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Grow It Bonsai Kit (0-6 months). Part 1
Jul 20, 2023
Valentines Day 2020 my wife give me the "Grow It" Bonsai Seed Kit (from gift republic). In this video I prepare the seeds for germination and get them going, showing their journey for the first 6 months of their life.
The "mixed bonsai seeds" are actually Japanese Black Pine, Silver Birch, Downy Birch and Black Alder.
? I expand on the instructions and give more information on what to do here:
⭕️https://www.backgardenbonsai.com/an-instructional-guide-to-help-beginners-with-the-grow-it-bonsai-kit/
? Youtube Playlist For This Tree:
⭕️ https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL35C7OqeOezIkjiCRsLeG2ZaTWtGQeu0v
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? Find me else where:
⭕️www.backgardenbonsai.com/
Thanks, Ian
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0:00
Today we're looking at the Grow It bonsai kit. My wife bought me this last year for Valentine's Day
0:09
It was pretty much the last thing she ever got me so I don't think I really need to explain how
0:13
this is instantly my most sentimental tree. It says on the box to sow the seeds by October 2022
0:19
but I wouldn't wait that long, the sooner the better. So let's see what we have in here
0:24
We've got some bonsai mix, whatever that means. We've got some lollipop sticks, I'm guessing they write the date on because we can't exactly
0:43
write the species down. And then we've got the pots and the soil, it's all that core stuff
0:49
I'm not the biggest fan of that but it's all good. and then we have the instructions which don't tell you what trees we've got
0:59
this is a great gift but there are a few things that annoy me first one is the box
1:04
it has a lovely old juniper on the front i think my wife thought she was actually buying this tree or
1:09
maybe she thought she was buying the seeds to grow this tree she also thought she was getting the pot
1:14
i don't really know what she was kind of confused at this point so it's hard to tell what she meant
1:18
but i think any sort of beginner or someone with no knowledge of trees might think something similar
1:24
But I guess that's marketing though. I just think people need to be aware that it can take 100 years to get a tree this good
1:29
And I can see past that. It was the bonsai mix that really annoyed me. So I emailed the company and asked what seeds I had
1:34
And to be fair to them, they got back to me and they were really nice. This mix is actually silver birch, downy birch, Japanese black pine and black alder
1:46
So three of the four are actually native here. So that's excellent. No juniper seeds though, so that's a bit strange
1:51
But anyway, let's get these seeds started. I'm going to do them in three batches
1:57
The first way will be following the instructions. I don't usually like instructions, especially when they don't tell you what seeds you've
2:03
got, but let's see what happens. Firstly I got the core disk soaked and turned it into this sloppy soil mix Then you add to your pot and you add the seeds You add them dry no pre
2:24
Look at these seeds. How are you meant to know what you've got in this email, they ask them
2:29
They then want you to leave this sat somewhere for two weeks, so it's like a slow soak well in the soil
2:34
After two weeks of being sat there, you're meant to put them in the fridge for three to six weeks
2:39
I don't know why there's such a big difference. I'd always go for the six weeks. If you can't be patient at this part you'll get nowhere in this hobby
2:47
So just wait six weeks. Oh yeah it's meant to be in a bag for the two week rest and the six weeks fridging so don't forget the bag
2:56
So this is it eight weeks later in mid-April after sitting in the fridge and sitting on the shelf for a while
3:01
I just hid the whole thing in this pot so it wouldn't get thrown out. So let's see if anything has happened
3:08
Well right in the middle there is a little green tip. Also some mould, so that's a bit of a worry, but we do have life
3:15
A few weeks later and you can see some more sprouts. I left the bag closed for maybe two or three weeks
3:21
but then slowly started to open it. I didn't want to shock it by changing the humidity levels too fast
3:28
This is now the middle of May, so it looks like we've definitely got a few growing
3:33
It's hard to tell what they are at this stage though, but it looks like the instructions have actually worked
3:39
You can see a bit of yellowing here, I think this core is too damp
3:56
That's why I'm not a fan of it, but they are still growing. Here it is in July, so definitely a success so far
4:09
Let's look at how we did the other packets. This is back in February again
4:20
This time I soaked the seeds in water for 48 hours. As you can see there a few floaters so that never good floaters usually don germinate Thank you So this time I used my own soil mix
4:44
Well I didn't have any mixed so I added perlite and molar clay. I also didn't have any compost at hand so I just mixed in some of that core stuff
4:51
It's pretty much close enough to compost on my normal soil mix anyway
5:00
I then added the soaked seeds and covered them with a thin layer of soil on top
5:07
I then put this in the fridge. I left it in there for eight weeks. So the other one got two weeks sat on the shelf and then six weeks in the fridge
5:15
But this one got two days soaked in water and then straight in the fridge for eight weeks
5:22
So as you can see I hid this one in a pot too. I didn't pre-bag it as the lid seemed pretty tight enough
5:28
So it's pretty much the same thing as being in a sealed bag. Probably. So this is also mid-April
5:34
Nothing yet. But in May we have some action. A few tiny sprouts
5:50
Here they are in June. And by July they're looking good
6:14
It seems this method also works fine. So let's look at the third method I tried for the last two packets of seeds
6:26
If you've seen my Mamay challenge video where I grew some seeds, I use the same technique
6:30
I started by soaking the seeds for 48 hours and this time putting them in damp kitchen paper
6:37
I then bagged them up and fridged it for 8 weeks. I also hid this as well
6:42
So at this point I'm totally overrun with seeds. I said last Christmas I didn want any more seeds but Gerard over at Jarhead Bonsai challenged me to grow some and then I got this kit so I was panicking a bit and wondering where I was going to put all these seeds so I squeezed them in here with my mamay challenge seeds so this is me actually planting the other seeds but you get the idea when I soaked the
7:04
seeds it actually separated the floaters and non-floaters everyone says to throw them away
7:08
as they won't work but I want to see if anything would actually do anything so the far right is the
7:14
seeds that sank and should grow and the middle area is the floaters and that should just be like
7:18
a barren wasteland. On the left is my Mamet Challenge seat so just ignore them for now
7:31
So by the end of April we had a few things pop up. I've got such bad camera work here
7:37
but basically there is two or three on the right hand side but not much
7:48
In June you can see there was a little bit going on
7:52
We have a pine in the far corner and weirdly that's all
7:56
In the middle section where it was all floaters we actually have some growth
8:01
But not much, but a few. In July we can see that the middle section has done okay and the pine is all we have on the
8:32
right hand side which is very strange. This is actually the least effective way. I know it's
8:39
not very scientific but if you handed me a pack of seeds this is the way I would normally try to
8:42
grow them. So maybe I need to change my technique. Maybe they're just a bad pack of seeds. Anyway
8:49
those of you who are good at maths will realise February to July is not six months, it's only
8:54
five, so I owe you a month. She's going to have to wait until part two to see how they all finish
8:58
off growing for the rest of the year. Thanks for watching and see you in part two
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