Making dwarf umbrella tree bonsai from grocery store plants
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- čas přidán 7. 10. 2021
- In this video I try my hand at making dwarf umbrella tree bonsai from grocery store plants.
I''ve been wanting to make a dwarf Schefflera bonsai for some time now so when I saw Scheffleras on sale at the grocery store I bought one. Actually there were two Schefflera plants in the same pot so I had two to work on.
The scientiffic name of the dwarf umbrella tree ( or dwarf umbrella plant ) is Schefflera arboricola. The smaller leaf size is the best way to distinguish it from the full size umbrella tree which is actually a different species called Schefflera actinophylla ( the species is currently classified as Heptapleurum actinophyllum ).
I''m separating, repotting and hard pruning the dwarf Schefflera plants to start them on their way to becoming Schefflera bonsai trees. Unfortunatelly, things did not go exactly as planned. Nevertheless, I present both my success and failure that resulted from my first interaction with the Schefflera arboricola species.
#schefflera #schefflerabonsai #dwarfumbrellatree #scheffleraarboricola #umbrellatree #bonsai #successandfailure
Great root work Stephan and a nice face reveal too! It's too bad they both didn't survive, but the one that made it is amazing!
Thanks Nigel! It's a pretty quick face reveal. One blink and you missed it. 😊
I realize now that I went too far with the root pruning for plants that I just brought home from the store. I think I'm lucky the other one survived.
@@OddBonsai I think in a greenhouse, the one that was cut back would have made it. The only way to learn how far you can go is to actually have some that don't make it!
I try to learn from failures like this so that I don't end up killing more trees but I still feel guilty when one dies.
It would be nice to have a greenhouse, I hope i cand find the time to plan and build one in the comming years.
Nice going there. I think it’s cool that you showed your „failure“ here as well. Let’s be honest, who among us hasn’t killed a tree or two in the process.
I thought the lighting in this video was extra good by the way!
Thanks! It's good to also show some failures both for getting some constructive criticism and for letting begginers know it's not the end of the world when one tree dies.
I'm still playing around with lighting improvisations :)
Thanks for this video, actually I bought a schefflera arboricola variegated and also want to train as a bonsai tree, your video is very helpful I'll be waiting for updating.
Glad to hear you found it useful. Good luck with your Schefflera. Mine grew a lot since I made the video.
@juanignaciolopez8630
I'd love to hear how the tree is doing now, I have a few vareigated trees I was trying to save from a death on my parent's kitchen windowsill 😅
Anxious to see it’s progress.
It grew like crazy! It needs a new pruning but I didn't had the chance to do it yet. There will be a new video on it this year for sure.
Beautiful!
Thank you! Cheers!
Love your comments. I learned a lot. Will try to grow a bonsai Schifflra
You really love and care for your plants! It was very soothing watching you plant the first two cuttings so gently. Thank you for sharing this information with us!
Thank You So Much for making this easy to follow video 🙏
Thank you for sharing
Always glad to share!
The smaller plant died because there were no leaves left after root pruning. Plants with a stalk and roots will backbud, but because you root pruned down to nothing it stressed the plant out because there was no leaf material to field root growth. You need to have both for success. Next time leave more leaves and more root mass! You really don't need to root prune that intensely.
This was my conclusion as well. I went too far with the pruning on that second plant.
Personally, I always thought some leaves should have stayed just to allow the plant to fuel itself. Isn't that how the plant creates sugars from photosynthesis?
It does, but plants also store these sugars and I was relying on these reserves to keep it alive and help it grow new leaves. Unfortunatelly, it didn't make it. So lesson learned.
Perhaps a hard prune requires a good soak in water for a few weeks to invigorate root growth. Then the greater number of roots will provide a better conduit for leaf growth.
So beautiful bonsai tree 🎄👍♥️💚🌱
Thank you so much! I have a lot more work to do on it to make a real bonsai out of it.
L29, sangat mengesankan bonsainya
You are too kind. 🙏 It has a long way to go until it becomes a proper bonsai.
I think (especially in retrospect), I would have planted the "other" tree and waited til it was established before making that hard cut. Also, putting that cut off top in water or moist soil would have given you another tree. Looks good so far!
You are right. I should have been more patient and not do so much work at once. Lesson learned.
Looking forward to trying this.
Schefflera is a great species to try for bonsai so you should definitely give it a try.
@@OddBonsai Thank you.
