coming. Nice art shots at end help lower the heart rate.

[@estherlovesveges]

Excellent edit Josh. May the Forest be with You all.

[@haydenfox3116]

So excited to see you guys putting red alder into your collection, I grow smaller shohin red alder and the ramification is insane as long as you can keep the watering up.

[@kielgatchalian5376]

Thank you for your videos!

[@westcliffsmusic]

Love your videos!

[@leighharron]

Alder are fantastic and very forgiving. I potted a few last year, one of which was out of the ground for over a fortnight before I got it into soil and it still grew! The damp climate helps

[@TejaJaensch]

Living the dream...

[@iamaduckquack]

So much good material for future streams 😍

[@pauloteixeira5528]

Wonderful like always. Thanks for sharing this video. 👋👋👋👋🇵🇹

[@margaretsims4344]

I could watch the work on every one of those trees.

[@kylepurvis6231]

You guys need to construct a soil mixer with over 200 trees to repot! I only have 50 and I find it extremely useful to be able to mix batches of soil in 100# batches. I just built a simple 50gal crumb compost mixer and use that to mix my soils. You need to make it a little beefier to handle the stone components but it works great and much less wear and tear on your body!

[@rouvenkadgien8591]

Crazy socks in the beginning 🙌🏼😂 Keep going, I'll start my repotting in March when trees wake up 🌲🌳

[@rob3199]

Really enjoy these vids, thanks guys👍🏻👍🏻

[@yajairafernandez7355]

Aloha everybody 🤙 The work, trees, people, rhythm, aloha spirit at Mirai are awsome but the Kobra Kai sweater is the Best! 😂 Thanks for everything🙏🤙

[@nmhansen]

What is that crazy thing at 7:31? Some sort of aloe?

[@ilexjin]

I’d guess Aloe arborescens.

[@ulifechine]

I'd love to see more of repotting videos!

[@franknagel7564]

Hi there! Greetings from Germany .. same sh** weather here. but your little report of your work helps keeping the spirit up!

[@gregbrenden847]

Ryan...I have two Arizona alders I collected in 2004 going strong, and a Sitka alder with black huckleberry planted on a rock I showed at the PNBCA convention in 2012; it spent 2 alternate years on display ath the Portland Japanese Garden...I find the red alder to be a coarse tree with large leaves...

[@MrJcalvino]

I have a alder as bonsai. So vigorous as species and "drink" a lot of water.

[@FATMAN_tactical]

I collected a dozen last year to practice with and you are still understating the vigor. :) At least its pushing me to prune more severely.

[@ralfish2008]

Me too. I collect a lot of small alder, fir, hemlock and the odd shore pine from along roads. Busy roads. Years ago they would have sprayed to control trees growing too close, but these days they send out a mower apparatus on an articulated arm back hoe to mow them down when seedlings get to be around 16-20" tall. They get cut down to about 3-5". The ones that survive this make interesting yamadori. I don't feel bad when I lose the odd one either. But its amazing how much of a spread some of the alders develope after getting mowed 2-3 times. The main stretch that I collect from is a section of highway that was built about 12 years ago, so the mowed trees are still young. The largest firs are only about 1-1/2-2" diameter, but only 4-6" tall. Any how I"ve got another alder that I pulled out of there last fall, so I still dont know if it will survive.. These are great trees to practice on too, everything from properly digging them out, figuring out if planting in a large deep pot or going straight into a more confined pot etc etc. hopefully build up some technique all around before going up into the mountains to look for the real deal. But yeah, I'm doing alder too and arbutus. I havent seen any arbutus ever trained into bonsai, but the one that Ive only just started with.

[@JoakimThoresen]

I actually keep my alders in water trays to keep them constantly wet all growing season. And, yes, they grow like crazy - I have one with a fat trunk that I chopped down last spring, and during the sommer the new leader actually grew too thick (for the taper) because I didn't pay enough attention...or rather, didn't expect that much growth :)

[@lluisasastre]

G nothing, waiting for a week to see your video... Nice but short for me, taking muy breakfast and ser your work, good luck and take care for All of you, 🌳🌳🌳😍

[@seaspoke]

Best MAM YET!

