Collecting Bonsai Trees - Yamadori

[@thelazybonsai]

Sooper noice hiking and collecting

[@kootenaybonsaicanada]

Yes, so great and so fun

[@MokumaBonsai]

I wish we had areas like that to collect near my place :( Super awesome hike you had there. Thanks for taking us along. Hope the trees will do fine.

[@kootenaybonsaicanada]

I know I feel super privileged to be growing in the area I am. The trees are all doing great. Thanks for commenting, it makes all the difference to me.

[@maureenfaulkner4323]

This is so BC. Tromping around in the bush, enjoying the silence, the structure and finding treasures. Really appreciate this video

[@kootenaybonsaicanada]

Thanks Maureen, I appreciate the comment. I’m sure you know all too well being surrounded by the majestic BC forests.

[@BlueJayBonsai]

Lots of fun! Love that twin trunk!

[@kootenaybonsaicanada]

Thanks Jay, me too. I did an initial styling on it and it’s looking good I can’t wait to get it into a new container and continue it’s journey.

[@bonsaibythesea]

Nice video enjoyed 😮

[@kootenaybonsaicanada]

Thanks so much, I’ve been enjoying watching your journey as well. Thanks for making video and posting from your side of the country

[@SyaifulAmarullah]

permission to look at bonsai material in the forest,

[@kootenaybonsaicanada]

Yes, in Canada you have to get permission to collect.👍

[@benjaminmunro1732]

This is awsome. I love how excited you are to be out there colecting. Keep it up

[@kootenaybonsaicanada]

Thanks, I wasn’t sure about showing the giddy semi over excited part of myself in the video. I bit exposing but hearing you comment gives me more courage. Thanks 👍

[@railspony]

Hi from Oregon! Great video. My favorite spots are in the southern part of the map you showed. Such amazing beauty in these subalpine forests! And thankfully overlooked, my favorite spots have ancient trails and I've never seen anybody else on them.

[@kootenaybonsaicanada]

Love it. Thanks for the comment. It is so amazing to get up and see a unique tree to the subalpine. The smell of subalpine fir is unique and connected for me to the high mountains and high that goes with being out there. Glad you liked the video thanks for watching and commenting it keeps me motivated.

[@hmhmhm998]

i agree with that reward system can`t go in the woods with out looking for some special jamadori 😂,but i always also get inspirations from the big trees that maybe shows how you could maybe style your tree if it is the same spechies or something, but also thanks for your video because im just amased by how nice and thin the fir trees looks in the mountains and by that whole nature. thanks for showing👍

[@kootenaybonsaicanada]

I’m glad you liked it. I was a little hesitant, well actually a lot hesitant putting in the car ramblings. Thanks for the support. You rock 👍

[@johnmichaelrutherford3514]

love these trees, am a bit jealous i don't live anywhere near somewhere with that nice of material for collecting, I particularly like the subalpine firs and now I kind of want to try growing one.

[@kootenaybonsaicanada]

I hear you. I feel so privileged to be where I am. Thanks for the comment.

[@kootenaybonsaicanada]

Thanks for the comment. I hear you. I’m so privileged to be where I am and into bonsai. I find myself with bonsai location jealousy too, particularly of southern location where tropicals can be growth. It’s the multiple flush and continual growth.

[@kootenaybonsaicanada]

Where ish are you located?

[@kawin9]

ฉันติดตามคุณนาน7-8ปีแล้วถ้าจำไม่ผิด และต้นนี้นี้สวยมาก❤

[@kootenaybonsaicanada]

Thank you so much for your support and continued watching. You are great 👍. What country are you watching from. It’s so good and inspiring to have people watch from a longways away

[@kawin9]

@@kootenaybonsaicanada Thailand ขอบคุณครับ

[@WLLYLOMN]

Loved the in car stuff man! Seeing how genuinely happy and excited you were is awesome haha.

[@kootenaybonsaicanada]

Great and thanks I wasn’t sure if I should put it in the video or not. It’s kinda rambling and stream of consciousness. Thanks again for the comment it gives me hope and motivation.

[@kliether33]

@@kootenaybonsaicanada The content is great, but I think your delivery could be improved by taking some time to gather your thoughts and then pick a nicer spot to film once you park. The dirt road audio is pretty harsh.

[@kootenaybonsaicanada]

@@kliether33 thanks for the tips and love coming my way. I appreciate you taking the time to comment.

[@kootenaybonsaicanada]

You think the audience would like and respond well to me talking about the ideas of bonsai? Let’s say compared to specific tree design etc.

[@imcoolboi-tq6zb]

Our family loves your videos. We are collecting this spring many species to introduce bonsai to our children at a very young age. We had a question about your experience with collecting fir and western hemlocks and of the fall would be more appropriate or does the same rules apply for western hemlock as you would mountain hemlock? you have only a 7-10 day window (Goldilocks period) or low chance of success when you mess with the roots. I used this rule in past and had a 90 percent success rate so far. Wondering if fall would be more gentle to lift older more established trees?