I have been growing the dwarf shefflera plants in Hawaii in the house. I put them in my 1950s decorative pottery in water with aquarium gravel. They've been doing great for a year but I decided to put them in two bigger containers and one isn't doing so well. They had thick white roots when I took them out of their old containers so they were totally happy. The water never stunk in a year until I moved them☹
I learned a lot from the video, thankyou so much ! 🤗🏝
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So they were sitting in water for a year with no soil? How large was the pot?
@@OddBonsai they were 4-in McCoy Pottery with swans on them, so cute! I cut the top off of the one that was not doing so well after the move and put it in a small vase of water to see if I could root it. I guess I should have just left them alone?
I didn't try growing schefflera in water. A good practice when working with pants that are not doing well is to do as little work as posible o them. I'm not saying that cutting off the affected part was the cause in your case but it could have contributed. Maybe the volume of water in the vase was smaller, so less oxigen for the roots?
@@OddBonsai yes, you are right, the new pottery held maybe a half a cup more water. Lesson learned👍💖
If that's indeed the problem, you can just change the water more often to compensate. Hope your Schefflera does better.
Hi friend.... Bonsai toturial great ideas thanks for sharing sir
Thank you! 🙏 It's always great to hear the video was useful.👍
Informative
Thanks! I'm glad you found it useful. 👍
Nice tutorial for bonsai my friend
I like it
Thank you! 🙏
Thank you friends for sharing useful knowledge, good luck friends
Thank you very much!🙏
@@OddBonsai You're welcome
Very nice looking bonsai....🌿👍
Thank you !
Very nice
Thanks!
God job, nice sharing my friend 👍
Thank you! 🙏Cheers!
@@OddBonsai welcome 🙏
very good
Thank you my friend!
Such a great work dude 👍👍
Thanks! It should get even better in the future once its branch structure starts developing.
Verry imfressive brothers thank you
Thank you my friend! 🙏
Sheffleras are tricky buggers 😋 That remaining one looks good so far! Ive got 3 which are in a similar stage of development. Also trsting 3 different soil mixes to see whoch it prefers. I look forward to future updates!
It's my first time working with the species so I still have to learn what are it's limits. I hope I don't kill any more in the future. And if I don't kill it I'll surely post updates.😁
Hi which soil mix did it like?
Hallo friend.. 👋👋
I'm from.indonesia..
Thanks for your sharing 👍👍
Glad you like it! Greetings from Romania!
I find the easiest way to remove soil it to use jet setting on hose
In the garden.
Yes, hosing down the soil would do the job but it could also harm the roots if the water jet is too strong. I know that I anyway removed much of the root system but I prefer to decide which roots to remove.
At least one of them made it, they root from cuttings quite easily if you want more of it... soon enough you will have enough to start a forest lol
That's the frustrating bit. I have a bunch of cuttings in water and they all rooted while the stump which already had roots died. I even got some leaves to root.
I also tried to stick schefflera cuttings directly in bonsai soil for a clump style project and 1 out of three died.
@@OddBonsai so far I have had good luck rooting schefflera cuttings but if you really want more of them, just root in water for 100% success rate
Nooo, I think I have more than enough of them for now and too little space for wintering. Lol 😋
nice video
Thank you! Glad you like it.
I knew that second one was dead as soon as you cut its head off haha
I also had my doubts but still I thought it might survive. Lesson learned. :)
I can recognize a Bulgarian accent anywhere! Thanks for the video, Chefo!
You were extremely close. I'm Romanian. :) Glad you like it neighbour!
Eastern Europeans ftw
He he h e... nice tree ... pohon yg bagus
Thank you! 🙏 I just wish there were two nice trees instead of one. :)
Wow very easily u can make bonsai,love the trick friend
Yes, Schefflera arboricola is not a difficult species to care for. And if you don't go too far with the pruning, like I did, you should not have any problems with keeping the plant live and it will make a nice bonsai tree. Thanks!
@@OddBonsai thanks for the information, plz do a visit to my channel sir
good bro
Thanks! :)
Semangat berkarya.
Sukses selalu
Thankyou very much!🙏Wish you all the best!
This is Vidio good for sharing,thank you brother 👍👍👉
Thanks bro! I'm happy you found it useful.👍
@@OddBonsai i'm very happy because look your vidios
Great job. I was going to say that Nigel would approve - but he already commented! Now that I started my own little channel I can really appreciate how much work you also put into the video and editing - really great work. I am going to steal a few ideas for my videos 😃 👍📹
Thank you for the kind words Jay. I'm far from being a video editing expert but if you saw some useful idea feel free to use it (you made me curios, what was it? 🙂)
I already subscribed to your channel, thanks for letting me know about it. 👍
@@OddBonsai thanks for subscribing! I like the music when not talking, voice over style, and the cuts instead of one long shot. Cheers!
