Grow Better Bonsai Faster || 4 Bonsai mistakes to avoid

Beginners often make a number of common mistakes. These hold back development of their bonsai and therefor stop them from growing better bonsai. By avoiding these mistakes you will grow better bonsai more quickly.
0:00 Mistakes that beginners make starting with bonsai in summary
1:49 Mistake 1. Buy a small tree to start a bonsai
3:28 Mistake 2. A Small Bonsai trunk is grown from a small trunk in a pot
5:30 Mistake 3. Moving a tree in a nursery container into a small funky pot
7:55 Purpose of a bonsai pot
9:19 You CAN grow a bonsai out in a bonsai pot
10:25 40 years growing out an arakawa Japanese maple bonsai
11:22 Growing a trident maple root over rock bonsai from seed
11:52 Bonsai pot purpose: Growth Reduction
12:50 Mistake 4. Keep your bonsai well-pruned

[@rodschroeder1048]

Thank you for such a great video!! I love all your videos they all help us. But this one is a must see for all beginners and needs to be expanded on, and help everyone understand the how, when and why of growing a bonsai. For me I would watch all the videos I could, and all you see is great trunks, great trees and a small explanation of what it took to get the tree to what we see. This is a great starting point, please keep growing this video. Thank you.

[@brianl1397]

I've watched a lot of bonsai videos and I can honestly say this is one of the best and a great help for a beginner. Must add it is great to be able to enjoy a garden tree as it is grown for bonsai 😬

[@GrowingBonsai]

:)

[@Oxertham]

15 years ago I was too impatient and made all of these mistakes and my plants fufered as a result, so I didn't continue. This last year I've been getting up to speed with a better mind set, taking my time and learning from my mistakes. Thanks Jelle for all your advise, with it I'm really enjoying seeing my plants grow.

[@carlmcclain6934]

Don’t give up! I’ve been doing bonsai for many years...on and off...and on again! I’d get frustrated and give up. But if you’re like me, and LOVE the art of bonsai, you just can’t keep away from it. I’ve made countless mistakes, but I’m learning everyday. Good luck to you and your bonsai journey. Just remember...BE PATIENT and DONT give up!

[@GrowingBonsai]

haha, I think most make these mistakes at some point.

[@notaclue7227]

Hi Jelle. I love your videos they're very informative. Only problem with this one is the music is too loud and distracting. Maybe its me but cant hear what you are saying. Keep up the excellent videos 👍

[@GrowingBonsai]

I have no clue what happens. But when I upload with music the balance is off afterwards!

[@TheBonsaiGarden]

Foist. Great video Jelle. A big issue with beginners is starting with poor material. Inappropriate trees with large leaves, tiny seedlings that will takes years, trees with long, featureless trunks, or needle thin, multiple spindly trunks with long internodes. Give yourself a fighting chance and start with better material.

[@GrowingBonsai]

Yes!

[@voodoobunny13]

I can comfortably say I never made any of these mistakes thanks to watching a ton of your KZbin videos first. 😂 Thank you. 🙏

[@GrowingBonsai]

hahaha, geeat!

[@Bruno-rt]

This is literally the best video on bonsai trees I’ve ever watched🙌🏼 it’s so straight forward and the informations are really important for a beginner. That not many other people talk about in other beginner videos. Truly thank you for taking your time and making these type of videos❤️

[@TheAncientBiker]

Just getting interested in Bonsai so this was very helpful thank you.

[@lilnoir4213]

Accepeting that your first impression of growing bonsai, were wrong and foolish is probably the moment that turns a beginner into a competent bonsai enthusiast.

[@GrowingBonsai]

Great vision!

[@XaviersBonsaiRetreat]

Very valid point and definitely the mistake I made for many years. The eagerness to put an 'unformed' tree into a bonsai pot has put a lot of my young material back a loing way - but the journey has still been fun. I do like the analogy to a painting and frame. Nice and relaxed :)

[@GrowingBonsai]

Glad you liked it!

[@cultivomaria125]

Muchas gracias por tus valiosos consejos 👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽

[@Chuy007GDL]

I agree because I make all this mistakes my self. A being doing bonsai for the last two years and another mistake the new beginners make is buying too many trees. I make the mistake, I had at one point over 60 trees and now I have only 17 trees that in the future will be good bonsai.. Thank you Jelle and great videos by the way!..

[@GrowingBonsai]

:) Thank you!

[@isaact8904]

Wow thanks for all the help

[@GrowingBonsai]

My pleasure. Hope there was something of use for you!

[@HarusaiBonsai]

Wonderful Work

[@bobcatbonsai]

Wonderful advice Jelle. I actually pulled a lot of my trees last spring and ground planted them. Now I must wait!😊

[@GrowingBonsai]

Buy More Trees, and you will be so busy you do not have to wait :?

[@deineath]

[Dramatic Music Playing] with some FACTS given. Thanks, Jelle.

[@GrowingBonsai]

hahaha

[@dhwrwmbasumatary2609]

I really enjoy watching your videos. Great help. Love from India.

[@GrowingBonsai]

Awesome! Thank you! Love India too!

