The Bonsai Empire App - A Must-Have for Bonsai Lovers? | In-Depth Review & Usage Tips!

[@adamloudon4585]

Been using this app for about 6 months. I like to have photos of progress over time. One feature I found recently is the export data feature. It actually exports a very nicely formatted csv with all the data for every tree and includes links to all the photos you've taken. Makes me feel better I would still have that if I ever switched tree management systems or they stopped supporting the app

[@GrowingBonsai]

great addition. Missed that one

[@doogliebop]

Thank you for the vid! I just downloaded it and subscribed for a year.

[@GrowingBonsai]

Welcome

[@debowjr]

Thank you for showing this app, I've been looking for something like this forever.

[@GrowingBonsai]

Hope you like it!

[@qianchi9422]

Thanks Jelle. I am def going to give this app a try! It looks very useful. Love the photo overview!

[@GrowingBonsai]

Glad it was helpful!

[@ras685]

Good with an honest review, which is not just another advertisement in disguise - like so much other KZbin Channel who hide their affiliated interest

[@GrowingBonsai]

:) Thx

[@RichardDenRooyen1973]

love this app, need to add my other trees soon

[@GrowingBonsai]

cool!

[@tusanen1850]

Seems like must have -app to have! I'm beginner so good features for me.

[@GrowingBonsai]

give it a try. You can get a free version to try out?

[@maryweber4176]

WOW Jelle, I love that elm tree!

[@GrowingBonsai]

Thaanks!

[@pesoverwatch9324]

With the free app you can only add 5 trees. I have the payed version now, very nice to have your collection in 1 spot and make evolution pictures. Downside for me, a lot of trees are not in the apps library, so you have to add a name for your self, meaning you just get the standard maintenance norifications.

[@Rekinortiher]

You can edit the notifications and adjust them to your own needs.

[@GrowingBonsai]

Good addition that you will need to create your own reminders for new species!

[@Hollylivengood]

That where in the world are you is a good idea. I'm new to propagation with cuttings, and most of these bonsai videos are from northern climbs who tell you the best way to care for cuttings in their climates. I did my cuttings and had them on a nice shelf indoors, and dutifully followed your advice to keep them outside...and most of them died, because it 100 degrees here in south Tennessee at the time. Thankfully, I do have shade areas in a winter squash patch, which was also cool and I put the remainders there. But probably this app would recommend new cuttings stay inside for the hotter regions, which would be handy.

[@GrowingBonsai]

Are you sure you kept your cuttings out of the sun? The temperature is not per se an issue. Sun exposure however is, as the baggie heats up very quickly.

[@Hollylivengood]

@@GrowingBonsai Yes, they were in the morning sun for an hour, and then I moved them to the shade which was on concrete, and had been in the sun, so it might have been hotter. Unfortunately I had to be gone for a few hours and the shade had moved, and they were in the sun for another hour of pretty rough sunlight. I couldn't think of how to remedy this except to give it a mist and then put the whole planter under some winter squash vines and giant leaves, which are very cool while they are growing. This helped the two that lived, and that's where they stay now. A mimosa, a crape myrtle, and a sweet gum died. The white cedar looks like the boss and is growing even better, and a second sweet gum is doing fine. There aren't many people from the south who have bonsai info on KZbin. I'm glad there's an app.

[@Hollylivengood]

@@GrowingBonsai Oh, something really crazy about the white cedar. The cutting I took was pretty long, so when I got home I cut it down to size, and still had some large bits left. It seemed kind of disrespectful to just pitch them out, so I went behind our building and stuck them in some random ground I thought the mowers would leave alone. It's full of rocks and construction trash, and looks like hell back there. All three of those cuttings are thriving! No hormones, nothing. White Cedar are GOATs.

[@samhoskins8706]

I use Bonsai Album. Although the Bonsai Empire app has a lot of nice features, I don't like having to pay a subscription for the rest of my life. Bonsai Album has a one-time fee I think it's $30.

[@GrowingBonsai]

thx

[@gijspunte2056]

It looks very promising but without location much less useful. I hope it will be added and mostly I hope it will include warnings and tips from users from my region (including pests and solutions).

[@GrowingBonsai]

fair ☝️

[@lukasmihara]

Nice shoe collection! I think it's a useful app, but I find it a bit unfortunate that the free version only lets you have 5 trees in your collection. I'm also not a big fan of subscriptions. I'd rather pay once and not evry month/year again and again. In general, if you have access to all the functions it offers, it should be a helpful addition to bonsai by easily keeping track of things. Great review 🙂

[@GrowingBonsai]

haha, glad you liked my shoes. Storage space on a server continues to cost money. I think this is why it is a sub-system?

[@johnholloway691]

I gave this video a like, but I downloaded the app when it first came out, imported one of my favorite trees, a large, old bougainvillea I personally collected almost 30 years ago, and I was dismayed to see the app recommended "Repot in early spring or late fall..." This is simply wrong because tropicals like bougainvillea, ficus, olives, etc. are the exceptions in bonsai, and need to be repotted in mid-summer, at the hottest time of the year. I just reinstalled the app to see if the errors had been corrected, but bougainvillea, ficus, and olive repotting instructions are still wrong. It looks like the developer just threw in a generic default repotting scheme based on what "typical" bonsai require. I wish I could trust this app, but a spreadsheet and Google calendar reminders have worked fine for me.

