Ah! Now we’re down to it! You’re fighting your trees!
You are right, the key is to work with the tree. What we do in bonsai is do at the micro level what the tree does at the macro level.
A tree at the micro level might put out shoots in all directions. Over time, some of those shoots will grow to find the sun and thrive, some of those shoots will get covered by others and wither and die. This process might take decades to play out in nature. We have to understand how the trees grow to guide the micro to appear to be macro. We have to do this with deliberation, not by chance. You see, with bonsai, we not only “miniature” trees, we simulate compression of time. We seek to achieve in a few years an image that it takes nature decades or centuries to achieve.
Sure, you can let the tree take control. Be prepared to wait.
Adair, I've never agreed with you more on anything than I do with this comment, and in my own experience, this is the kind of observation one inevitably has after many years of observing trees respond to bonsai techniques.
Though I think you do play the "boon said this or that" card a little too often, I do very much respect that you apply the techniques you learn directly to your own trees, and comment on things that you know work. I think sometimes that you exclude other things that may also work because they don't fit your world view (soil components are a good example), but there's no doubt that you've gotten great results, in the style you prefer, by doing things the way you've been taught.
I find threads like this both fascinating and pointless, yet at the same time interesting because they drive discussion and yield different perspectives from the same set of people who are at once passionate about bonsai, yet all come at it from different directions.
There are quite a few people here - yourself,
@Smoke,
@Anthony,
@MichaelS,
@sorce, etc, who always jump into the fray whenever topics like this crop up. All of who I have learned things from over the years, and all of whom I've disagreed with numerous times on numerous topics.
@Smoke - I do see your point in posting this thread, but I think it's important to realize that participation is an important part of learning, and different people have different approaches. Someone might start as a parrot, and that may eventually evolve into sharing more direct experiences that they have had. I do have mixed feelings about this, even as I type it, because there can definitely be harm in blindly posting information that either may not work for everyone or worse, may not work at all. But this is the Internet, and I feel like raging against this type of thing is like standing at the ocean, and raging at it for being wet. Might feel good in the moment, but perhaps there are better uses of one's time and energy. And what I just said here is from direct experience - I co-moderate the reddit /r/bonsai sub, and it has 60k+ subscribers. Combating misinformation is a never-ending project in a place where the vast majority are completely new to the topic.
My personal approach, as someone who is self taught on bonsai over the past 23 or so years, is to take everything with a grain of salt until I've tried a technique and proven to myself that it works. And even those who I disagree with on certain things often add value in other areas, so I try to always keep an open mind when reading people's comments. But I also vehemently object to putting people up on a pedestal. There are people with experience worth listening to, but anyone who is sufficiently motivated can (and should) follow their own path, learn their own lessons, draw in the wisdoms from those who have come before when needed, and maybe eventually even advance the state of the art.
Not trying to change your mind, and I deeply respect the bonsai experience you bring to the table. Just offering some thoughts and perhaps another perspective.
Cheers everyone.
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