[@jaherlar]

Thank you for this information. It really puts things into perspective. I like the process of growing a bonsai even though is slow, but I also would like to achive something in short time, so I'm thinking about a mix aproach by working with seedlings in growing pots, some others in the ground, and also I'll look for some plants from a nursery to get a tree with a thick trunk already. We will see how it goes. Thanks!

[@kennethtaylor7288]

You make great content Jelle, I really look forward to your releases. I also enjoy your personality that you let shine through too… many thank yous…

[@GrowingBonsai]

That is so kind of you! Merry Christmas!

[@DavesBonsai]

Good video Jelle! You state a lot of great perspectives on this wonderful craft we call bonsai. I'm good at some of those ideas, and not so much on others.

[@GrowingBonsai]

So nice of you

[@Bonsaicrazy]

Great video Jelle For a beginner like myself very helpful thanks 👊👍👍

[@GrowingBonsai]

You re welcome!

[@dreamingofbonsai]

Great tips! I appreciate the words of wisdom!

[@GrowingBonsai]

Thank you for your kind words!

[@HerbertDole]

Great tips :)

[@gmccracken01]

Excellent advice!

[@GrowingBonsai]

Glad you agree! Thx

[@user-dg5ny7yy7x]

Brilliant video, Jelle! I can now undo several mistakes in the spring! 😂

[@GrowingBonsai]

Go for it!

[@martinbrochristensen348]

Thanks Jelle🌞🌱

[@GrowingBonsai]

You're welcome!

[@johnkeagle2854]

Hi, Thanks for the video. I needed to head that.

[@GrowingBonsai]

Glad I could help

[@janvogt3725]

Thanks for the videos, appreciate it very much 🙏

[@GrowingBonsai]

Gladly

[@zimmy1958]

Thank you.

[@GrowingBonsai]

Gladly!

[@thenaturecreater8906]

Great video mr jelle! Very good information! Wish i saw this video 4 years ago😂. I put the Brazilian raintree cutting you sendt me in a large pondbasket in spring. I think it has dobbel in size. I had do cut it back before i took it. But i shot of again. In the indoor greenhouse

[@GrowingBonsai]

My apologies that I did not make this 4 years ago!

[@jaiprakashpathak8974]

Wonderful research work. Beginners will surely benefit from these invaluable findings. 👏

[@GrowingBonsai]

I do hope so!

[@keefe4484]

good tips and explanation of steps to take to develop your bonsai

[@GrowingBonsai]

thx

[@nerinat8371]

Very helpful advice l need when l started, never too late ... thanks so much

[@GrowingBonsai]

:) The truth is out there!

[@sbragaglia]

Very valuable advices. The only thing I don’t understand is why people wants the immediate gratification of a fully mature bonsai. No patience learning how to tend to plants, or to develop one into a bonsai, etc. I am a novice and I want to learn all these things: learning is a pleasant experience and cutting corners is not that advantageous to cut corners… this aside, I’m starstruck by Jelle and all the “dress changes”!during this performance (the t-shirts in this video)! 😉

[@GrowingBonsai]

hahaha, it was only 4 different shirts!

[@paulgeddert6125]

I think there is a nice balance. I have bought around 5-6 fully formed bonsai from nurseries in my first few years, several part trained trees, and dozens of garden centre material. Dug several yamadori and started numerous from cuttings, seed and air layers. It gives you a wide breadth of material to work on from the off, and a full range of horticulture to learn from simultaneously.

[@rtweedtwee]

Wat een goeie aflevering man. Misschien wel je beste 😊

[@GrowingBonsai]

Ohw, dank je! Ooit ga ik uitvinden wat een video bijzonder maakt, en kan dan meer van dat type videos maken!

[@Alfaro_Bonsai]

Very nice bonsai my brother👍👍

[@GrowingBonsai]

You're welcome!

[@japanesemaplesbonsai7133]

Thanks for this Jelle. Very interesting…I made this mistake when I started and put it in a small pot. Then realised after reading it grows so much faster in the ground…stages, roots!, trunk!, branches!, ramification!….thanks again!

[@GrowingBonsai]

:) Yes!

[@chrisswales1174]

I wish I’d seen this video when I started, seems like I’ve been doing it wrong.Doh! Thanks Jelle

[@GrowingBonsai]

You'll get there?

[@rutgerw.]

Very usefull, I certainly make these mistakes. Thanks. By the way the music in this video was a bit too loud in my opinion.

[@GrowingBonsai]

Agreed. Something goes wrong when uploading videos with music.

[@SteveAllotment]

Great video... Have taken advice before and now have some 10 year old field maples with nice trunks but now they are very tall ... When is the best time of year to make that big chop to cut down to size?

[@theoschmitt3037]

Wahre Worte, Jelle😊

[@FrostBiteBonsai]

That IS helpful! I made all those mistakes except the Bonsai pot, because they are not available here! Hahaha! I guess we all start out with the best intentions Eh! 😅

[@GrowingBonsai]

:) hahaha

[@sueb1317]

Wonderful summary - wish I saw this vid when I started many years ago!! When I first started bonsai, all info in books was for developed trees - without any reference to how to get them there. Since I love growing from seeds and cutting, as well as observing plant behaviours close up, I still have many small trees - often in large clay pots, but I do this with intention rather than by mistake.