[@kootenaybonsaicanada]

Warms my heart to think your family loves the videos and you watch as a family. Great question. If you have a 90% success rate. Well done 👍 congrats to you. I wouldn’t change your timing or process. If you are in a more mild climate, longer fall not as cold winter I think the chances of success for fall collect goes up. Due to snow and roads being too snowy to drive it can be hard to get to the subalpine in the spring, to get to the trees before the Goldilocks period. I have not come any definitive answers to the great question we all should be asking. If you are keen to get your kids out there, I would say try a couple in the fall. The great collector Anton (on the island) does a lot of collecting in the fall. I’ll find his website and put a link in this thread for you to take his more experienced opinion. Hope this helps😃. From what I understand there is two periods in which trees grow new roots one in the spring and a smaller root growth in the fall.

[@kootenaybonsaicanada]

Ok, the link doesn’t seem to work. Search Anton bonsai island and his word press site should come up👍

[@imcoolboi-tq6zb]

@@kootenaybonsaicanada the trick I found is building the box out of untreated raw Doug fir and using decomposed doug fir that has strong rhyzomorphic bands formed through the beaks in the year to year growth. It symbiosis with hemlock readily and will colonize any wood. Essentially you’re creating a nursery environment for the tree like a baby hemlock would prefer to recover the adult tree. You’ll have new roots by the end of the year if you dig them as the bud swell but hasn’t broken . I hope this increases your success. Be careful not to get wood with black molds and such in it. It will be a bright white and very fuzzy and always between the layers of growth rings. The wood should be a bright orange color and and pretty broken down but shouldn’t crumble to dust. Should be like fine bark dust type of feel to it when you crush it. You’ll water much much less and make sure to put air vents in the box. I found air flow always moist never wet or dry feed the fungal bed and do not remove foliage first year. Leave it as they are very dependent on that new growth to set new root. Leaving it and not letting it get over 80 degrees will grow you out better. Pretty much shared years of work but it’s the method I have been using.

[@kootenaybonsaicanada]

@imcoolboi-tq6zb great tips, thanks so much. Getting the right post collect conditions seems to be the thing people struggle with the most including myself. I like how you are approaching this, sounds like you have a lot of experience. If you want send me some pictures of trees you have collected to me email [e-mail] and I’ll put them in an upcoming video👍. No pressure, be cool to see your trees and for your kids to see the trees and their dad on KZbin. Like I said no pressure and you can always send me pic and ask me not to show them on KZbin 😃👍. Thanks again for the thoughtful response and sharing your technique.

[@TheLitGardener]

What’s the link to the blog post about Anton’s collecting advice?

[@kootenaybonsaicanada]

The link didn’t work. So try searching - anton nijhuis bonsai. It’ll come up. Not sure which post in his Wordpress speaks to collecting so it might take a bit of searching and reading. Hope this helps

[@ElGancho08]

New watcher and new to yamadori. What are some tips to keep the tree alive after digging out? Is there a video you recommend I watch or anything thanks

[@kootenaybonsaicanada]

Great question. Timing of collection is a huge factor for success overall. I wish I had a good place to send you. You could check out mirai podcast with Randy knight for his insights. I tend to keep out of direct sun for a couple weeks (morning dappled sun). Then into a sunny position. A lot of people recommend straight pumice for the soil if you go that route your watering has to be on point. I do a perlite, peat, worm castings (5-10%). Basically a type of nursery mix but way more perlite (40 ish %). Don’t overwater or wait till the soil is completely dry. If it’s dry and hotter I sometimes spray down the tree to reduce loss of water. Some people use heat mats. If you have a greenhouse that’s best particularly since I live up north. Tie the tree down to the pot and move the tree as little as possible as it’s recovering. I think Randy puts his collected trees in wood chips and on the ground. Worth checking out his strategies. Have your newly collected tree protected from wind and ideally near other trees (like not on a patio or concrete pathway etc) again particularly if it’s dry. Hope this helps.

[@kootenaybonsaicanada]

Oh ya, keep as many roots as possible on collect. I don’t do any root work post collect and end up with a lot of native soil in my wood planter boxes. I get rid of the native soil and do the first root work the following repot, a couple years later.

[@ElGancho08]

@@kootenaybonsaicanada thanks for the great response

[@CaptainFuzzzy]

Best to collect in September just a heads up. Are you selling any?

[@kootenaybonsaicanada]

Thanks for the tip. Any rational as to why September? Even in my colder climate? Not selling any but if you are in the area email me and maybe we can make something happen. [e-mail].

[@CaptainFuzzzy]

@@kootenaybonsaicanada end of summer/beginning of fall is when the tree begins to transfer its energy into expanding its roots system. Pulling just before this happens ensures, due to new roots growth, the tree has a higher chance of survivabilitu, also okay to do in the very beginning of spring. Pumice with the native soil and some root stimulator combined with organic fertilizer application, right away, helps a lot. Aftercare is much easier if these metrics are met.

[@kootenaybonsaicanada]

@CaptainFuzzzy thanks for the tips. I appreciate the rational.