Mame Bonsai: Making & Repotting Mini Bonsai from Cuttings

Making mame bonsai from Lonicera/honeysuckle cuttings.
Part 2: • Mame Bonsai: (Branch B...
Instagram: / grobonsai
In this video I'm repotting some mame bonsai grown from cuttings of lonicera. I show the process used to root honeysuckle cuttings for growing mame bonsai. I also repot a more established cutting, working the roots for maximum aesthetics as the tree design grows. I reveal several mame bonsai techniques and tips to ensure that your mame bonsai cutting is set up for success from the very beginning of it's journey as a mini bonsai.

[@grobonsai]

Idle bonsai hands are the devils playthings! Lonicera are how I stay sane in the pre-repotting build up. How do you keep busy in the bonsai winter season?

[@TaderSamich]

Lonicera was one of my 1st bonsai and is currently the only one I've kept alive for over a decade. Most of my trees survive these days, but lonicera made it through all my rookie mistakes. I've made a forest out of all the trimmings. Every piece you cut off will root. 2 years ago I decided to lop the entire top off and make the bottom branch the top of the tree. I stuck the top {over a foot long with lots of branches) in some dirt and it rooted. Indestructible!

[@samandrews3284]

I must confess to killing several :(

[@grobonsai]

Ah Sam! I’m sorry!

[@davidwood639]

Hi Darren, the potting soil appears to change properties during the period. Is that just the normal decomposition process? Great content as always.

[@davidstokes925]

Darren, lived in the mid south most of my life. The honey suckle (must be different than what you’re using) I’m used to had larger leaves that pretty hung on the whole year, didn’t get more leaves but I don’t think it’s dormant. Folks think about it almost as bad as they do about kudzu. like I’ve said before brand new to all this. I was wondering about the “soil” you used. there wasn’t any soil or anything the plants could get nutrients from. do you use fertilizers or am I completely wrong about this...

[@wallygrandpa]

I tend to wash my plant roots in rainwater by swirling them around, takes out almost all the soil in a couple of minutes. I don't think i'd be that patient. Nice video.

[@Kerberos443]

Ow i destroyed many foelies. Only while landscaping tho.

[@tiffanieainley572]

what about starting from seed? for my birthday my fiance got me a kit with 4 types of tree seeds and and each type of tree had several seeds! have no idea what to do! HELP!

[@michaeleber4752]

I've seen this method done for spreading roots....but a flat stone is used and no wiring needed.

[@soumyakantmohapatra]

If you twirl the soil in a jug of water the soil would loosen up without disturbing the roots.

[@chrisswales1174]

Nice video and I’ll certainly be taking some honeysuckle cuttings and giving it a try. Bit of feedback though - the backing music is really annoying - I don’t think you need it as it detracts from what you’re saying, sorry.

[@grobonsai]

No need to apologise, I’m learning as I go.

[@SidsTrees]

Did we miss a stage? You started the cuttings in molar clay but when raking out the roots it appeared to be regular potting compost. You are right about Lonicera. Fabulous for bonsai and tough as old boots. Cheers. Sid.

[@grobonsai]

They are different batches. That batch of last years cuttings were in compost, I think I’d ran out of molar at the time, but molar clay is equally successful and that bit easier to deal with when repotting 😀 so used that yesterday. To be fair they aren’t fussy what they are planted in as long as they stay damp.

[@PinoyBonsai]

Nice video. I'm a bonsai hobbyist from the Philippines.

[@grobonsai]

Thank you for the comment, greetings from the UK!

[@TomTomTomTom538]

I killed one before in my first year, repotted and then cut back to a couple of leaves to induce back budding. It sent out loads of shoots but I cut them off. Then it stopped growing for a year and died. Lol.

[@grobonsai]

I thought they were like cockroaches, it’s good to know they have limits, cheers Tom hehe

[@ashleyholtom6136]

Favourite video yet, looking forward to seeing how the mini Bonsai develop

[@Admiral_Pumpout]

Nice one Darren. I have some very small lonicera (sub species unknown!) in very large tubs I got from Morrisons. Some stores will allow you to have some of the tubs they display their flower bunches in if you ask, one store near me charges a quid for eight but another let me have a load for free! I’ve not got any in a while tho, and I think they’ve switched from black plastic to opaque/white as black plastic is harder to recycle. I’m gonna leave them to grow for a few years and see how they get on, they were scraggy little plants growing from material that had been cut off the main plant and took root so they were a bit wonky but so fine that it was easy to straighten them out a little, I hope to get them to a point where I can create an upright tree with good dense pads, I’ll get back to you in about five or ten years on that tho!

