How to make a FREE BONSAI Tree and How I make my Bonsai Soil

[@Kriywan]

Free trees...brill! Thanks for your video Gavin 😊

[@NotAnotherBonsaiChannel]

Oh yes, you can't beat a FREE tree!

[@nerinat8371]

Gotta love free trees, great stuff

[@NotAnotherBonsaiChannel]

You can't beat that.

[@D.RBonsai4601]

Awesome video Gav A lovely way to get in to bonsai without breaking the bank Thanks for sharing bro👊🏻

[@NotAnotherBonsaiChannel]

Absolutely Dan! I thought this would be a good video for beginners 😀

[@Naztalgic]

I tried rooting some willow branchesthis spring. Im in Philadelphia so the experiment was to see if we can make a 5 foot long and about 2 inch wide branches and root them in water we did about 15 and planted 10 in ground and 5 we potted up. So now that it is August 25th 4 in ground survived and are all green the others died back. And the poted ones only 3 survived and they died back half their length. Next spring going to try even thicker ones

[@NotAnotherBonsaiChannel]

Sounds like you ran an interesting experiment! Willows can be a bit problematic when it comes to die back, but I haven't suffered from much of this myself. I think the issue always is water. Willows love water and around the area where I collected these, which is right beside a stream, they're growing like weeds. If they go only a short time without being damp, they will suffer and possibly die.

[@Naztalgic]

@@NotAnotherBonsaiChannel Right on :)

[@houghtonbonsai]

Great Video Gav, really enjoyed it m8 😀👍

[@NotAnotherBonsaiChannel]

Thanks Ryan m8! 👍

[@bonsaiexpression]

Nice video Gav. Really enjoyed it 👍🏻

[@NotAnotherBonsaiChannel]

Thanks Chris!

[@bonsaijourneyuk]

Great video Gav! I like the countryfile inspired intro!

[@NotAnotherBonsaiChannel]

Thanks, it adds something a little different!

[@mikec3820]

a tree guy i know was telling me they left a giant 3 foot round stump. like what you spilt for fire wood. of willow. left it in his wood pile sitting upright. it rooted and started growing in a year or so. if you have a chainsaw that is lol. love willows tho. beautiful trees. weeping or upright. thanks NABC

[@NotAnotherBonsaiChannel]

Yeah, thanks for watching and wow a 3 foot stump that rooted, wish I could get my hands on something like that! But it is amazing how well these grow and root. They do certainly make beautiful trees.

[@sharonbuckley4591]

Yes you can. I took a 2” branch from a corkscrew willow , stuck it in a bucket and it developed lots of roots, it now growing very well. Mydelimaia how to prune it.

[@NotAnotherBonsaiChannel]

Fantastic! These are some of the easiest plants/ trees to grow for beginners. So as a bonsai it's so easy and grows so well

[@treeaddict]

Great video, 2 months for a chunky trunk like that?! nice

[@NotAnotherBonsaiChannel]

Thanks and Absolutely what a result eh?

[@XaviersBonsaiRetreat]

Great video Gav. i initially thoguht you were going to try and take that big old man willow :)

[@NotAnotherBonsaiChannel]

I only wish Xav! But I am amazed at how well these strike. And with a fat trunk, you can very quickly end up with something cool looking very quickly

[@bartstellink307]

Hi, nice collection of sticks. 😂 Hope to see an update on these, very curious how they turn out. I have tried cuttings too. Some trees will root easily. I made 4 cotoneasters, a bunch of privets and a couple of hinoki's. The did very well just sticking them in soil (your normal potting soil) and just watering them. 1 of the cotoneasters spit out like 25 to 30 centmeters of growth this year. Don't you just love free trees?

[@NotAnotherBonsaiChannel]

Thanks and it sounds like you've had some good results. Usually with cuttings I would do the same (just put a few in a pot of soil and see what happens) but Willows are so water hungry that this method in the video works well. These are already putting out a lot of growth, so I'll do an update on these soon. You can't beat a FREE tree!

[@bartstellink307]

Yes, they do love water. My dad has loads of them in his garden, done the same way. I also had loads of failures with cuttings... It comes with the hobby, I guess.