[@notyourproblems]

Ha! I bought 2 alders to turn into Bonsai over time about 1 month ago...but mine are just 2-3 years old. The seed cones that they keep over winter a wonderful sight. Mine are black alders though.

[@wadmadhushan4434]

Wow amazing bonsai.

[@gregoryh4601]

Thanks Ryan for this Video and yes you have a Lot of Bonsai Trees. Maybe a Spring Sale to help you? lol. To me it would Be Hard selling family to the People. Take Care . Do you ever got Snow?

[@modtheblackmarvel]

Wauw😂😂😂😂

[@JCBerner]

It's often said that pines should only be repotted when the roots are active around April and onwards - what is your take on that Ryan?

[@JuanLopez-tp7hj]

Man I would love to work at mirai

[@coronnation8854]

Sometimes I envy Oregonians. Then I see the drizzle. It's ok. You keep it :)

[@Long.Bacninh]

lots of bonsai ❤️❤️❤️

[@relaxamentoagradavel9414]

No importa si ganaste o perdiste una batalla hoy: importa que sigas luchando. ¡Buenas noches!

[@StephenTurnerVlogs]

I was just thinking I'd hate to have to sieve all the soil for all those trees. That's an industrial scale sieve though, and you've lots of muscle to get through it all. It wasn't actually cat litter was it? The community feeling is really nice too.

[@bonalejo29]

Hermoso ejemplar...gracias por compartir...!!

[@minofatboy]

always nice your question videos but what kind of mixture do you use as a substrate ...

[@surfgreen60]

Good stuff as always. Are you guys tying-in with galvanized wire?

[@dracokaiser]

What’s compost extract?

[@Kaizen--_--]

Ryan, is that just a homemade sharpened piece of wood you are using to pick the roots, an actual tool or something else?

[@kylepurvis6231]

Those are homemade chop sticks made from bamboo - there is a video in there archives on how to make them.

[@Kaizen--_--]

@@kylepurvis6231 Thank you Kevin. I'll look for it.

[@Kaizen--_--]

Sorry "Kyle"

[@ahb5819]

7:31 what is that ? Aloe vera ?

[@septimiumoldovan2505]

Hi Ryan, If I repot them now, will low temperatures (up to -10 degrees Celsius) affect their roots?

[@septimiumoldovan2505]

Hi Ryan, what kind of soil are you using? Is it the same soil for pines, junipers and deciduous plants?

[@chris1979284]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/pYCWg4WtlLKmoNE

[@septimiumoldovan2505]

@@chris1979284 Thanks for the reply !

[@chris1979284]

You’re welcome. If you want the full blast, check out this clip: kzbin.info/www/bejne/epCUpppjeMhjn6c

[@BillyBobJoeSnr]

Did you call one of your trees Mr Fish?

[@DarkKnight-is1ws]

@Ryan Neil. Do you guys need extra work hands

[@luongden242]

👍

[@vietpimp999]

You dont sell your trees online? I went to the website but didn't see any trees for sale. Thanks

[@nmhansen]

Mirai sells trees a couple of times per year but not all the time.

[@gregb7353]

@@nmhansen Interesting. I have been wondering how their business model works because the last tree sale was like Black Friday or a PS5 at Walmart...gone in 60s.

[@chris1979284]

@@gregb7353 I wondered that too. From what I could gather, I believe their main business is bonsai courses, subscriptions to Mirai live, and maintenance of customers’ trees...

[@waterlover]

Whistle while you work

[@advertech]

so much

[@jackrinderer6790]

5-5=10 is correct because the normal human brain can’t function on that level of intelligence

[@Benw3790]

1st :)

[@SpaceH3r0]

10:05 Unpopular opinion and why I’m very conflicted: I love your work and Bonsai in general but I can’t help and squirm watching you cut away at that root mass. It’s easy to admire the beauty of bonsai but we overlook what the tree had to endure to look that way. Trees are living organisms capable of experiencing stress and pain. Engaging in practices that intentionally subject trees to prolonged suffering for the sake of human enjoyment raises questions about our moral responsibility towards the natural world. We cause harm to the very organisms we seek to admire. If you could take Baker to dinner what would they have to say about this? I just feel like there has to be another way, in your word, we should strive to be no more influential than the sun or the wind.

[@riccardotrevisanato122]

@mirai make me your slave