Japanese White Pine FULL Work step by step PART 1 - Arkefthos Bonsai

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

Please enable captions.

[@AMARTAMAYAPADA]

Beautiful bonsai

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

Thank you! I appreciate it! Cheers!

[@masiahsume2654]

love your video

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

Thank you Masiah! Have a great day!

[@gloriablanco7856]

Great learning, like and thank you.

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

Your welcome Gloria!

[@constanzetausch122]

I like your Video because of is without music. Just the singing birds - wonderful! And I love the way your are handling the tree. Must go and look for part two immediately... Thank you for this video!

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

Thank you Constanze! Unfortunately, it is not always possible to have these sounds. Human activity, cars, construction, wood and grass cutting, makes it very hard to capture video. It's a struggle... Cheers!

[@simongore29]

So that's how you do that thing with guy wires! Very tidy work. I look forward to part 2

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

You can apply guy wires on thinner branches without the cut. But for thicker branches than your thumb, that you need a tight bend, it's better to do the wedge cut on softwood trees. Cheers!

[@CONEHEADDK]

I suggest Mike Oldfield and similar music of the viewers choice, since there is no speaking. Makes it more meditive for me. And my maple on a rock, hanging over the side to below the top of the rock, is doing very well. I use rubber bands to nudgeforce the new branches in the direction, I desire. And it seems as if picking a leaf or three rather often, before they grow much, has resulted in hidden branches coming to life. It was the first 1 or 2 months, that felt least "Bonsaiing" - now it is my tiny tree. Happy for the inspiration.

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

I really like his music but since it is copyrighted I can't use it here (like most of the music one likes). I hope you are using the captions( subtitles) though! Glad to hear about your maple! Maybe it's time for one more tree...? Maybe a conifer..?

[@CONEHEADDK]

@@ArkefthosBonsai I mentioned the music, so others could consider, having him on at the same time, not to suggest you getting into trouble, since I know, they can hit hard on small things, while others seem to be invisible for YT. I'm looking around for the next "child", but I prefere to adopt them as natural born bonsais, growing between some stones or pavement, so they already have a lot of branches while being tiny. But I'm not really into needled trees. I try to make them tiny (probably bcz that was what I thought they all were, when I was a kid) but I do have a tiny willow started up, that might get to survive, if I don't fall over someone, who needs it's "pot". I have a lot of focus on the short moments, when it can have a whole tree of tiny normal looking leaves.

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

I see your point about tiny.

[@brmbkl]

@@ArkefthosBonsai like the videos the way they are. no need for music, especially the overpowering kind some use to make things more "dynamic". love how we can hear the real sounds of the work.

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

I agree with you, that's why the past year I've steered away from music during the videos. Instead I have a directional microphone, trying to isolate the birds from the human activities. Thank you very much for your input, I appreciate it!

[@zanteivan9716]

Grazie per la condivisione,i tuoi video oltre a lasciare la competenza e la passione,infondono serenità e rilassamento.Bravo

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

Thank you Ivan! I appreciate your words!

[@pela1100]

Al principio me preguntaba por qué no podaste las raíces, después me dí cuenta del trabajo que tenías pensado hacer. Bello paisaje....las estrellas se ven extrañas. Salud.

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

I did not cut the roots as I did the repot in the 1st of September, which is late summer for us here. I removed all the bad acadama soil but I could not cut any roots in a summer repotting. Cheers Fabian!

[@LUNYU_KILAT]

Amazing bonsai my friend salam Indonesia

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

Thank you Lunyu! Regards from Greece!

[@jefsbonsaiandfarming]

Very nice job! Can’t wait for part two!

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

Thank you Jef!

[@robertobreglia9224]

Good job!👍👍👍

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

Thank you Roberto!

[@nightcoder5k]

Such a nice-looking bonsai. Well done.

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

Thank you! Despite the August bare rooting and repotting the tree looks great still!

[@Omar-al-Farouk]

Wow👍😍😍😍

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

Thank you!

[@sagebonsai]

Thank you for sharing, this really was a great way to start my day with, and you've earned a new subscriber from me. 👍

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

Thank you mate! It's nice having you!

[@jiijino_bonsai_ch]

👍👍👍

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

Thank you!

[@laboratoriodelbonsai7808]

Hola me encantan tus videos, qué sustrato usas de color blanco, saludos

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

Thank you! This is a mix of zeolite, pumice and perlite. Zeolite being the most important component. Cheers!