[@grobonsai]

That sounds ideal, I've seen some really good upright Lonicera on Google images, I'm sure it'll work great for you. Did you manage to grab any Chinese Elms from Morrisons around the Chinese new year?

[@Admiral_Pumpout]

Gro Bonsai no, I saw a couple of half decent ones but I have one outside already, the leaves of which are starting to emerge.

[@ThePhobosAnomally]

Do honeysuckler require dormancy, or can you bring them indoors for winter?

[@grobonsai]

That's an excellent question, something I've been pondering lately, but I honestly don't know the answer. I've been watching mine closely in the garden this winter, and while the slowed down considerably, they have continued to grow. This year has been a mild winter, I'm not sure if it was too warm to go dormant or whether they just don't go fully dormant. I intend to keep one or two cuttings indoors the next few winters to see what happens, but it will take a couple or three years to find out for sure, sadly. If you find an answer in the meantime, please let me know - I'd be really interested!

[@terryc8674]

Is that the box leaf honeysuckle ?

[@grobonsai]

I think that is the same, L nitida also make good bonsai, smaller leaves and more upright in habit than pileata.

[@andrewbleeker4177]

Hi. Never had much luck with cuttings. A real hit and miss for Me. Is there a certain time/season (live in Surrey) You do Your cuttings. What is Your watering regime. Any pointers would be appreciated. Thanks for Your videos. Enjoy watching them

[@grobonsai]

Hiya, I also find cuttings a bit hit and miss. But Lonicera are very easy. Keep them moist, don’t let them fry in the sun, and you’ll get a very high success rate, even thick hardwood cuttings. Other species are definitely trickier. Cotoneaster in autumn have worked for me. Elm are quite reliable. Japanese maple are my nemesis. Thanks for writing

[@mikec3820]

the honeysuckles are invasive here in the US we never see them in garden stores anymore.. i keep my hands busy in the winter with my portulacaria, crassula, ficus and other tropicals..

[@grobonsai]

Nice! I have a Port’ but not much else tropical-ish

[@iceshadow487]

I killed a honeysuckle a few years back... 10 of us ripped and a tractor ripped it out of the ground

[@grobonsai]

Touché 😂

[@margaretsims4344]

Great video Darren. But not a fan of the music it’s so repetitive. I will be trying some Lonicera.!

[@grobonsai]

They are lots of fun, thanks for writing

[@marilousopocado9429]

just starting to do bonsai..as a hobby..and become a member to a local grp to enhance my knoledge in bonsai..

[@grobonsai]

Great, welcome to the art

[@bilgiguctur8317]

Now that your aim was to barren the roots why did you peck at the whole root system and damage it instead of washing the soil away with luke warm water?

[@grobonsai]

Because I don’t wash the roots as a default operation.

[@davidjennings9556]

Darren....google "ebihara method"....i have used this method several times. First time was on a peach tree, which now has an amazing nebari. I will definantly be using it again in the future.

[@grobonsai]

Yeah I’ve got a field maple on a board, didn’t go as far as using nails to train the roots though

[@davidjennings9556]

@@grobonsai i didn't either....... but the peach stayed on the board for almost 3 years.....board fell apart when I dug it up!.....lol...

[@gwynprice7396]

great work , like your channel Darren! Keep them coming... ex pat now in Canada so i appreciate whats going on in the Uk. We have lots of Alpine mountain trees in our collections here, never had a honeysuckle but they look like you van create nice dense foliage pads. Cheers

[@grobonsai]

Thanks that's really kind! Yeah honeysuckle are good fun, they grow really fast but can lack refinement in those dense pads. I envy your conifers :)

[@johnwetherington6348]

Hi Darren, what time of the year is it that you are doing this? Thanks, John.

[@grobonsai]

Cuttings any time as long as you keep them moist and humid. Repot in spring, prune when in growth. Thanks for watching

[@cheezywhiz]

You watered this when you were done.. then how often will/did you water going forward? As a newbie bonsai enthusiast, this is one detail that a lot of videos seem to leave out. Love your vids.

[@grobonsai]

It’s a tricky subject to talk about because there are several variables. This is the best I’ve seen kzbin.info/www/bejne/g5zOgGeuatydeqs

[@cheezywhiz]

@@grobonsai Great video. Thanks for the link!

[@neutronshiva2498]

Which Lonicera it is? Theres like hundreds species?

[@grobonsai]

This is L. pileata, but nitida is also suitable.

[@rockymountainlicious]

Why can’t you use water to loosen roots, wash away soil??

