Bonsai Stuff

Contact Scott from Bonsai Matsu How do you overcome the fear of working on your bonsai? One backward step can shatter your confidence but you must get back on the horse and keep moving forward. Bonsai confidence comes with experience and seeing the results of your hard work over long periods of time. Only you can change you! You remember the old saying that if it sounds too good to be true it prob...

Contact Scott from Bonsai Matsu Your bonsai are only as good as the tools you use and the maintenance you undertake. Over time your tools will deteriorate and you can feel it as it happens. I run through the maintenance of my tool kit and how to ‘test’ your tools for wear and tear. It might be time for an upgrade! Bonsai for me is everything and I reflect where I think I would be without bonsai in...

Contact Scott from Bonsai Matsu It’s time for a mid Autumn or Fall check in. There are lots of jobs that need to be done at this time of the year and plenty to keep an eye on too. I like to run through a final checklist before it’s too late to make a difference. Cedars as bonsai are just brilliant, with so many variations on styling and colour of the foliage, they truly are one of my favourites. T...

Contact Scott from Bonsai Matsu Understanding when to commence the Autumn/Winter work on your pines as well as the work to undertake is extremely important if you are going to manage their needs correctly. There are also considerations to make if you plan on showing your pine at a later point in time. Different species of pine need different techniques and you must know what they are and master th...

Contact Scott from Bonsai Matsu There is nothing I enjoy more than letting my creative bonsai juices flow! It is never at the expense of the tree in front of me but it’s nice to think outside of the square every now and then. What is the story behind your bonsai? Does it have one? Is it important? What if there is no story? Every great story has a start and you can be part of history. Laugh Love L...

Contact Scott from Bonsai Matsu Branch cutters are an essential tool when it comes to bonsai but they are commonly abused and misused. I love them and have them in a range of different sizes and shapes. I want to run through how I use them to get the best results. And the old saying of ‘Practice makes Perfect’ isn’t necessarily correct. It should be ‘Perfect Practise makes Perfect’. The apex on yo...

Contact Scott from Bonsai Matsu Bonsai wire and bonsai go together like Vegemite and hot buttered toast! We use wire for design and horticultural requirements for our bonsai and quite honestly I believe we would be lost without it. In this podcast I chat about all things wire, wire removal, reusing, copper versus aluminium, bending, time frames, storage and the dreaded 1mm wire roll. Our bonsai co...

Contact Scott from Bonsai Matsu Autumn is a brilliant time for your trees. They may be starting to show some colour or they may not but they are already working very hard to become a better version of themselves and they need your care and assistance. Understanding the process they go through will help you become a better practitioner. Feeding, pest management, and most importantly pruning are imp...

Contact Scott from Bonsai Matsu Autumn or Fall is an extremely important time for your bonsai and you have a key responsibility to ensure you do your bit. Fertilising is really important and now is the time to get started. The why, how and my strategy for fertilising is really simply and easily replicated. When I design or work on bonsai, one of the final steps I take is a top down view of the tre...

Contact Scott from Bonsai Matsu As we head towards the end of the southern hemisphere Summer period, it is a great time to pat yourself on the back for helping your bonsai make it through another tough period. Have a look at what has done well and accept the satisfaction as to why. Where trees have not faired quite so well it is time to review why and take steps to correct it for next Summer. Form...

Contact Scott from Bonsai Matsu Carving and bonsai seem to go hand in hand. I think everyone I have ever spoken to about bonsai over the years has mentioned carving at one time or another. And carving, good carving, takes skill and technique. Texture, the need to appear 'natural' and staying safe are all very important! How you work with an electric carving tool is crucial to your succes...

Contact Scott from Bonsai Matsu So what got you into bonsai initially? I bet it's not what keeps you in bonsai now. I find it is important to reflect back on the start of your journey as you can sometimes lose sight of what make you happy. Do the maintenance! And do it first!! Big decisions can wait and the maintenance work will clear the path for your decision making process. Remove the unne...

