How to make Kokedama-Moss ball

How to make Kokedama-Moss ball

Hello, thank you for visiting this kokedama tutorial. In this tutorial, you'll learn how to make your first kokedama easily and some basic knowledge.

Kokedama bonsai

1. Prepare the materials:

• Peat soil
• Akadama soil
• Green moss
• Newspaper
• thread
• scissor
• water
• gloves
• bucket

2. Mix the soils and make the moss ball

Example kokedama mix

• peat soil 70% akadama 30%
• peat soil 50% sand type soil 15% akadama soil 35%

Important to making kokedama balls is to mix the soils well, and make a clay. (you can use your own soil blend. If the consistency of the clay is too loose, it will break when it's watered.)

Example ball shapes

• square
• round
• triangle
• tear shape
• star, etc.

3. Remove the soil off of your plant

4. Insert your plant into the ball

5. Moisten the green moss

Watering the green moss

6. Cover the ball with the green moss

Cover the whole ball with the green moss and bind it with thread
Recommended thread

• same or similar color to the moss
• cotton thread (it dissolves into the soil after a while so you don't need to take it off after the green moss grows on the ball)
• fishing thread (tough and not noticeable but you need to take it off after the green moss grows on the ball)

6 Tada! done!

After you have made your kokedama, you need to water it, so prepare a bucket which contains enough water to cover the green moss ball (not the plant) and leave it for about 10 minutes.
How do you like your first kokedama? It's really cute, isn't is?
Hope you enjoyed the tutorial

How to mix bonsai soils

How to mix bonsai soils (fun part!)

Welcome to Bonsai Soil Tutorial
In this tutorial, you'll learn the basics of bonsai soils and how to mix them for your bonsai.
Learning the basic bonsai soils is boring but playing with them is fun! Basically, making your own soil is more of a trial and error process -- the only way to learn is to try it and see if your plant likes it or not.  Mixing the soil for your plant is also about discovering what your plant likes, as in "does your plant like it more wet or dry?" "does it like to be inside or outside?" So mixing the soil for one bonsai is different from the next, including where you keep the bonsai as well. Even though for the same kind of bonsai, a lot of people use a different mix of soil because they know their bonsai based on their experience and the way they grow it is different. So search a little bit about your plant and discover your plant's favorite. It's worth it.

Bonsai soil techniques and knowledge

There are basically two kinds of bonsai:

1. Coniferous trees (e.g., pines or any trees that make cones)
2. Deciduous trees, broad leaved trees and fruit trees. (e.g., maples)

The basic soil knowledge:
Akadama soil works similar to seramis and Kanuma soil is Japanese pumice.
For coniferous trees, akadama (or same kind of soils) 70% and kanuma(pumice)30%.
For deciduous trees, akadama 90% and kanuma 10%
Some Ideas
If your blend gets dried out too fast, you can try more akadama or soil with good water absorption and lessen other soils.
If your blend retains too much water and does not drain well, then you can try more sand type soil (like haydite, decomposed granite for better drainage), and lessen akadama or the main soil that you use to retain the water.
The best way to make your own blend is to try out different things and adjust accordingly, because every bonsai is different depending on location and climate, etc.
There is no specific way that you need to follow to make your bonsai soil and a lot of bonsai people use their own blend.
Example blends of soils for coniferous trees are:

• Akadama 50%, peat soil 30%, and Kanuma 20%
• Akadama 70% and peat soil 30%
• Akadama 70% and Kanuma 30%

Example Blends of soils for deciduous trees are:

• Akadama 60%, peat soil 30% and kanuma 10%
• Akadama 90% and kanuma 10%
• Akadama 90% and peat soil 10%
• Akadama 60%, peat soil 30% and sand (other grit 10%)
• Akadama 90% and pumice 10%

Let's say that your plant is a kind of coniferous tree, and you made your blend with akadama 50% peat soil 30% kanuma 20%, you should check if the the plant or soil gets dried too fast or the soil has the right amount of water all the time.
Just imagine that this way: akadama allows for some space for air in the pot so the soil and roots can breath, kanuma holds the water inside, and peat provides the nutrients needed for the plant.  Always try to imagine what's happening inside the pot and the reason why you mix the soil with other soils. It's always better that way and it makes you try and find a better mix of soils for your plant, thinking of the reason why you pick the soils and how they will work.

How to wire bonsai tree

How to wire bonsai tree

When to wire bonsai

it is possible to wire bonsai any time of the year, but...

• try to avoid the time when the tree is growing new leaves or branches.
• try to avoid winter time (around December to February)

the reasons why to avoid wiring in winter

• branches gets hard and are easier to break
• the tree sleeps in winter so the wiring won't work best
• wiring creates some kind of risk that can cause the tree to have difficulty surviving the winter

Bonsai wiring basic knowledge

How to wire bonsai

Wire should bend outside of the point you want to curve so it can hold the
branch or the trunk the best and prevent them from trying to go back to the original shape.

