Tips on repotting both the smallest and largest of bonsai using the Mirai methodology

[M. Frary]

but there is a technique to it so that you don’t blow out the back side of the hole

"that's what she said".

 

[M. Frary]

I use a piece of bamboo, hard side down, with the tie-down wire wrapped around it a couple of times. It’s extremely stiff and durable. Drilling holes in a good clay body is not a problem, but there is a technique to it so that you don’t blow out the back side of the hole.

I see you're from New Mexico.
What do you know about winter?
Drill a hole in a pot and it is usually toast.
All glazed pots are off the table for that operation.
It gets down to at least 20 degrees below zero for weeks here.
And that's a normal winter.
A cold one and it approaches minus 40 degrees.
Steel breaks when it's that cold.

 

[M. Frary]

World record "that's what she said".

Sorce

Damn you!

 

[sorce]

@M. Frary you can still a hole through a vitreous ceramic and it'll be ok.

It's these non-vitreous store bowls that the glaze usually offers all the "glass" or absorption protection. Though it can still take water up the unglazed foot anyway, a hole makes it faster.

A hole makes it faster!

Sorce

 

[M. Frary]

@M. Frary you can still a hole through a vitreous ceramic and it'll be ok.

It's these non-vitreous store bowls that the glaze usually offers all the "glass" or absorption protection. Though it can still take water up the unglazed foot anyway, a hole makes it faster.

A hole makes it faster!

Sorce

I cant get undrilled glazed pots to last here let alone a drilled one.
Winter kills them. The slightest nick and the glaze comes off in a sheet during winter.

 

[sorce]

I cant get undrilled glazed pots to last here let alone a drilled one.
Winter kills them. The slightest nick and the glaze comes off in a sheet during winter.

I'll bring you a glazed one then.

Sorce

 

[sorce]

I bet 5% of people making bonsai pots (USA)
Make vitreous pottery on purpose. 25% get lucky. And 70% ain't worth shit.

Sorce

 

[Rafael Najmanovich]

Not here.
There's freezing and then theres freezing.
The slightest crack or opening to the glaze on a pot and they're done.
And this is also something to remember.
What works for some may not work for others.
Out where you guys live you get winter but its mild.
Where I live its brutal.
I don't even look at glazed pots anymore.

You can’t really call Montreal winters mild. There are definitely harder places but it gets pretty cold here. I wish it didn’t.

 

[PiñonJ]

I see you're from New Mexico.
What do you know about winter?
Drill a hole in a pot and it is usually toast.
All glazed pots are off the table for that operation.
It gets down to at least 20 degrees below zero for weeks here.
And that's a normal winter.
A cold one and it approaches minus 40 degrees.
Steel breaks when it's that cold.

It makes no difference to the pot whether the hole is created before firing or after, unless you blow it out with poor technique or use the wrong kind of bit. As @sorce suggests, it’s all about the clay body and how it’s fired. And no one’s talking about drilling through glaze.

 

[my nellie]

Pines, you say...?
View attachment 251513

I'd love to see that!

 

[BunjaeKorea]

Bonsai students such as myself experience the following:
Learning another language.
Begging someone to teach you.
Being accepted as a 'disciple' of that particular masters style and making an oath not to learn from another master (formally) in my case Master Yeong Jong Kim
Learning the history of bonsai.
Investing a lot of time.
Investing a lot of resources.
Wiring for about a billion hours and still being hit over the head for making a mistake.
Trying to convince your wife that the hours of effort are worth it.
Investing a lot of time.
Investing a lot of resources.
Wiring for about a billion hours and still being hit over the head for making a mistake.
Trying to convince your wife that the hours of effort are worth it.
Investing a lot of time.
Investing a lot of resources.
Wiring for about a billion hours and still being hit over the head for making a mistake.
Trying to convince your wife that the hours of effort are worth it.
You get the picture.
Saying influenced by and student of is very different. I personally love Walter Pall and have applied his methids but I wouldn't say I am a student because he has a school and has students.
It may seem like something small but this is an art and it matters.

