Your use of the word "fricken" to start a sentence really shows your maturity and vocabulary progression. Why not use the other word for "fricken"? Or better yet, don't use either!!!
Ben: Very instructional to see you take it from raw material through 3 years. I appreciate the effort to film and edit. This 'over time' synopsis tells a story that is easy to relate to. Beautiful bonsai!
Really enjoyed this style of video where you showed numerous stages in the life of the tree thus far! 👏 great job and looking forward to more in the future.
Turning out really nice. I wasn’t sure of some of your first choices for branch selection, but this is why you watch and learn from someone with more experience. 👌😁
This is really what I was looking for regarding bonsai- how to "start" a bonsai, the development to the initial line- leader, pruning, root pruning, re- potting and training. Thank you. The Sand Cherry is beautiful. Sometimes a straight line is needed to give the eye a rest.
Ben! That was awesome! Loved the 3 year progression. That trunk line transitioned from bush to tree so smoothly. Gnarly root work, “fun” with wiring, defoliation, you got it all. (You can definitely hear more cheer in your voice during the growing season). I am diggin it, BenB! Thank you for putting this together and sharing!
They go to collect their germs and then...(I had a good chuckle regarding colds and children). You've done a really nice job on creating this Bonsai and quickly. I love how you did the video in stage and month. Very very helpful. Trust me, it's attractive even without the leaves and that's a good thing. My Sand Cherry Tree was a freebee in 2020, spending 5yrs old in a plastic storage bin and never in the ground. it shoots out insanely after pruning and the branches are stiff and haven't controlled those branches. I've been a beginner for too long. Now that I've watched your steps & explanations; I am going to make a major cut. Putting aside the fear of big cuts and I am aware it prevents moving forward. It is late in the season but I'll chance it as it's such a cold Spring here in the Fraser Valley. Many thanks Ben B.
The "Illusion" great reference had me laughing out loud. I think of Doug Henning every time I hear the word. I am half way through and want to say thanks. Love from Canada💞
I have had the same couple issue s with Sand Cherry trees. The best thing I have done to bend with out breaking is the first wrap with a lot of raffia and then wrap closely with wire. Then bend over a period of several days with smaller bends each day. Good luck
plant science major here, rooting hormone (auxins) will generally suppress shoot formation, try googling plant growth regulators or plant shoot induction to get a general feel if you want to try messing around with it your self :)
I just picked up a big box Sand Cherry, and stumbled across your channel / video while researching. This is just such a good video! Hope that tree is still doing well!
Wow! Amazing! I’ve been following you since day one. This tree really shows how sophisticated your skills have evolved. Great job! I’m gonna use this tree as my inspiration for my Sakura tree. Expecting great things from you this year, Ben!~Nae
I have recently started growing JM's from cuttings and now have 12 which survived. My Dad gave me a Sycamore Maple sapling back in 2000 which we potted up and it has grown well. By 2016 it was about 12 feet tall. This May, I pruned it down to 2 feet leaving a side branch and it has responded very well with 5 new branches and many leaves and is 4 feet tall now in a large pot. I even have it appear in some of my YT videos as it's been around for so long :)
I too, am working with a sand cherry. I have worked with a chinese elm, for 2 years, and gave me an idea of what/how to work with it. Your work has shown me more! But your accidentally breaking a branch has reminded me of birds, who land on the small/weak branch and break it, too! Causing the same "yelling" and being P.O.'d.........I can identify........ Also: I thought sand cherry was supposed to have red leaves. Your tree had green leaves. Is that an imature color? Mineral deficiencies? Or will it grow out of it, and have the right color, later? Thanks
So frustrating having to wait so long for every phase. The trick is to have a lot of them. I just did some serious pruning on a jade and a key lime tree (I live in Miami) it’s only been 3 weeks. They’re doing well, especially the jade, but it’s a slow process. Thanks! Great video
Ouch. Break branch: If is not totally severed; branch can be right away healed = wrap with tree safe tape and/ or just wire it with fine wire can add mesh. It will fuse together. Cut paste is okay not for break branch though. Use the 2 limb together wire method will avoid break branch. Or change your position. Not moving the branch too far first. Train branches, not making them perfect right now. Becoming more to liking with time :) Patience not using force.
I really love this tree! Are you familiar with bud-grafting as used in fruit trees? I feel like it could have really helped with placing a branch on that one bend.