[@bitsbobs4722]

Did you contact them about this error?

[@GrowingBonsai]

Good info, will pass this on to them. Do you know whether the info on their website is correct?

[@KateFitz]

I find it very frustrating when it tells me to fertilize every month. For each plant. That’s a lot of notifications at the same time. And my climate is pretty brutal in the summer, so I don’t think the care recommendations are protective enough. But (other than the fertilizer reminders) the reminders are useful and I really like using it to track progress with photos. I consider it worth subscribing but as a luxury not a necessity.

[@GrowingBonsai]

I understand. In the paid version you can of course adjust the notifications to your needs!

[@rodschroeder1048]

Do you get any access to the courses in the pro version?

[@Rekinortiher]

No. I think that is why it is called the Bonsai Care App and not the Bonsai Empire App. The title of this video is not correct.

[@GrowingBonsai]

Na, the courses is a different product. This really is about care.

[@GrowingBonsai]

Mwa. I disagree the title is incorrect. As fas as I know this is the only app by bonsai empire.

[@ras685]

@@GrowingBonsai have you checked our Ryan Neil's app? It should be even better

[@Rekinortiher]

Looks very interesting :)

[@GrowingBonsai]

It was!

[@abydosianchulac2]

Basing timing recommendations off GPS, especially without permission, sounds pretty involved if that's what they're aiming for. Needing to take your coordinates and try to cross-reference them against climate data from disparate sources and authorities, hoping that data is accurate to reflect any microclimates you're located in...sounds like asking what the first/last frost dates are and having the user do that little legwork would give much better results. If they wanted to hone things in to that degree, that is.

[@michaelsmith5852]

Or they could just ask if it's ok with the user if they do that.

[@alexandrudobrin3170]

I am software developer for iOS and as developer I have access to the localisation of the user based on the settings of the phone. When you go to your iPhone and you set your Language and Region I can access that info so if the app I develop has different language packs or different text layout (right to left for arabic or japanese) I know how to display text.

[@GrowingBonsai]

yeah, 🤔

[@donaldslovey338]

How much does it cost to use the app?

[@GrowingBonsai]

see the video

[@andreasschutze2503]

Gibt es die auch auf Deutsch?

[@GrowingBonsai]

Ik heb geen idee

[@ShayanGivehchian]

Its a nice app but i dont get why its a subscription model.

[@GrowingBonsai]

My guess would be that they have costs keeping it updated and need to pay for datastorage. Maybe they also need an income to pay their bills. Would be my guess.

[@ShayanGivehchian]

@GrowingBonsai I have no issue with paying for a product. But we used to have one time payments to do that before now everything is a subscription. Subscription should be for a service that's constantly offering new products not for continuously using the same product. Does that make my argument more clear ? I'm not saying it should be free

[@samhoskins8706]

I'm with you on this. Bonsai is a long-term project, and I wouldn't want to be locked into a subscription for 10 or 20 years. Look into Bonsai Album, it has a one-time fee.

[@RolandWampers]

You could cross check the app with the one made by Xavier, winks

[@GrowingBonsai]

I could but..

[@janadarnold2500]

This app is not listed in the Apple Store

[@lisahasegawa2674]

It's called "Bonsai Care App" and I found it by searching for Bonsai Empire

[@Rekinortiher]

The name is “Bonsai Care App”.

[@GrowingBonsai]

should be!

[@stevetippin]

before Xav!

[@GrowingBonsai]

sure thing

[@brucedeacon28]

👍👌🙂

[@GrowingBonsai]

thx:)

[@stuartbaines2843]

Not for me lost me at 2.99 a month 😶

[@GrowingBonsai]

Fair enough

[@bonsaistaa]

More languages ​​needed. Polish, please. I can help.

[@GrowingBonsai]

Sorry, I do not speak polish! KZbin has subtitles which you can use for auto translate

[@augustine778]

Its a good app until it comes to upgrading to pro. Last i checked, it was a subscription service which, for what is in essence a bonsai calendar, is not something i personally would want. The free version allows you to add 5 trees at no cost. I wouldnt mind parting with cash for an app like this but dont think this warrants a continual payment model. For what it does, it really should be a one off purchase i think.

[@ras685]

Notion do everything better and is completely free

[@bitsbobs4722]

I understand your thoughts but as a software developer I can tell you that for a publisher a one-off purchase model in a niche market like Bonsai makes no economical sense. It is very very expensive to create an app of this quality and the backend system it is connected to also costs money on a monthly basis and these costs will increase over time as users upload more photos and content. They would have to put an extremely high purchase price on it to have any chance of a ROI in the small Bonsai market. Which of course would mean no one would buy it. Also with an one-off purchase model, once sales start to decrease because of the small market, there would be no incentive for them to keep pouring time and money into it so it would die a slow death. It is no coincidence it took this long for a good Bonsai app to appear. It is very unusual to find a professional app for a niche market because the risks are high and the potential rewards relatively low.

[@GrowingBonsai]

Thanks for sharing

[@FNMike]

Marketing and, again, being sold something we don't really need.

[@GrowingBonsai]

Something you do not need, but some people really look for though

[@justinkaine8266]

It ok but The Miria app is a lot better

[@GrowingBonsai]

thx

[@bwusstsein4023]

thank you Jelle 😎🪴✨

[@GrowingBonsai]

You're welcome 😊