 

[Adair M]

Bonsai students such as myself experience the following:
Learning another language.
Begging someone to teach you.
Being accepted as a 'disciple' of that particular masters style and making an oath not to learn from another master (formally) in my case Master Yeong Jong Kim
Learning the history of bonsai.
Investing a lot of time.
Investing a lot of resources.
Wiring for about a billion hours and still being hit over the head for making a mistake.
Trying to convince your wife that the hours of effort are worth it.
Investing a lot of time.
Investing a lot of resources.
Wiring for about a billion hours and still being hit over the head for making a mistake.
Trying to convince your wife that the hours of effort are worth it.
Investing a lot of time.
Investing a lot of resources.
Wiring for about a billion hours and still being hit over the head for making a mistake.
Trying to convince your wife that the hours of effort are worth it.
You get the picture.
Saying influenced by and student of is very different. I personally love Walter Pall and have applied his methids but I wouldn't say I am a student because he has a school and has students.
It may seem like something small but this is an art and it matters.

I understand completely. Boon is my sensei, and he can look at a tree I’ve wired, and immediately see a mistake I made! Fortunately, I’m making fewer and fewer, but I’m still learning to improve.

 

[BunjaeKorea]

I understand completely. Boon is my sensei, and he can look at a tree I’ve wired, and immediately see a mistake I made! Fortunately, I’m making fewer and fewer, but I’m still learning to improve.

My mistaked are often presented to me as a series of questions. 'That's interesting....why is that there?'....lol
There's a great sense of satisfaction in working beside a real master.

 

[Rafael Najmanovich]

Bonsai students such as myself experience the following:
Learning another language.
Begging someone to teach you.
Being accepted as a 'disciple' of that particular masters style and making an oath not to learn from another master (formally) in my case Master Yeong Jong Kim
Learning the history of bonsai.
Investing a lot of time.
Investing a lot of resources.
Wiring for about a billion hours and still being hit over the head for making a mistake.
Trying to convince your wife that the hours of effort are worth it.
Investing a lot of time.
Investing a lot of resources.
Wiring for about a billion hours and still being hit over the head for making a mistake.
Trying to convince your wife that the hours of effort are worth it.
Investing a lot of time.
Investing a lot of resources.
Wiring for about a billion hours and still being hit over the head for making a mistake.
Trying to convince your wife that the hours of effort are worth it.
You get the picture.
Saying influenced by and student of is very different. I personally love Walter Pall and have applied his methids but I wouldn't say I am a student because he has a school and has students.
It may seem like something small but this is an art and it matters.

I can't imagine a bigger disservice to learning than learning from a single teacher. Are there any other areas of human learning other than Bonsai where this happens? In science for sure not. People are actually forced to learn from different sources. It is extremely frowned upon to make one's scientific career in a single institution, let alone a single scientific advisor. For sure there are many ways to learn and in my personal opinion it is only because bonsai is so subjective and it is possible to do things in many ways both aesthetically as well as horticulturally that people like your master can get away with this oath that for me is silly, as if bonsai was some form of mysterious secret that need to be preserved. In fact, you admitted to breaking the oath by using Walter Pall's techniques which presumably you didn't learn from Master Yeong Jong Kim. Having said all that, let me just say that it is all good, if it works for you then great. As Walter Pall says, bonsai is not a religion. Don't treat it like one.

 

[BunjaeKorea]

I can't imagine a bigger disservice to learning than learning from a single teacher. Are there any other areas of human learning other than Bonsai where this happens? In science for sure not. People are actually forced to learn from different sources. It is extremely frowned upon to make one's scientific career in a single institution, let alone a single scientific advisor. For sure there are many ways to learn and in my personal opinion it is only because bonsai is so subjective and it is possible to do things in many ways both aesthetically as well as horticulturally that people like your master can get away with this oath that for me is silly, as if bonsai was some form of mysterious secret that need to be preserved. In fact, you admitted to breaking the oath by using Walter Pall's techniques which presumably you didn't learn from Master Yeong Jong Kim. Having said all that, let me just say that it is all good, if it works for you then great. As Walter Pall says, bonsai is not a religion. Don't treat it like one.