Valuable lessons of frustration, each time a branch snaps....I hate that noise. But it teaches me each time to be patient and more gentle. Possibly guide wires pulling the branch down would be a gentler technique that would achieve what you are looking for? Thanks for sharing, have a blessed day.
Wow, this is just a work of art! I also went to lowes looking for a nursing pot, (they didn’t have). But I found one with 5 of these branches in it, didn’t know what it was, but bought it for $1, and it happens to be this tree! Don’t know what to do with them, but didn’t want to get rid of them, so I just been watering them, and they are doing great! Still have them in the same nursing pot!
Really impressed. Great video. Would be great to see what it is like 2 years on. Question: I have a rather large cherry tree planted in the garden proper that has been allow to grow and grow. I know I may not get the typical bonsai root, but could I prune it in the same way you did to get the your tree to shape?
I'm sorry, I do not like what you did with that tree, at all. It looks contrived and scarred to me, especially with the weaving sucker below the branch. I guess I just don't like that style.
You can use the lower branch or allow it to grow a sapling and use it to create a new branch. I found this video the other day. Hope it helps 👇🏼👇🏼. Also, if you want to bend a branch with out breaking it, just tie it down to the root or the pot and slowly pull it down. ruclips.net/video/jeqhHuNZXJA/видео.html
Very nice. My lorepedalum is similar. They grow crazy around the property but digging it up into a nursery pot it's hard not to kill it. I have to figure that out.
wow!! there's hope in developing a bush to a tree. so crazy to see the change from the original to what you have now. thank you for your patience and resilience in recording and keeping a great progress log. i will be referencing this for years to come with my trees. very inspiring.
Thanks for the video. Working on a sand cherry myself that I got last year. Only done a little pruning so far. No judgement on the wiring, my trees look like a rats nest some times.
Vidéo hautement intéressante... pas trop de bla bla et juste les paroles qu'il faut. Merci beaucoup pour le partage et félicitations pour ton travail! Bien le bonjour depuis la Corse! 😉
love it. but i think your are AT LEAST one year too early on the bonsai trainer pot. The whole idea of the colander pot and 'root ramificatuon' takes time. Why not enjoy that time to build a better top. The technique is designed to allow quality time one the top. and particularly if you want to to root over rock
I am brand new at bonsai. I am curious about the basket that you are growing in. Very interesting. I have not thought of growing in a basket. Why are you doing this?
To stop branches growing upwards try attaching a small but big enough fishing ledger wait to end of each branch, it works wonders better than wireing and gives me great results
Both of those major breaks occurred where you were bending the branch where there was no wire supporting the bend on top. You were bending where wire was underneath. If the wrap was on top, it would have supported the bend.
Need more videos like this, really helpful to us beginners that need some direction, and I’m so glad that you still make mistakes and aren’t afraid to show them in the video, seriously helps us learn when we inevitably make the same ones
im a beginner in bonsai, i just did my first trees base wiring the other day, (alberta dwarf spruce) and this content is super useful to see what real progression and timeline is like! also made me not so scare to use material like this or other smoke bushes etc!!
I have three 15 YO PL Sand Cherries planted in my back yard and understand their need for proper pruning to stay alive. They have beautiful blossoms in the spring. Never did I consider making a bonsai from this cultivar though. After first viewing your video, my inclination was to dig one up and pot it for training, but instead I will be watching the clearance section at Lowes to rescue one too. I learned a lot about bonsais from this one video. Very well done sir! You should be more enthusiastic about the beautiful tree that you grew (shrunk?) but I can see that you probably see future potential and that a bonsai has a lifetime of work in progress.
you can always try to propagate from cuttings in a mix of coarse sand and some coco coir, take about 10-15 cuttings for 10-15cm long and keep it moist, it should root in a few months
Fantastic work! One of the best videos on bonsai I have ever seen!
hi it's a prunus pissardi i'd tryed this april grafting on a plum tree ,and some are start growing ( sorry for my english i'm from italy)
ah! it's not a cherry tree but plum tree
fricken love how some of these videos can be years in the making. really helps show the progression in an easy format
Your use of the word "fricken" to start a sentence really shows your maturity and vocabulary progression. Why not use the other word for "fricken"? Or better yet, don't use either!!!
Ben: Very instructional to see you take it from raw material through 3 years. I appreciate the effort to film and edit. This 'over time' synopsis tells a story that is easy to relate to. Beautiful bonsai!
