Ryan Neil's Latest Repotting Video

[mrcasey]

I'm not a subscriber to Mirai live and I've wonderd for a while now how/when he deals with the field soil at the center of the root ball beneath the trunk. At some point in the video, Ryan alludes to the fact that his approach departs from what he learned in Japan; I find that very interesting. I also wonder if there's kind of a standard method among Japanese professionals dealing with field soil in the "shin". Maybe they all use something like Boon's method. Do any of you subscribers know how Ryan's method differs from Kimura's?

 

[Bricker918]

I'm not a subscriber to Mirai live and I've wonderd for a while now how/when he deals with the field soil at the center of the root ball beneath the trunk. At some point in the video, Ryan alludes to the fact that his approach departs from what he learned in Japan; I find that very interesting. I also wonder if there's kind of a standard method among Japanese professionals dealing with field soil in the "shin". Maybe they all use something like Boon's method. Do any of you subscribers know how Ryan's method differs from Kimura's?

I recently watched the same video, and my take away was that the trees he worked on in Japan already had the field soil removed and the shin developed. The work he was doing on the stream had already been done on the trees he worked on during his apprenticeship. I don’t think he was saying what he was doing was different than what is done in Japan to a piece of yamadori or field grown tree, he just didn’t work on fresh out the ground trees during his apprenticeship.

 

[jonf]

Half bare root repotting is pretty standard. Do half the rootball one year, and the other half the next year (or year after)

 

[mrcasey]

I recently watched the same video, and my take away was that the trees he worked on in Japan already had the field soil removed and the shin developed. The work he was doing on the stream had already been done on the trees he worked on during his apprenticeship. I don’t think he was saying what he was doing was different than what is done in Japan to a piece of yamadori or field grown tree, he just didn’t work on fresh out the ground trees during his apprenticeship.

Ryan was asked a question about his and he specifically said that in Japan, he worked on every kind of repotting situation. These situations included working on trees with field soil in and around the sheen, freshly collected yamadori first repots, field grown first repots, second, and third repots, etc., etc.

 

[mrcasey]

Half bare root repotting is pretty standard. Do half the rootball one year, and the other half the next year (or year after)

Are you saying that this is the standard in Japan and/or that it's Kimura's method?

 

[BobbyLane]

Are you saying that this is the standard in Japan and/or that it's Kimura's method?

I think what he meant was, its a standard or quite common procedure for some enthusiasts worldwide. some Just remove a little field or even nursery soil at every repotting until theres none of that soil left. some do it all first (barerooting) etc
maybe someone with more knowledge of how Ryan deals with his yamadori pines could chime in.
I dont even know what 'sheen' is, but im guessing its the area right beneath the centre of the tree where a lot of field soil gets stuck.

 

[bwaynef]

The half bareroot (hbr) technique is specific to Boon (and his students). Ryan teaches differently.

 

[Tidal Bonsai]

The half bareroot (hbr) technique is specific to Boon (and his students). Ryan teaches differently.

I'm not a subscriber to Mirai live and I've wonderd for a while now how/when he deals with the field soil at the center of the root ball beneath the trunk. At some point in the video, Ryan alludes to the fact that his approach departs from what he learned in Japan; I find that very interesting. I also wonder if there's kind of a standard method among Japanese professionals dealing with field soil in the "shin". Maybe they all use something like Boon's method. Do any of you subscribers know how Ryan's method differs from Kimura's?

Sign up and find the answer yourself!

I like Ryan's repotting technique better than Boons from experience (good and bad). I understand repotting techniques, and the sheen because I paid for a few years of Mirai Live, and am in the process of paying my dues working with various professionals. Put the work in...

 

[mrcasey]

The half bareroot (hbr) technique is specific to Boon (and his students). Ryan teaches differently.

Indeed - Ryan made it very clear that he isn't a fan of the 1/2 bare root method.

 

[mrcasey]

Sign up and find the answer yourself!

I'm curious, but not curious enough to sign up just to ask a single question about a technique's provenance.

 

[R0b]

I dont even know what 'sheen' is, but im guessing its the area right beneath the centre of the tree where a lot of field soil gets stuck.

Correct the area below the trunk of the tree. He has an entire concept around including which trees are sheen based, it is based on a term and approach used by Kimura, in Japanese it means heart.

 

[dbonsaiw]

Half bare root repotting is pretty standard. Do half the rootball one year, and the other half the next year (or year after)

The more I learn the less I understand. If only half the root ball is bare rooted, I assume the tree is then in two types of soil when repotted, and have read that roots can be hesitant to jump from one medium to another. Has this been an issue with half-bare rooting?