[@paulgeddert6125]

They're tempting, Willow. But it's hard to create anything nice from them, and die back frequently. I've rooted huge cuttings before but aborted most as they're quite scrappy trees.

[@NotAnotherBonsaiChannel]

Thanks Paul. I always find them fun to grow and personally haven't had a lot of die back on mine. I think it's best to keep them wet during the summer and on the drier side during winter.

[@lisawagner6076]

I don't have a willow tree near me, so I bought cuttings and they came one huge 1.5 inch stalk and 5 thin ones. The thin ones died but the thick one is doing very well. I got lots of branches getting very long. But what do I do about this very straight, very thick trunk? I think this is going to have to be a very big bonsai to dwarf that trunk. Also, can you do this with pine trees?

[@NotAnotherBonsaiChannel]

That's great to hear that you also had success with rooting chunky willow cuttings and to hear that it's doing so well. Strange to hear that the smaller ones didn't survive. Usually these root really easily in water and provided that you keep the soil wet (preferably in a tray of water) then they should grow well. There is not much that you can do about the shape of the trunk with a cutting this size as that is already set. But what you could do is use a branch as a leader, cut the trunk down to that point and gradually grow the tree out again. This will take time and require a big container to allow the root to grow. But willows grow so fast, you should see results quickly. Can you do this with pines? I've never tried, but with pines I would imagine that you would have far better success with smaller cuttings than a big chunky one.

[@lisawagner6076]

@@NotAnotherBonsaiChannel Thanks so much. I think I let the skinny branches dry out. They did sprout roots when I had them in water but I think my deck got too hot for them and they dried out too fast. Thanks for the tip with the thick trunk. I will see if that will work here.

[@DeciduousSnurb]

Gavin's Gravel Mix, I like the idea of using the gravel and compost especially for trees still in development. I think I'll give your mix a try with some of my trees, though, I think I will have to add Perlite to it for aeration. Over the last 3 or 4 years I've been using Nigel Saunders' SafeTsorb mix and it was pretty good at first, but over the last year or so most of the SafeTsorb just turns to clay mush after a few months. I've commented this to Nigel last year and he said he didn't notice a decrease in quality for him. So yeah I'll give Gavin's Gravel Mix a shot next spring. As for willow, I cant keep them alive as bonsai. There is and old gnarly one growing by the lake I live by that the pesky deer keep chomping at, maybe I'll give another try.

[@NotAnotherBonsaiChannel]

Thank you and hopefully you find this soil mix works as well for you as it does for me. Adding perlite is very a good idea. I have tried this in the past with a few trees and it does help. I completely agree with your point about SafeTsorb. I've never liked using this and you are absolutely right about it breaking down and turning into a mush. Hardly a suitable medium for roots to be growing in. Personally I don't subscribe to the idea of planting trees in a man made substrate and I do feel as though things like Akadama can be so highly priced. This large bag of gravel was only £4 from my local builders merchants. The smaller bags can be found on Amazon for around £7.

[@KennetDeBondt]

In my experience, willows are not great material: lots of dieback... But I whish you succes! Grts Kennet

[@NotAnotherBonsaiChannel]

Thanks Kennet, appreciate the feedback. Positive thing is that they grow back so fast, so for a beginner, it's very hard to make a mistake.

[@Yurup]

Really curious how your soil mix will work in the fall, looks sort of wetish to me. Perfect for willows of course but for other trees?

[@NotAnotherBonsaiChannel]

Thanks! Yeah it's perhaps not the perfect time to be doing this and the soil mix only looks wettish because I've rinsed the gravel mix. It drains well which is that more important thing. Other trees are fine for me in this mix, even down here in the south of England where we get a lot of rain. If you are concerned, use more gravel than compost. But you'll then at risk of taking it the other way and having to be out there watering your trees 3 or 4 times a day!

[@bonsaikastur]

No problem at all. I use much more compost than that and had no problem

[@NotAnotherBonsaiChannel]

@@bonsaikastur I think in bonsai some people are frightened to use compost, but we have to remember these trees have evolved over more years than use as humans. So what can be found in compost is what they need. The important factor in bonsai is drainage and fine roots. Most people (I think) are beginners and want to grow their trees on, in which case compost may be perfect. But if you do have a more mature tree, where you want to slow the growth, then you'll need to think differently.