Really enjoyed this style of video where you showed numerous stages in the life of the tree thus far! 👏 great job and looking forward to more in the future.
Turning out really nice. I wasn’t sure of some of your first choices for branch selection, but this is why you watch and learn from someone with more experience. 👌😁
The dedication to keep imagery for three years, sorting it out and sticking with the story. Well done!
SO I have to go find a Sand Cherry now! Tree turned out amazing!
Best bonsai video I’ve seen. Most don’t show the process over years of time, so this was very helpful to see the different stages.
This is really what I was looking for regarding bonsai- how to "start" a bonsai, the development to the initial line- leader, pruning, root pruning, re- potting and training. Thank you. The Sand Cherry is beautiful. Sometimes a straight line is needed to give the eye a rest.
Ben! That was awesome! Loved the 3 year progression. That trunk line transitioned from bush to tree so smoothly. Gnarly root work, “fun” with wiring, defoliation, you got it all. (You can definitely hear more cheer in your voice during the growing season).
I am diggin it, BenB! Thank you for putting this together and sharing!
They go to collect their germs and then...(I had a good chuckle regarding colds and children). You've done a really nice job on creating this Bonsai and quickly. I love how you did the video in stage and month. Very very helpful. Trust me, it's attractive even without the leaves and that's a good thing. My Sand Cherry Tree was a freebee in 2020, spending 5yrs old in a plastic storage bin and never in the ground. it shoots out insanely after pruning and the branches are stiff and haven't controlled those branches. I've been a beginner for too long. Now that I've watched your steps & explanations; I am going to make a major cut. Putting aside the fear of big cuts and I am aware it prevents moving forward. It is late in the season but I'll chance it as it's such a cold Spring here in the Fraser Valley. Many thanks Ben B.
That was absolutely amazing, well done mate. Look forward to your future videos.
All the best from Wales 🏴 UK.
The "Illusion" great reference had me laughing out loud. I think of Doug Henning every time I hear the word. I am half way through and want to say thanks. Love from Canada💞
What a transformation, thank you so much for putting this all together. Really fun to watch all this progress in a short amount of time!
That was incredibly satisfying.
I have had the same couple issue s with Sand Cherry trees. The best thing I have done to bend with out breaking is the first wrap with a lot of raffia and then wrap closely with wire. Then bend over a period of several days with smaller bends each day. Good luck
plant science major here, rooting hormone (auxins) will generally suppress shoot formation, try googling plant growth regulators or plant shoot induction to get a general feel if you want to try messing around with it your self :)
Youre great! thanks for the info. I appreciate it
This was a great video! Thanks for shearing to the comunity
Any follow up in the works? I suppose it’s been one year, can we expect an update video in another 2 years? 😂
its flowering at the moment. I'll create a short about the update
Excellent work, thx a lot you are one of the best
I rlly enjoyed this vid man
Great work. I love that species. Unfortunately I killed mine 😳 Thanks, keep growing
🌱🍃🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷🍃🍃🍃
You are becoming my favourite Bonsai Channel! Tour love of the trees and work shows 🎍🌲🌲🌳🌴
Thank you
I just picked up a big box Sand Cherry, and stumbled across your channel / video while researching. This is just such a good video! Hope that tree is still doing well!
Wow! Amazing! I’ve been following you since day one. This tree really shows how sophisticated your skills have evolved. Great job! I’m gonna use this tree as my inspiration for my Sakura tree. Expecting great things from you this year, Ben!~Nae
I have recently started growing JM's from cuttings and now have 12 which survived. My Dad gave me a Sycamore Maple sapling back in 2000 which we potted up and it has grown well. By 2016 it was about 12 feet tall. This May, I pruned it down to 2 feet leaving a side branch and it has responded very well with 5 new branches and many leaves and is 4 feet tall now in a large pot. I even have it appear in some of my YT videos as it's been around for so long :)
Too funny with the broken branches, man! Something I can identify with! Lol. But, really, they'll grow back. :) Beautiful tree. Entertaining video!
Horrible 😎 What torture, and molestation!
The same as the ancient female foot-binding 😢😢😢😢😢😢
OUCH. OUCH OUCH.
I feel ya! We’ve ALL been there! Great video regardless n thanks for sharing your journey. 🙏🏆🍿
I too, am working with a sand cherry. I have worked with a chinese elm, for 2 years, and gave me an idea of what/how to work with it. Your work has shown me more! But your accidentally breaking a branch has reminded me of birds, who land on the small/weak branch and break it, too! Causing the same "yelling" and being P.O.'d.........I can identify........