Just a little head's up: These things greately increase the overall filming and editing time. But most of the time it's worth it.👍
Defentelly worth it to do what you did . And wait for a few month to have a helthy nice young scheff plants like that
Well done
Thank you very much! You should see how the Schefflera looks like now. It grows like crazy. I'll have to prune it soon or it won't fit on the window sill.
@@OddBonsai no update video on that? Can wait to see .
mine was very leggy (was a gift)
I cut it in half lately. No roots yet but feels good.
Cheers✌
I didn't prune it yet, but when I do I will film it for sure. I'm thinking of making a video that shows how it changes over a longer period of time with multiple prunings and grow periods.
I had good results with rooting cuttings in water (but they were all cuttings with leaves). I hope your cutting takes on roots soon! I'm sure it will make a nice bonsai.
@@OddBonsai thanks good luck
Hi Stefan, great work with this plant. Sorry the other one died but we can't save all of them. The one left is very promising
Thank you Saro! The one that died was pruned too hard so I guess it's my fault. The Schefflera that's alive is growing like crazy and will have to be pruned soon.
@@OddBonsai maybe it would have rotted in any case
Could be, but I clearly helped it die faster 😋
Not bad
Thanks! I hope it will make a nice bonsai someday.
Schefflera can get a lot of aerial roots if you get them really rootbound.
Thank you for the tip! It would be nice to have some aerial roots but don't they need to be in a high humidity environment to grow them?
@@OddBonsai thats true .so it means having a bonsai shefflera woulddnt be so easy
@@OddBonsai they're more prone to air root when they don't have much access to soil. Can can also create an artificially high humidity environment by just covering with a transparent plastic bag. You only need that to get the root established, once it reaches the soil, tightens and firms up it will be ok in normal contortions.
Like frends
Thanks!
I’d love to see an update on this :)
Yes, I do have to do an update on this one. It had a pretty bad year as it got infested by thrips. Luckily I managed to get rid of them.
I love that you’re using supermarket house plants for bonsai. The homemade root rake is ace too. Would you ever consider planting these plants in the ground to fatten up the trunks?
I thought about this but since I live in a temperate climate I would have to dig them out every year before winter. I might do an experiment sometime to see the what difference it would make.
@@OddBonsai Sorry, I thought you were somewhere tropical/ sub tropical.
It's always nice to see people working with small delicate trees as the orthodoxy makes so much about how a really small thin plant is just a twig in a pot and not a real bonsai. I find that a bit dismissive to be honest and prefer the more Chinese style attitude of making something the you think is beautiful and or interesting. Plus, I really love those amazing Ling Nan style trees. How about you?
There are many opinions regarding what can and cannot be considered to be a bonsai. I personally think that it doesn't really matter which bonsai deffinition you plant fits as long as you apply the right techniques and learn from your plant. I don't like wiring much so I guess I'm leaning more towards the lingnan style.
Nice work my friend Stefan...I think I have similar tree but with larger leaves...🙂
Thank you my friend! Yes, there is a larger leaf Schefflera variety. Do they grow naturally in your country?
@@OddBonsai yeah...I just collected one during our hunting in my latest video
Nice! I didn't notice that in your video. I'll have to watch again. 👍
@@OddBonsai the one I planted in the transparent plastic container...🙂
Question -- could you have left some of the roots above the selected root plane on the tree above ground and planted the tips to make aerial roots? Or will you progressively raise the tree so that the selected root plane becomes exposed as nebari and aerial roots?
👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽
🙏
What lighting did you use
Thanks for the info. I just got a dwarf umbrella plant for next to my desk where it gets no natural light. I have set up a LBW Grow Light which has adjustable brightness and a 4/6/8 hour timer. How long should I have the light on it and at what power level? If possible I would like to have it on 8 hours just so I can look at it (i have a bunch of crystals in the pot too and like the way the glint in the light. Do you have any advice? There is a video on my channel of me planting it and where it is placed. Thanks!
I had a look at your video and I think you should provide more light. I have all my grow lights timers set to 12h on and 12h off as this is closest to what most tropicals would get in nature. The appropriate power level to set on your light is another discussion and it depends on the actual PPFD provided at each power level and the distance from your plant. I have a video on testing and setting up my grow light here: czcams.com/video/cGGcv_uhPAk/video.html . It's a different grow light may help you get an idea on how to adjust your particular light. Hope this helps.
@@OddBonsai Great, thanks! I'll bump it up to 12 hrs.