If single wiring is not effectively bending the branches or trunk, you could also double the wire to hold the shape you want better.
But avoid cross wiring on the trunk, as it blocks the sap going down the tree and can cause the damage to the tree.
(In general, use parallel wiring and avoid cross wiring. Only use cross wiring when there is not enough space where the wires can fit parallel.)

For the branches that split

Start bending the wire from the center. (red circle)

When to remove the wires

Once you have wired the tree, you must leave it on for at least 2 months to 3 years (depends on the tree growth).
The best time to remove the wires is just right before the wires start to cut into the tree.

How to trim bonsai root

How to trim bonsai root

Hello, thank you for visiting this bonsai root cutting tutorial. In this tutorial, you'll learn how to cut the root of bonsai and what to be careful of when you cut the root.

Why to cut the roots?

As plants grow, their roots grow too. And for bonsai, their roots are in a small pot so if their roots overgrow, they block out everything else in the pot (water absorption, drainage, aeration, etc).

This can ruin the plant itself.

How to cut the bonsai root and what to be careful about

First, cut the wire that's holding the plant.

Make the soil loose from the pot using a stick or something.

You shouldn't take the plant out forcefully because it can ruin the root.

Take the soil off.

Basically, you need to take most of the soil off so you can see the shape of the root.

First, from the bottom.

Then the top.

After you can see the shape and the condition of the root,

start cutting the root from the longest roots.

The ones you need to cut (but don't need to cut it all. It depends on the size and conditions of your root and plant.)

• fat roots
• bent roots
• roots crossing other roots
• roots growing straight down
• roots growing outward and then inward
• roots with bumps(which may be root disease)

These roots can affect the shape of the plant, and how the trunk, branches and leaves grow.

A good root shape grows out equally in all directions.

Roots that grow parallel to the ground are also good. (To make the root grow like this you need to put the plant in a thin pot so the root can't grow straight down.)

Some notes

• When cutting a fat (big) root, it is better to cut it at a diagonal so the part that's cut can have more room to get water and nutrients.
  

What to be careful about

• Plants get water and other nutrients from their small and thin roots ( I call it "root's hair" ) so if you cut too many of those roots the plant can't get what it needs to grow.
• It is not recommended to feed any fertilizer to the plant after root cutting at least for about a month. (because the plant itself is weak now and not good at absorbing whatever it takes to grow from its root -- it can ruin the root.)
• Use sharp scissors to prevent the root from becoming waggedy-edgidy-dwingy.

After you're done re-potting, water the plant and take it outside and let it get lots of sunlight!

How to water bonsai

How to water bonsai

In general once a day, and twice a day in the summer .

Watering is one important part of caring for bonsai.

Bonsai watering  knowledge

When and how to water

• water when the surface of the soil looks dry (the color of the soil on the surface looks whitish. Paying attention to this is important, I'll explain why later.)
• water the leaves as well(spray is useful for indoor bonsai)
• you can use a gardening (watering) hose, a watering can, etc
• in the summer especially, you can even put the whole bonsai (including the pot) in a bucket containing enough water to cover the pot (not the plant) and leave it a while (a lot air will come out first -- leave it about 5+ mins).
  

How much water per watering?

If you see water coming out the bottom of the pot it's enough.

Summer

• basically twice a day (morning and evening)
• avoid watering leaves when the sunlight is strong (it will burn the leaves)
• avoid watering when the sunlight is strong. (the water inside the pot gets too hot and it'll spoil the root)
• if you are going on a trip and can't water every day, water it a lot and leave it somewhere cool with no sunlight, and put the pot in a bucket with water so the plant can get water from the bottom. It'll help for 2 to 3 days.)
  

Winter

• once or twice a week
• avoid watering when the temperature is freezing(midnight or early morning. frozen soil can kill the plant.)
• water in the daytime
• avoid watering in the evening

Spring and Autumn

• once a day
• water when the soil is dry
• though the time of day doesn't matter, regularly watering(around the same time everyday) is recommended

Why is it important to know the soil color when you water?

Because watering bonsai is not only about watering actually. Watering is also about taking air inside the pot, and as you water your plant every day, you'll notice if the plant needs more water or less by noticing many things such as soil color, the condition of the soil, etc. And keeping track of these things will improve your training. In Japan, it is said that you need 3 years to master watering bonsai.  If you are serious about growing bonsai, watering is one of the most important parts and it takes years to master... Essentially if you pay attention to your bonsai even just to watering, you can learn from your bonsai and for your bonsai. There will be a lot of signs that your bonsai is giving you so paying attention to them is also a way of learning. Noticing things that are different from what you do every day will help you train and become the master of bonsai.