Also: I thought sand cherry was supposed to have red leaves. Your tree had green leaves. Is that an imature color? Mineral deficiencies? Or will it grow out of it, and have the right color, later? Thanks
Great video Ben... thanks a lot... also have cherry and this showed me a lot of stuff I had no idea about. Appreciated!
I was wondering if you could've air rooted the tree prior to chopping @ 8:07. You have amazing vision. I'll be back for more..
Excellent art work, thanks for sharing your time and disiduous decisions!
Very Good video on the sand cherry. I love the tree, have to get me one. ..Thanks for explaining Everything for the beginners...A+++.
So frustrating having to wait so long for every phase. The trick is to have a lot of them. I just did some serious pruning on a jade and a key lime tree (I live in Miami) it’s only been 3 weeks. They’re doing well, especially the jade, but it’s a slow process. Thanks! Great video
Wow that's is amazing. Such dedication. Very cool 3yr video.
Thanks for showing the time progresssion. Reall makes bonsai growing more understandable.
So helpful. I learned so much by watching you work and listening to your explanations. Thx.
Ouch. Break branch: If is not totally severed; branch can be right away healed = wrap with tree safe tape and/ or just wire it with fine wire can add mesh. It will fuse together. Cut paste is okay not for break branch though. Use the 2 limb together wire method will avoid break branch. Or change your position. Not moving the branch too far first. Train branches, not making them perfect right now. Becoming more to liking with time :) Patience not using force.
I really love this tree!
Are you familiar with bud-grafting as used in fruit trees? I feel like it could have really helped with placing a branch on that one bend.
Valuable lessons of frustration, each time a branch snaps....I hate that noise. But it teaches me each time to be patient and more gentle.
Possibly guide wires pulling the branch down would be a gentler technique that would achieve what you are looking for?
Thanks for sharing, have a blessed day.
This was am awesome progression vid! Thanks for the effort. I lolled at the branch breaking....i feel exactly the same when it happens.
If I were you, I would work on my wiring skills. Proper gauge, always touching bark, etc.
Great to see the progression over a couple years! Very cool. Thank you for sharing! Have a blessed day.
Wow, this is just a work of art! I also went to lowes looking for a nursing pot, (they didn’t have). But I found one with 5 of these branches in it, didn’t know what it was, but bought it for $1, and it happens to be this tree! Don’t know what to do with them, but didn’t want to get rid of them, so I just been watering them, and they are doing great! Still have them in the same nursing pot!
Wowzers! Great presentation and fine looking project tree. Cheers, DIck From Vancouver.
Really impressed. Great video. Would be great to see what it is like 2 years on.
Question: I have a rather large cherry tree planted in the garden proper that has been allow to grow and grow. I know I may not get the typical bonsai root, but could I prune it in the same way you did to get the your tree to shape?
You friggin rule! Subbed. I suck but am trying to learn. Thanks for sharing.
Great Video, very well explained. Thank you very much :)
I'm sorry, I do not like what you did with that tree, at all.
It looks contrived and scarred to me, especially with the weaving sucker below the branch.
I guess I just don't like that style.
Wow amazing! For a first timer like me this video is very helpful and fun to watch. Wish me luck with my bonsai 😅
You can use the lower branch or allow it to grow a sapling and use it to create a new branch. I found this video the other day. Hope it helps 👇🏼👇🏼.
Also, if you want to bend a branch with out breaking it, just tie it down to the root or the pot and slowly pull it down.
ruclips.net/video/jeqhHuNZXJA/видео.html
Can I use this process on a small maple? Or does that species not do well with with creating ramification by cutting. Thank you
sand cherry ha? OK liking it. time to search for Sand cherry for myself. great work much Ben
Very nice. My lorepedalum is similar. They grow crazy around the property but digging it up into a nursery pot it's hard not to kill it. I have to figure that out.
That is such a cool transformation. Very nice looking tree. And learned a few different things. Nicely done.
I most certainly would have given up on bending it after all those breaks.
Nicely done!
Maybe a bit of rafia might help strengthen the branches and keep them from breaking so easily. Probably be a pain to apply on such small branches
Thank you for sharing over a long period of time. Inspiring little clearance gem.
wow!! there's hope in developing a bush to a tree. so crazy to see the change from the original to what you have now. thank you for your patience and resilience in recording and keeping a great progress log. i will be referencing this for years to come with my trees. very inspiring.