[@thietbuibonsai]

👍👍👍❤❤❤

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

Thank you!

[@XaviersBonsaiRetreat]

What a fantastic demonstration of bending and guy wires. Your videos are always so peaceful. I've never tried wedge cuts but now fancy a go - is their any type of tree you would not recommend this technique for? I am primarily thinking of a Larch, Hornbeam and Juniper. Thanks a lot, Xav

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

Thank you Xavier for your kind words! Don't apply this for hardwoods. Only softwood conifers. And I wouldn't do that on juniper. So Larix yes, definatly, pines, Sequoia, Cedrus and Picea.

[@DerStiglitz]

@@ArkefthosBonsai I have only used the wedge-shaped cut successfully on ficuses. I haven't taken any chances with pines.

[@XaviersBonsaiRetreat]

@@ArkefthosBonsai Pheww that could have been another juniper horror :)

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

Pines are really easy on this. All softwood.

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

You can test it on juniperus, but juniper heartwood is quite hard and btlrittle and the cambiim is super thin, it will be quite the challenge.

[@DerStiglitz]

Thank you for your video. As always cool and atmospheric! There is one question about the transplanting season. Tell me why you do it now.

[@DerStiglitz]

P.s. I included subtitles later) but still - why not wait until spring? I have a personal interest as I am really looking forward to transplanting my new white pine into the right pot and substrate

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

That's an excellent question actually. The detailed and high level explanation is this. Yes, I have the patience to wait until March BUT the tree will be in danger until then since I have no clue about the properties of this soil, composed by someone else. So when I do my watering rounds, every tree will be set with my soil mix, which I know really well, how and when to water and when to fertilize and this tree will be sitting all autumn and winter in this soil and I will have little control over the it's roots mini climate. Now it's quite safe with proper after care.

[@DerStiglitz]

@@ArkefthosBonsai I think the soil in all those pines from Japan looks like coarse sand with broken acadama. This worries me too, but I think I'll wait until March, but will monitor the substrate moisture carefully with an instrument. As I don't have many trees, it's quite possible. Thanks for the answer to the question.

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

@@DerStiglitz Having the patience to wait until March is admirable!

[@xayotyusupov8408]

hello. Great video. What substrate did you use? Perlite?

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

Thank you Xayot! 50 - 50 perlite zeolite. I put just a little bit of organic forest topsoil in this one. Large aggricates. Cheers!

[@TejaJaensch]

Is that pure pumice that you're using?

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

Hi Teja, as I describe in the captions - subtitles, the mix I'm using is half zeolite, half perlite, with a bit of organic aggricates added (less than 5%). It's my preferred soil mix for conifers. Cheers!

[@michaelkmiec5842]

With white pine do you try to not trim the roots at all?

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

Nice question Michael. First this is white pine grafted onto black pine. I did this repotting in the last day of August which is still quite hot here. I did it then because the soil the tree was in was unbelievably bad. No air and water percolation at all and I wouldn't be able to control the water throughout winter like this. So I had to repot and I did not cut the roots so that the tree feels like it never happened. The tree is very healthy now and in spring of 2025 I will properly repot and I will cut the roots appropriately. If I need to repot a weak white pine(on its own roots), I'll try to save as much of them as I can. A strong one, I will cut back more. With black pines I generally cut back a lot more. Cheers!

[@michaelkmiec5842]

@@ArkefthosBonsai thanks I recently got a nice shohin Japanese white pine. I have many black pine and other trees but I’ve heard white pines can be tricky. I only removed around 1/5 of the root mass as it was very pot bound. It’s been about a 2 weeks it seems to be doing well in its new pot.

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

@michaelkmiec5842 slowly and carefully is the way to go with these, especially when new to you and not established in your garden. So in 2 years you can take it out of the pot, work heavily 1/3 of the root ball, completely untangle, spread out and cut back, and place it back in. See how the tree reacts and 2 years later either do another 3rd or the rest. Unfortunately signs of life will take more than 2 weeks to show. You'll feel safe when you see new needles breaking out if the candles.

[@michaelkmiec5842]

@@ArkefthosBonsai yes I think I choose a good time as the new candles are still looking good and hopefully will be putting out needles soon. That is a good rule to not do anything when you add a new tree I usually wait a year before touching them..I’ve only been keeping them seriously for around 4 years now and still have a lot to learn

[@ArkefthosBonsai]

@michaelkmiec5842 good luck with your trees Michael!