Contact Scott from Bonsai Matsu We are in the last month of Summer and while there are certain trees I will fertilise, there are also trees I will not. I run through my program right now and how it could apply to your bonsai garden. I also have a tale of a poor pomegranate that almost made it to the green waste bin but didn't thank goodness! The lesson of sometimes you just need to wait a lit...

Contact Scott from Bonsai Matsu One of the most iconic Australian species of tree is the grand Banksia and there are 173 different species (according to natureaustralia.org.au). They make the most magnificent bonsai and there are 'rules' to their successful care and I think everyone should have at least one in their collection. The Banksia has so much to offer. We all have trees in our c...

Contact Scott from Bonsai Matsu When you are working on any of your bonsai, at any stage of their journey, you need to have focus. There are some key areas of my work I give particular attention to and they make all the difference. Remember it's the 1% that can have a massive impact. You need to respect the bonsai that is in front of you here and now. Be thorough, be focused, be accurate and...

Contact Scott from Bonsai Matsu Welcome to Season 7 of the Bonsai Stuff podcast! 2025 is going to be a brilliant year for bonsai and to kick things off I'll let you know my 3  step simple plan for the year and my bonsai commitment. Post holidays it is time to dust off the cobwebs and get back to bonsai. This is my time to work on my junipers too and I have a check list I work through to make...

Contact Scott from Bonsai Matsu Well 2024 is done and there has been so many highlights for me personally as well as with my bonsai. I chat about a few of my podcast favourites and how small incremental improvements with my bonsai make me happy. During the year I travelled for bonsai, I travelled a lot! From one corner of Australia to the other as well as a trip to New Zealand and I loved it all....

Contact Scott from Bonsai Matsu With the holiday season upon us, now is the time to devote some special attention to our bonsai. I run through my pre-Christmas checklist of jobs that I look to have completed before the Summer break. With decandling now being completed, well for me anyway, I talk about sacrifice branches and how I looked at my Japanese Black Pines a little differently this year. Ho...

Contact Scott from Bonsai Matsu So you've got a beautiful tree, lovely trunk, great foliage but how and where do you start your design process? I've got a simple procedure I use that helps you get the result without possibly knowing what the design is before starting. Australia bonsai has taken another leap forward and I have a chat with Leigh Taafe the Curator of the National Bonsai and...

Contact Scott from Bonsai Matsu The Decandling process on Japanese Black Pines can be very rewarding and often seen as the key to successfully developing them into magnificent bonsai. But it can also be disastrous. So you need to know when not to decandle. I recently had a long term student at Bonsai Matsu who undertook an immersive intensive learning program. And I must be honest and say I loved...

Contact Scott from Bonsai Matsu So you're given some advice about your bonsai. What should you do with it? Will it have a positive or a negative effect on your bonsai? It is possible that well meaning advice may well be the completely wrong thing for you and your bonsai. I also get to have a chat with Oscar Jonker from Bonsai Empire about an entirely new course that is very interesting as it...

Contact Scott from Bonsai Matsu The very first focus when 'building' a bonsai should be the trunk and the nebari. If you do not have the correct plan in place then you will never achieve the bonsai that you desire. Working on ramification will not result in trunk development. Let's have a look at what the difference is. Summer is nearly here and you need to be prepared, for the sake...

Contact Scott from Bonsai Matsu One of the most important processes I use with my single flush pines is Candle Cutting, not decandling and in this podcast I explain the process as well as the difference between these two tasks. I also chat about the species I use this technique on and more importantly which I do not. It's a must for any pine lover. We all have that moment in our bonsai journe...

Contact Scott from Bonsai Matsu Here's a little behind the curtain look at podcasting while travelling! After 8 weeks on the road it has meant being 'resourceful' about how and where to record this podcast. Fungal issues in trees are a bit of a nightmare and so much worse for bonsai. They are often best avoided, but you need to know what to look for, where they come from, a treatmen...

Contact Scott from Bonsai Matsu Western Australia is a beautiful part of the world and in particular the south west corner as a pretty special place for bonsai. They have incredible local native species which are perfect for bonsai. I have been fortunate to be involved with the clubs in Perth, Mandurah, Bunbury and Albany for over 4 weeks and have loved absolutely every second of it. So what did I...