Thanks for the video. Working on a sand cherry myself that I got last year. Only done a little pruning so far. No judgement on the wiring, my trees look like a rats nest some times.
Sand cherries seem to be very over looked recently in the landscape, good to see them erpurpest as a bonsai.
Vidéo hautement intéressante... pas trop de bla bla et juste les paroles qu'il faut. Merci beaucoup pour le partage et félicitations pour ton travail! Bien le bonjour depuis la Corse! 😉
Great and informative/ inspiring. Thanks Ben. ✌️
love it. but i think your are AT LEAST one year too early on the bonsai trainer pot. The whole idea of the colander pot and 'root ramificatuon' takes time. Why not enjoy that time to build a better top. The technique is designed to allow quality time one the top. and particularly if you want to to root over rock
What a fantastic video! 3 years of work paid off! Great job Ben! 👍
I am brand new at bonsai. I am curious about the basket that you are growing in. Very interesting. I have not thought of growing in a basket. Why are you doing this?
Could you use steam to soften branches before bending to shape with wire ??
To stop branches growing upwards try attaching a small but big enough fishing ledger wait to end of each branch, it works wonders better than wireing and gives me great results
Can you edit in a spring 2023 bloom? Awesome tree!
Beautiful and I love cherry blossoms!
Both of those major breaks occurred where you were bending the branch where there was no wire supporting the bend on top. You were bending where wire was underneath. If the wrap was on top, it would have supported the bend.
Really enjoyed this format. Being able to see the thought process and the results afterwards.
Hanks for doing this. Man it must have taken quite the effort. Very cool!
Hey Ben, I know im a year late on this video but just have to say how enjoyable it was. I see some of the same characteristics of a crepe myrtle.
Great video!!!😊 i recommend not to bend in winter, branches break more easily😊
I ❤️ your tree watching the progress was amazing helped me with patience and I learned so much thank you
Bravo bravo. What a beautiful trees and a lovely video. I will be going to lowes and nurseries in the morning to see what I can find on clearance
Need more videos like this, really helpful to us beginners that need some direction, and I’m so glad that you still make mistakes and aren’t afraid to show them in the video, seriously helps us learn when we inevitably make the same ones
By far the best video I’ve seen on progression of a Bonsai. Thanks
nice job! im trying out one of these also. sigh- dreaming of a better yard with sunlight
Your work is GOOD, I would like to work with sand cherries, too.
Excelent video, thanks for share it, I try to do the same work but in a Pomegranate tree. regards
I almost cried when you broke that lower right branch.
I think its wonderful. And I love that little branch you left low on the trunk.
U breakings these branches is giving me such anxiety lol
im a beginner in bonsai, i just did my first trees base wiring the other day, (alberta dwarf spruce) and this content is super useful to see what real progression and timeline is like! also made me not so scare to use material like this or other smoke bushes etc!!
OMG, that's the lowes at 125th and Aurora!
I have to wire down a branch on my cherry tree just like you and the wood is so stiff Im so scared to break it 😵😅
That tree is wrong for a Bonsai. Because its too leafy.
It only has good shape bare.
Amazing beautiful work!!!
Dude went in for a haircut and got a vasectomy. ..
LMAO when you loose it at @35:09...I feel ya.
This was soooo satisfying to watch! Amazing skills.
My guy, you farted at the beginning of October and just left that in there.
I’m taking notes, thank you, sir 🙏🏽
Why the mesh basket? What does that achieve - rootwise and topside?
I have three 15 YO PL Sand Cherries planted in my back yard and understand their need for proper pruning to stay alive. They have beautiful blossoms in the spring. Never did I consider making a bonsai from this cultivar though. After first viewing your video, my inclination was to dig one up and pot it for training, but instead I will be watching the clearance section at Lowes to rescue one too. I learned a lot about bonsais from this one video. Very well done sir! You should be more enthusiastic about the beautiful tree that you grew (shrunk?) but I can see that you probably see future potential and that a bonsai has a lifetime of work in progress.
you can always try to propagate from cuttings in a mix of coarse sand and some coco coir, take about 10-15 cuttings for 10-15cm long and keep it moist, it should root in a few months
Hey, does anyone know what that gray substance is on the large cuts?