[@GrowingBonsai]

Merry christmas!

[@sueb1317]

@@GrowingBonsai Merry Christmas and very best wishes for 2024 Jelle. Thank you for a great year of fascinating and entertaining vids!!

[@carlmcclain6934]

So helpful! I wish I’d had the internet when I started doing bonsai 30 years ago. I’ve been doing bonsai on and off that long...and believe me! I’ve made every kind of mistake. Now that I’m 60yo I regret not learning all that I could have when I was younger. I’d start, and then get frustrated and stop...and then start again! Lol. Patients is my biggest problem. I’m constantly working on that!

[@GrowingBonsai]

So the last 40 years of your life you can do it all right!

[@SirPeacemaker]

Very good video. Thank you. The only thing what is a bit wrong here is the music too loud.

[@GrowingBonsai]

Sorry about that

[@Smile_Bonsai_Auction]

❤❤❤❤❤

[@Tcromb]

Jelle, why do you have drainage mesh over the top of your trees?

[@greenhawk1592]

Great video , the music is tooo much , leave it 😉

[@GrowingBonsai]

Yeah, something went wrong there. On the laptop during editing it was background :(

[@buonleo]

I am an impatient beginner, I must admit. I have learnt a lot from your videos, thank you! Do you think that for a bonsai that will be ready to be potted up in, say, 5 years, it is possible to continue the development in an oversized bonsai pot instead of the plastic bowl? (Service note, the music level here is a bit too loud)

[@GrowingBonsai]

Absolutely. It is what I do with several of my trees when tired of plastic. As for the music,a bit annoying as during editing on my laptop all was good :(

[@atomartin]

Well... It depends on the specie. My edible figi trees are growing from the seeds in a approx. 3 L pots and they have aprox. 6 cm thick trunks after 6 yesrs. Root pruning, branch pruning, fresh potting mix every year and lots of fertilizers - the recipe of fast growth.

[@GrowingBonsai]

That is good growth. In the full ground however you might have had double the size pehaps?

[@brucedeacon28]

👍👌🙂

[@GrowingBonsai]

:)

[@charlesmaunder]

Good video. For me, the music was too loud and it made it difficult to understand what you were saying.

[@GrowingBonsai]

Sorry about that. I am unsure what went wrong in the processing.

[@bonsaisn]

Beautiful bonsai tree, but I can't hear your language, it would be great to have Vietnamese running on the screen, wish you success.

[@GrowingBonsai]

I doubt I will ever manage to speak vietnamese. Have you tried the youtube subtitle? It does many languages automatically.

[@user-ou3ub7us6u]

Great video. But what's with that sad music in the background. And also it is to loud. I can barely hear your voice. Anyways beside that thank's for all the tips!

[@GrowingBonsai]

yeah, sorry.

[@mcbean1]

I disagree in part with the objection to small trees, 1, making new trees from cuttings are a super cheap way to get more plants. 2. smaller trees are cheaper and therefore easier for those that can't afford older trees. 3. Bonsai is a life long hobby, sure you might want a few trees with big trunks, but waiting 10 years isn't so bad if you have plenty of trees to nurture along the way 4. sometimes smaller trunks are preferred. 5. smaller and cheaper trees allow you to make mistakes, that last thing you want it to kill an expensive tree because you didn't know a technique well enough No doubt we all want super old and matured trees but there can be a lot of fun found in smaller stock. not to mention if you can stick them in big enough pots or the ground, you'll get the trunk you want soon enough

[@GrowingBonsai]

I love smaller finer trees too. But it is the challenge that people start with a tiny tree and expect it to grow out into a big trunked specimen in a pot in a reasonable amount of time!

[@allmetaliswelcome]

I think it's better if you don't put music in your videos

[@GrowingBonsai]

I am not sure what happened.

[@Matt6644]

Mistake number 1: Thinking you don't need any more trees

[@GrowingBonsai]

Hahahahaha

[@bonsaibywally]

dramatic music to add to depression when reality hits

[@GrowingBonsai]

do not get depressed!

[@peterhochstrasser9817]

Made all 3 of the mistakes 😂 For your propagation videos, put out a warning "not for people over 50" as we will never see a decent result 😁😁😁

[@GrowingBonsai]

Really? You think these people will not live 10 years?

[@peterhochstrasser9817]

I really hope so 😂. I need to get to my old age pension lol

[@sunfresh79]

The whole point of a bonsai is to be small. Your trees are too large.

[@GrowingBonsai]

Hahaha, love this comment. I hope you will come to the Trophy in Genk in a few weeks. I would love to catch up and walk with you through the exhibition, and hear your view on the size of the trees there. Normal bonsai come in different size classes, with the regular sizes running up to about 1.10 m tall (Above which, a bonsai in a tokonoma will look too large). If anything, most of my trees are in the smaller category.

[@stanhill3980]

Lose the stupid music, it's to loud, not needed its annoying

[@GrowingBonsai]

Glad you enjoyed the video. Don't forget to subscribe so youtube can remind you top join in for another dose of weekend-music.