My only first-hand experience with this is a Home Depot maple that I bought late in the season and up-potted into a 6 gallon pot with bonsai soil. The pot fell over at some point and as far as I could tell the roots had grown everywhere - didn't seem to have an issue going from compacted potting soil to Bonsai Jack universal mix.

 

[Ply]

I like Ryan's repotting technique better than Boons from experience (good and bad). I understand repotting techniques, and the sheen because I paid for a few years of Mirai Live, and am in the process of paying my dues working with various professionals. Put the work in...

Horrible attitude.

 

[leatherback]

The half bareroot (hbr) technique is specific to Boon (and his students). Ryan teaches differently.

Half bare root is pretty common, certainly not specific to Boon..

 

[Tidal Bonsai]

I'm not a subscriber to Mirai live and I've wonderd for a while now how/when he deals with the field soil at the center of the root ball beneath the trunk.

I'm curious, but not curious enough to sign up just to ask a single question about a technique's provenance.

The first part is an important technique to understand and master. That's what I was referring to when I said "put the work in..."

 

[R0b]

The more I learn the less I understand. If only half the root ball is bare rooted, I assume the tree is then in two types of soil when repotted, and have read that roots can be hesitant to jump from one medium to another. Has this been an issue with half-bare rooting?

My only first-hand experience with this is a Home Depot maple that I bought late in the season and up-potted into a 6 gallon pot with bonsai soil. The pot fell over at some point and as far as I could tell the roots had grown everywhere - didn't seem to have an issue going from compacted potting soil to Bonsai Jack universal mix.

It applies to a bonsai container if we are talking about a tall nursery container water will drain due to the hight of the water column and oxygen will reach the roots.

The tree can live in two types of soil although it is not ideal and it will prefer one or the other based on balance of water and oxygen. The approach by Ryan to leave nursery soil in the centre and add aggregate bonsai soil around is probably the best. Over time the nursery soil will start to be a problem and has to be removed to homogenise the soil. This is usually after 2-3 years.

 

[BobbyLane]

It applies to a bonsai container if we are talking about a tall nursery container water will drain due to the hight of the water column and oxygen will reach the roots.

The tree can live in two types of soil although it is not ideal and it will prefer one or the other based on balance of water and oxygen. The approach by Ryan to leave nursery soil in the centre and add aggregate bonsai soil around is probably the best. Over time the nursery soil will start to be a problem and has to be removed to homogenise the soil. This is usually after 2-3 years.

This approach has been around a very long time. in my own experience nursery trees recover far quicker when theyre not bare rooted from the start. most dont try, they just go on what theyre told, which is to get all the roots into bonsai soil as quick as possible. then they just stick to that approach all the time without trying anything else.
others take triangles out of the nursery soil every potting until there is no nursery soil left. trees adjust much quicker and grow faster with these approaches. thats one of the main reasons for not bare rooting.

 

[R0b]

This approach has been around a very long time. in my own experience nursery trees recover far quicker when theyre not bare rooted from the start. most dont try, they just go on what theyre told, which is to get all the roots into bonsai soil as quick as possible. then they just stick to that approach all the time without trying anything else.
others take triangles out of the nursery soil every potting until there is no nursery soil left. trees adjust much quicker and grow faster with these approaches. thats one of the main reasons for not bare rooting.

So far I have bare rooted most of my trees even some of the sheen based that Ryan recommends never to bare root. I have not lost any or did major damage to them, but I dit notice them being slowed down. So I am doing exactly what you also recommend not to bare root most of my new trees this year.

 

[Matte91]

Just to make it clear what Ryan said in the video:
Ryan said that he worked with all kind of rootballs in Japan. But most of the trees he worked on in Japan, was old species with no field soil left. The technique he uses in the video, is a technique he learned from Kimura. And he comes with a 10 minutes long explanation why bare rooting half the rootball is a bad technique compared to the technique he uses.
The video is 2.5 hours long and I can recommend everyone to see it.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

Just to make it clear what Ryan said in the video:
Ryan said that he worked with all kind of rootballs in Japan. But most of the trees he worked on in Japan, was old species with no field soil left. The technique he uses in the video, is a technique he learned from Kimura. And he comes with a 10 minutes long explanation why bare rooting half the rootball is a bad technique compared to the technique he uses.
The video is 2.5 hours long and I can recommend everyone to see it.

Anyone have a link? Is this one behind the paywall?