[@grobonsai]

You can, it’s my preference not to most of the time as I like to leave any beneficial micro biology intact. I will wash the roots if I’m going to comb them out, but these roots don’t really need it and are too fine. Many people disagree and happily wash the roots with success.

[@antonioalemanno2951]

Hi! Great tutorial!i m italian boy,so sorry for not perfect english!i m new in the world of bonsai,and after have watched differents tutorials,i have a question for you! In many videos i have seen that all people cut the leaves in half!why dont u this?it s just a simple question by an inexperienced boy!

[@grobonsai]

Good question! This species (Lonicera) is very good at producing roots rapidly, and the small leaves use water slowly, so cutting the leaves for this species is not needed. Species with larger, thinner leaves use water quickly, so it is a good idea to cut large leaves, to stop the cutting drying out and failing. An example of such species is Japanese Maple - Acer palmatum - I do cut the large leaves in that case. I hope that helps

[@antonioalemanno2951]

@@grobonsai really really tnx for the answer to my doubt

[@soumyakantmohapatra]

This would apply to all plants with small leaves. Like fukien tea plant from Philippines.

[@vijaylakhera315]

Thanks for sharing, I have more then 100 bonsai of aging 15 to 30 years

[@grobonsai]

Sounds like a very impressive collection, thanks 🙏

[@marilousopocado9429]

pls show us more of your mame/shohin bonsai..thank you

[@BillyBobJoeSnr]

I like the root training disk idea, I'm thinking of trying the pizza spacer but not wiring it to the tree.

[@grobonsai]

Nice idea. I’ll repot it in spring and see how it’s working. Will post a vid 👍

[@BillyBobJoeSnr]

@@grobonsai I was thinking that the little less could be trimmed depending on pot depth. As it would rest on the bottom of the pot no need to wire. I'm new to bonsai so an still very much experimenting but I am struggling to find good info on mame style, any ideas?

[@grobonsai]

I haven’t found much info either. Haruyosi on Facebook, Morten Albek. Not much else really

[@Avriox]

Very nice video! keep it going

[@grobonsai]

Thanks 🙏

[@sprig6043]

I don't understand. It was gravel and stuff when it was a cutting. Have you since repotted. Also I'm amazed you went straight from cutting to planting and it rooted. What was the duration of this growth

[@grobonsai]

There’s two separate batches, the rooted cuttings are from a previous batch. The ones without roots were freshly cut from the stock plant that day

[@grobonsai]

I cannot remember the period of time for the cuttings to strike root, but you have to understand that the species is very easy from cuttings and produces lots of root very quickly.

[@sprig6043]

Ohhhh I'm with you man. Thanks for replying. Means alot. You know us viewers get sensitive. I'm really on the hunt for. English Oak Bonsai decided to go to a nursery and get one. Sapling will take too long

[@sprig6043]

Keep up the channel. Keep injecting your humour. No one wants Alan Titchmarsh, unless of course Ms Dimmock is about!

[@grobonsai]

Thanks Anthony, you’re not the first person to notice the confusing transition from no roots... I don’t think I made it clear in the vid. I’ve not got any oak.. good luck, enjoy your tree

[@kennethstensrud669]

It is easy to kill these, just live where I live he he 😀😀😀😀😀

[@grobonsai]

Hehehe since that vid I must admit I lost a couple cuttings in summer heat 🙈

[@kennethstensrud669]

@@grobonsai I live in Norway and we have lots of snow and frost...... that do them in, but heat also is a bit lethal.

[@jameswalker3416]

Can anyone help me. I've got a honeysuckle vine with big leaves that wrapped around the stems. What's the honeysuckle he is using?

[@grobonsai]

This one is Lonicera pileata - a shrubby form often used for ground cover. Another good one is Lonicera nitida which has smaller leaves and is popular for hedging 👍

[@jameswalker3416]

@@grobonsai thanks I didn't think you would see this

[@grobonsai]

No worries! I like to chat in the comments, it makes the effort of doing vids worthwhile

[@jameswalker3416]

@@grobonsai I appreciate it there's no one around me into bonsai so I learn everything from here.

[@grobonsai]

Where are you based?

[@Jon_Villanueva]

how long for the wait to root?

[@grobonsai]

I leave them until the following Spring, so I’m not sure how long it takes.

[@scottsaree4295]

what kind of soil is it?

[@grobonsai]

The pink/orange particle is moler clay, but these shrubby honeysuckles aren’t fussy as long as it is quite moisture retaining. Seramis, turface, akadama, oil-dry or even potting compost and perlite would do the job - depending on what is available in your area