Lovely video can you tell me what kind of soil you use please.
I recently received a dwarf umbrella tree as a gift. It is about the same size as yours was at the start of the video. I want it to stay small and cute and to be grown exclusively indoors. If I want to keep it small, is it necessary to do what you have done in this video? Or can I just trim the top and the long leaves whenever it gets too big?
I am a total beginner, so forgive my ignorance, but it looks kind of like your surviving Bonsai plant looks very similar to the starting plant, so it the process necessary for a noob like me?
If all you want to do is keep it small then you are right, you only need to prune back the top of the branches whenever it gets too big. Since bonsai is not only about keeping the plant small but making it look like a miniature version of a large tree there are additional operations such as root work and pruning for trunk thickening and ramification which are required.
It's true that it doesn't seem like I gained much with the root work and pruning but the effects truly start to become more visible after several years of repeated pruning.
@@OddBonsai thank you for the explanation. I'm very inexperienced but excited to learn more!
@@littlej211 I'm no expert either but practice helps improving our skills.
Any updates on this? I have a umbrella tree that isn’t looking too hot and I’m planning to try making it into a bonsai
I want to try to grow this bonsai indoor under grow light. Is it hard to grow it indoor?
In my experience it is a very easy species for indoor growing, especially if you have a grow light.
👍👍👍🙏🙏🙏💪💪💪
Thank you very much! 🙏
what are the soil blends you're using
If I remember correctly, for this one I used an inorganic mix containing equal parts of perlite, vermiculite and pumice. I am not always consistent with the soil mixes I use. I adapt to the water requirements of the species and to the materials I have at the time of potting.
Mi-a părut mie că ai ciopîrțit-o prea tare pe a doua) Eu sunt adeptul pașilor mai mici) Cea care a supraviețuit arată fain))
Da, am cam exagerat. L-am vazut pe Nigel Saunders ca el le tunde destul de agresiv cu rezultate foarte bune dar nu m-am gandit ca ale lui nu sunt proaspat aduse de la magazin ci lasate sa creasca viguros luni de zile in conditii propice.
Multumesc frumos, cu siguranta nu mai incerc sa o ciopartesc si pe supravietuitoare. :)
Foist!!!
I think this is my foist Foist! 👍😉
@@OddBonsai great job seperating these two. I love the dwarf variety. That reminds me that mine may need some attention 😅😂😂. Great video. Cheers 😎🍺🍺
Thanks Jered! I also like the species. I'm glad I bought it, altough the dead plant may not feel the same way 😁.
Please give the info for the bonsai soil
I mixed the soil myself. It's a combination of perlite, vermiculite and pumice.
I have two 5ft dwarf umbrella plants, I had 4 but when we moved from our house two of them got stolen.
Those are some nice size Schefflera plants. Sorry to hear about the two that got stolen. It's sad when you put all that work to grow a plant for many years and someone just decides they're going to take it from you.
@@OddBonsai I know, thank you.
If you're going to trunk chop a schefflera, do not hard prune the roots.
I did not know how far it can be pushed, but I guess I learned that the hard way.
@@OddBonsai I learned the hard way on a 25yr old clump. I wanted the thick trunks but the branch structure was shite. Lost the whole lot... 😥
Ouch, your experience was harder than mine. In your experience, will Schefflera respond well to trunk chops as long as you leave the roots alone?
@@OddBonsai it will if you wait until late winter/early spring. Use some cut paste if you have it. Scheffleras hate dry roots but once you chop it, it wont have the leaves to shed the water. Pot it in lava and pumice with a tiny bit of sphagnum mixed in. Do the repotting in early summer, let it acclimate to the new soil, and do the chop the following late winter/spring. This is so the roots wont take on too much water but still have it when it wants it. It's easy to kill a chop by overwatering it. Got to balance out the in/out of moisture. These are in my top 5 favorite plants to work on. You do great work btw. Hope this helps.
Thanks for the detailed explanation. It will come in hand for the next chops I have to make. I will have to chop the branches of my surviving Schefflera, but not just yet as it's currently recovering from a pretty bad case of scale and thrips infestation.
What are the other 4 species on your top 5 list?
Thanks for your kind words. I'm trying to learn and improve my horticultural skills. It turns out you have to learn a lot about the habits of each species you work with. :)
Chào bạn hiền nhé 👍. tương tác ủm hộ cùng nhau phát triển bạn hiền nhé 🍻👌🔔🔔🔔🔔😜
Thanks for visiting!
Thank you for sharing
My pleasure, thanks for watching!