Bonsai Fever

[CBH 357]

Hello,

I have caught the bonsai fever. I just pruned my first portulacaria Afra. I’m debating on making it a single trunk.

I included two pics. Looking forward to the feedback.

Thank you,
CH

 

[jriddell88]

Looking to upgrade your collection ? ?

 

[Vance Wood]

Go for bigger material and grow it backwards. Chew on that one for a while and see if any lights go off, because that's the real secret of bonsai. I'm not trying to be snarky with you but offer up a different way of looking at the process of making bonsai that few will tell you.

 

[jriddell88]

He’s just trying to be snarky

 

[sorce]

HE's just trying to be snarky!

Welcome to Crazy!

You're at 102....

At 104 you already cut it and started rooting the second!

Sorce

 

[CBH 357]

Go for bigger material and grow it backwards. Chew on that one for a while and see if any lights go off, because that's the real secret of bonsai. I'm not trying to be snarky with you but offer up a different way of looking at the process of making bonsai that few will tell you.[/QUOTE

Thanks Vance. I think I know what you are talking about. Prune hard and let grow, prune hard and let grow..... I have a lot to learn...

 

[CBH 357]

Thanks Vance. I think I know what you are talking about. Prune hard and let grow, prune hard and let grow..... I have a lot to learn.

 

[Vance Wood]

Thanks Vance. I think I know what you are talking about. Prune hard and let grow, prune hard and let grow..... I have a lot to learn.

That's true but in order for that concept to be fruitful you have to start with bigger material. No one every tells you that most world class bonsai were made by using what is called Yamidori, mountain grown wild trees. This too is true but there is a truth behind that which is seldom pointed out.

Almost never do you find a wild tree that can be put into a bonsai pot and displayed immediately afterwards. Yamadori and usually larger trees that are cut down to a form and shape desired in a bonsai. In the first couple of years of doing bonsai you will spend a lot of time ridding yourself of misconceptions and BS that you think you know about bonsai. The sooner you can grasp the realities of bonsai, instead of embracing the myths you think you know, the sooner you will be able to realize the mythical images you may have pictured in your mind are achievable only through hard work and an artistic consideration.

Here is one more really important truth: nothing in bonsai syling is going to happen by itself, waiting and doing nothing will usually produce the same kind of result,--- nothing,--- in most cases. Waiting is a tool but you have to have an intelegent idea about where the waiting is going and what will happen when the waiting is over. I know there is a lot of philosophical crap going on here but bonsai is a philosophy that is more than sticking a tree in a pot.

 

[Clicio]

In the first couple of years of doing bonsai you will spend a lot of time ridding yourself of misconceptions and BS that you think you know about bonsai...
...I know there is a lot of philosophical crap going on here but bonsai is a philosophy that is more than sticking a tree in a pot.

Vance, thanks for saying that.
It is true.