Miniature-Bonsai.com - It's the Little Things

Buds are breaking and everything's showing signs of new spring growth! A busy but very happy time of the year here. Most of our deciduous trees are repotted now and we've started in on the junipers. Black, red, and white pines won't be repotted until the deciduous landscape trees leaf out. This is probably the best benchmark to use for timing pines. Mugo pines need to wait until June here. The concensus is that they do much better with a late spring / early summer repotting. This might seem confusing, given the amount of abuse they can take.

Early spring arrival! Wow, the weather is much warmer than normal for this time of year and the buds are definitely moving. We've been repotting deciduous trees like crazy for the past several days. Now is a great time to clean your benches with a bleach-water solution, line up your new containers, do some last minute pruning, apply wire, and repot - assuming you can give the trees protection for the occasional sub-freezing night. We've also been very busy potting up seedlings that were started over the winter. Many new black pine, red pine, crabapple, pyracantha, and beautyberry have already been potted.

Talk about a rush - we've had a sudden run on the Nobuichi tools. Apparently word's gotten out about how good these are for the price! Fear not, we have more on the way from Japan and they'll be arriving in another couple weeks. Thank you in advance for your patience.

Now that March is here - it's time to start wiring your deciduous trees! By wiring them before buds start moving strongly, you run less risk of knocking one off by accident. Give the trees a bit of protection after wiring in case of a cold snap. When wiring, prune the tips to give your tree the hormonal tipoff that it needs to spark some latent buds In warmer zones (USDA Zone 8+) it's time to repot, you might want to consider tokoname or Wendy Heller container for your nicer trees. For those in zones lower than 8, start planning for repotting now.

Spring is around the corner - maybe another threer or four weeks for us around Rochester, NY. We're busy campers and champing at the bit to get spring repotting started! If you're looking for an excellent shohin bonsai soil, we recommend Hollow Creek Bonsai's Master's Shohin Bonsai Soil. The soil drains quite well yet holds more moisture than general soil and the particles are smaller - just the right size for shohin. Once everything leafs out and is ready for some fertilizer, our exclusive recommendation for solid organic slow-release is MeanGreen Fertilizer. This is the only organic solid fertilizer we use on our own trees. It's urea-free and perfect for both maintenance and super-feeding doses for all stages of your tree's life.

Nobuichi Brand Tools Are Here!
Nobuichi brand tools are named after the well-known Japanese bonsai master, Mr. Nobuichi Urushibata. As a major advisor in the design and manufacture of these tools, he has ensured that they are designed for maximum convenience and ease of use. After inspecting and handling the tools in our first shipment, we're convinced these are some of the absolute finest tools you will own. While the alterations may appear visually subtle, the feel and use are anything but! We are very proud to have placed the first order outside of Japan and to be able to offer these tools. We're confident you'll be exceptionally pleased with the Nobuichi Brand of bonsai tools!

A little bit about us:

We specialize in offering the finest in hand-crafted and Japanese containers, exceptional tools sized for working on miniature bonsai, imported books & DVDs strictly related to miniature bonsai, and exceptional material, grown specifically for bonsai.

Our goal is simple and focused; helping you get even more enjoyment from working with miniature bonsai.

Our business philosophy is straightfoward; don't sell it if we wouldn't use it ourselves and charge a fair price without tons of additive fees.

We enjoy miniature bonsai tremendously and enjoy sharing that passion with others. If we wouldn't use it, we certainly wouldn't expect you to be happy with it! Sometimes that means we're low on inventory or out of a particular species. We aren't trying to sell to everyone and anyone - just those interested in getting more enjoyment out of the creation and caring of miniature bonsai.

The site is yours to enjoy - from tips and articles to the gallery and photo progressions. If you're looking for a specific tool, by all means drop us a note. If we don't have it, we'll be happy to get it - usually a custom request will be sent from Japan to us and from us to you in less than two weeks.

A Minor Caveat: We cannot ship plant material to destinations outside the United States at all. Within the US, we cannot ship plant material to California. These restrictions are strictly limited to plant material and we do apologize, but we don't make the laws, we just need to abide by them. Anything else, we'll be happy to send to any destination in the US, Canada, South America, and Europe or arrange for local pickup.