Green moss warning

Green moss is nice and makes bonsai more artistic (in my opinion), but there are a few things you should know about green moss.

• green moss can keep the water inside the pot and prevents the water from getting dried out fast
• green moss takes more time to absorb water so if you are watering through green moss you should make sure that a lot water coming out from the bottom when watering

How to Make Bonsai

How to Make Bonsai

Hello, thank you for visiting this bonsai tutorial. In this tutorial, you'll learn how to make your first bonsai easily and some basic knowledge of bonsai.

Making and Growing your bonsai

1 Preparation:

• Bonsai Soil: there are many kinds of it and learning how to mix the bonsai soil can be a little complicated for the beginners. So we should stick to a simple way (read more about the bonsai soil). If you are converting your plant into bonsai style, you can use the soil the plant grew up in. In this tutorial we use Akadama soil and Kanuma soil.
• coarse soil: used to prevent the main soil inside the pot from coming out of the bottom and helps the water to drain. (only needed depending on size and shape of the pot)
• Wires: there are two basic wires for bonsai. Aluminum and Copper. Aluminum wire is softer and easier to use.
• Scissors: really don't need expensive one. You can use the one you have at home and if you want the better one you can buy one then.
• Pliers/Nippers: the one you have at home is just fine. (need it only to cut and bend the wires.)
• Stick: something like chopstick.
• Net: to cover the hole in the pot.
• Pot: any pots are fine. it won't even need to be a pot. You can use a plate, flat plastic lid of something, and... anything you like as a pot! (pots that don't drain water from the bottom are hard for beginners to use.)
• Gloves and newspaper to keep the mess out of your hands and house.
• Green moss: to make your bonsai have umm.. a feeling that I can't explain. I don't know why bonsai looks really good with it!
• The plant: the one you like to have as bonsai style. Without this you can't make anything.

2 Mixing the soils

Ratio of Akadama soil to Kanuma soil is 7:3
(Akadama soil 7, Kanuma soil 3)

3 Preparing and working on the wires and the net

if you are using your favorite plate or pot that doesn't have a hole on the bottom you can skip this part.
Cut the wire and net

and put them in the pot

To keep the net in place:

• insert the wire so the legs go through the net and out the bottom of the pot
• bend the looped part of the wire in opposite directions to lay flat against the net.(You can bend the looped part before inserting as well.)
• bend the wire sticking out against the pot

Extra wiring if needed:
In case your plant is too big or might not be stable in your pot, put an extra wire from the bottom so you can tie the plant. the length of the wire is up to the size of your plant. Don't worry so much about this. Just prepare the wire with the length you feel comfortable working with(not too short though). If it's too long you can cut it later anyways.

Put the extra wire from the bottom and curve it along the inside of the pot.
Wiring is a little hard but better to practice whenever you have the chance!

4 Putting the Coarse soil

Coarse soil is ,as mentioned in preparation above, used to prevent the main soil inside the pot from coming out of the bottom and helps the water to drain. (only needed depending on size and shape of the pot). if you are using a pot with no hole or flat pot with hole that doesn't have much room for the main soil to fit in you don't need this coarse soil. Keep the room for man soil.

5 Cut extra branch and leaves

Before you take out the plant you should cut the extra branch and leaves a little bit before you take it out (the main trimming is after you put it in the new pot). It's easier to handle the plant later this way.

6 Getting the plant ready for the new pot

Take out the plant and take off the old soil using a stick. If the soil is too hard you can put it in water and leave it a while so the soil comes off easily. ( don't need to take all the soil off.) and cut the extra roots if its too big for your pot.

7 Wiring the root and put a little bit of the main soil( the one you prepared). in this tutorial, a mix of akadama and kanuma soil

Put the plant in the pot and tie it with the wire.
Put the soil little by little and make sure the soil goes everywhere between all the small roots in the pot using the stick, when you do this you can stick it from the top to the bottom of the pot with the stick so you know the soil is getting everywhere. (careful not to damage the root.)

8 Fill the pot with the soil up to 80% of the pot

make sure the soil is filled equally in the pot

9 Watering your new bonsai style plant!

don't know how much of water?

First, you see brown water coming out and later it'll look more clear (no more dirty brown water). That's the cue and you'll see water coming out of the bottom like this.
getting tired? hang in there! almost done!

10 Inserting green moss.

Let's play with a softy,mossy feeling green moss!
Put it tight in the pot so they wont come out. (bonsai somehow looks good with green moss but its okay not to use it, you can use some other colored small soil to cover the surface to make it look good too.)
When you prepare green moss, cut the green moss a little bit bigger than your pot and smush it in your pot so it fits.

11 Tada! Done!

how do you like your first bonsai? cute and cool right?
there's more to discover about bonsai but this should be enough for the start.
hope you enjoyed this bonsai tutorial.
  Happy bonsai!