A couple of weeks ago I had this batch of 1 year-old Pinus Thunbergii seedlings that I was about to give away. I already pulled out all the seedlings I wanted to use (over 100) and still had about 50 of them left in the trays. But then I stumbled upon an article on Jonas Dupuich’s blog (bonsaitonight.com) that handled about creating exposed roots on Japanese Black Pines. So I decided to lift another 2 seedlings from the trays and start my own project.

The trays with left-over seedlings.

Small sized akadama/pumice mix, plastic bottles with the top and bottom cut off, 19cm/8″ pond baskets.

I filled up the pond basket with the small size bonsai soil and the bottle with a mix of big sized baked clay pellets and bonsai soil. (the big size soil will create movement in the roots that will later be exposed).

The seedlings go on top of the big size clay pellets and the rest is filled with regular bonsai soil.

Both seedlings planted in their new homes for the next 3-4 years.

But make sure to secure the bottles to the baskets first before trying to move the baskets… 1 tree down…

Ok, next try now with the bottles secured to the basket with aluminum wire.

After wrapping the entire bottle with construction tape, so the sun won’t boil the roots, the seedlings go outside.

In a 2 years the first part of the roots will be exposed. The top part of the botlle will be cut off and soil removed.

No trees were harmed during the creation of this project….