I think you are confused so let me explain again. There is an oath not to formally learn from someone else, as in a student teacher relationship. That does not mean that one cannot learn. So I never admitted to breaking any oath, you merely failed to understand the semantics.
For you it is silly, with that you look down on 1000 years of east Asian culture. Well done.
Learning in persom is different to learning from a video....this is a fact.

 

[Rafael Najmanovich]

I think you are confused so let me explain again. There is an oath not to formally learn from someone else, as in a student teacher relationship. That does not mean that one cannot learn. So I never admitted to breaking any oath, you merely failed to understand the semantics.
For you it is silly, with that you look down on 1000 years of east Asian culture. Well done.
Learning in persom is different to learning from a video....this is a fact.

So the oath lets you learn informally from someone else? I do look down on silly aspect of 1000 year old cultures, my own or others. If not, we could potentially be still performing human sacrifices like the Incas. I agree that learning in person is different than from a Video, which is different still than from an immersive experience like that of Mirai Live Pro membership or on the other end of the scale an outdated book or discovering on your own, or being hit in the head as some suggested above in this thread. It is all a personal matter of cost/benefit.

 

[leatherback]

I can't imagine a bigger disservice to learning than learning from a single teacher. Are there any other areas of human learning other than Bonsai where this happens? In science for sure not. People are actually forced to learn from different sources. It is extremely frowned upon to make one's scientific career in a single institution, let alone a single scientific advisor.

Yet, when doing a PhD it is highly recommended to not have multiple supervisors on equal standing, but have one with whom to set course and methods. Doing this with a range of people will always lead to conflict as multiple supervisors will always disagree what the "best" route is. Even in Science. An inexperienced person is not per se helped by having a multitude of opinions; Only over times does one learn the 50 shades of grey required to have success in life.

I do look down on silly aspect of 1000 year old cultures, my own or others.

Just because it is beyond your capacity to understand, does not make something silly.

 

[BunjaeKorea]

I think you are confused so let me explain again. There is an oath not to formally learn from someone else, as in a student teacher relationship. That does not mean that one cannot learn. So I never admitted to breaking any oath, you merely failed to understand the semantics.
For you it is silly, with that you look down on 1000 years of east Asian culture. Well done.
Learning in persom is different to learning from a video....this is a fact.

So the oath lets you learn informally from someone else? I do look down on silly aspect of 1000 year old cultures, my own or others. If not, we could potentially be still performing human sacrifices like the Incas. I agree that learning in person is different than from a Video, which is different still than from an immersive experience like that of Mirai Live Pro membership or on the other end of the scale an outdated book or discovering on your own, or being hit in the head as some suggested above in this thread. It is all a personal matter of cost/benefit.

This is getting comical. Techniques for keeping trees alive and styling them with a thousand years of verifiable history is a slightly different matter than human sacrifice and your analogy is a straw man arguement.
Learning is about keeping what works and avoiding what doesn't. You don't need to reinvent the wheel.

 

[Rafael Najmanovich]

Yet, when doing a PhD it is highly recommended to not have multiple supervisors on equal standing, but have one with whom to set course and methods. Doing this with a range of people will always lead to conflict as multiple supervisors will always disagree what the "best" route is. Even in Science. An inexperienced person is not per se helped by having a multitude of opinions; Only over times does one learn the 50 shades of grey required to have success in life.


Just because it is beyond your capacity to understand, does not make something silly.

In science if the project requires multiple advisors, there will be multiple advisors. I think it is also a bit patronizing to assume that an inexperienced person does not have the capacity to judge and learn from a multitude of sources. Some people won't, some people will. Each person should decide what works for them.

 

[KillerButts]

I just wonder how Ryan feels about you using his name. Did he give you permission? A little misleading IMHO.

@24 minutes how do you get away with keeping the node that the hanging right branch is coming from as is? Seems to fly in the face of pruning. Is this for temporary stress reduction, or are you jining one of the two? I am just curious and new at this. Also I will be dealing with this on a juniper about twice that size that has not blown up the node, similar to that structure.