How many trees have you killed?

[ConorDash]

One other thought... experience in bonsai means both quality and quantity. It isn't enough to have a good teacher - you have to put in the work. You can watch bonsai masters wire branches all day long, but it doesn't mean a thing if you don't go out and wire lots and lots of branches. Wire 100 trees, completely down to the last bud, do it correctly, and you might start to consider yourself as getting good at wiring.

The reason why bonsai apprentices in Japan show such improvement is that they may be working 12 hours a day, six days a week, for six years straight, under the guidance of an excellent instructor. Compare that to your typical bonsai hobbyist who might spend a few hours a week pruning and styling trees, and you can see how a hobbyist might never achieve the same level of expertise in a decade that an apprentice achieves in their first year.

...and that's ok! Bonsai doesn't have to be a competition sport, and if you enjoy it, much of the pleasure (at least to me) is the journey of building trees and experiencing the joys and disappointments along the way. To make a living at bonsai requires a commitment that (at least to me) would take some of the pleasure out of it by ratcheting up the stress level.

I thought of this same point yesterday I think.
Don't suppose you was also listening to the Mirai Podcast, with Peter Warren? May 7th. Thats what made me think of it, I think Ryan said it.
You have a job.. other commitments, if you've made the mistake of having kids, etc. A lot happens in life, sometimes the HOBBY takes a hit.

Even when you have the time... Sometimes you dont want to wake up early, spend 9 hours working, dinner, and then go back to work on a tree for 3 hours, after having done that routine for a week non-stop. Mental capacity..

Also the fear of failure that Bobby talks about, is me . Ive spoke about it in my threads before. I certainly have a fear of failure, that stretches over all of my life, not just bonsai. But naturally, the more you care about something, the worse that fear is. However, I have also now had to deal with the mistakes that come along with not fighting that fear. Seeing a tree in winter and all the parts you should have removed. Being unhappy with a trees development comes to you and what you have or haven't done. Thats what is currently helping me.. I have an everest to get over, which I am in fact starting in just over an hour from now. As much as I still have the fear of failure, I have no choice, I need to do this.

 

[TinyArt]

Came across a good proverb, the other day:
Beginning is easy; persistence is an art.

Really struck a chord --

 

[Paradox]

Another issue I have found is sometimes we become tree collectors to the point where we do not have time to advance any of them. We barely maintain them where they are when we get them or advance a few while the rest get out of control.

Learning to keep your trees to the number you can handle and advance rather than just maintenance is another big learning curve many new people go through.

 

[leatherback]

Beginning is easy; persistence is an art.

Anything worth doing well, is worth doing poorly.

 

[leatherback]

Another issue I have found is sometimes we become tree collectors to the point where we do not have time to advance any of them.

would NEVER happen to me.
Sad the guy who has now 150++ trees in the yard

 

[BobbyLane]

The One Big Impediment to becoming skilled in bonsai is evident in some people we have all seen: people we know that are afraid of The Big Cut. Sometimes you need to Bobbyize a tree, but more often it's less than that but still doing something that will make the tree look like shit right now, but in anticipation of what it can then become several years down the line. These are the people who never advance, who accumulate 15 or 20 years of bonsai experience, but really just 15 or 20 first years, never reaching for the stars. Their trees always look like beginners, even when they buy good ones.

yep, some didnt get the memo that a tree is a living growing thing and whatever you do to it, as long as its healthy, it will grow back and you can train it to grow back exactly how you want it to, whether that be in the image of a virtual or whatever.

example.
same tree after a major chop. the first tree didnt have much taper and i became bored of it.
but even after seeing others do this. many still wont take the leap in making better trees.

 

[penumbra]

Came across a good proverb, the other day:
Beginning is easy; persistence is an art.

Really struck a chord --

..... and patience is sublime ......

 

[penumbra]

It isn't enough to have a good teacher - you have to put in the work

..... doing is learning .....
and any good instructor knows this and encourages it.

 

[Paradox]

would NEVER happen to me.
Sad the guy who has now 150++ trees in the yard

Yea I keep saying "I can't wait until I retire and can spend more time on my trees"

 

[leatherback]

Yea I keep saying "I can't wait until I retire and can spend more time on my trees"

you realize i am not retired?

 

[ShadyStump]

I think of trees the same way I deal with my kids' social issues at school.
Daughter: They called me weird today at school.
Me: So? Can't be in this family and NOT turn out weird.
She's been repeating that like a mantra for months now.

Or as Hunter S. Thompson quipped, "when the going gets weird, the weird turn professional."
There will always be some under-confident people- and trees for that matter- that just don't get it. I mean, who goes out of their way to spend years developing trees that look like they've barely hung on to life for centuries? Intentionally making them look battered and contorted? It's like being a horticultural goth.
That's freaking weird!

As soon as you accept that even your peers might not get it, you're on the right track.

 

[Harewood Hobbyist]

Horticultural goth


I've been "doing bonsai" since December 2019. A quick estimate is I have killed over twelve small trees. Six Doug firs (water retaining soil), three western hemlocks (idk, repotted badly?), two vaccinum ovatum, one beaked hazelnut(over watered), and a couple other things. I'm a fast learner and a good student, I guess.

I intend to kill my first large tree this fall with a five foot tall hinoki cypress currently growing in a friend's yard

 

[ShadyStump]

I intend to kill my first large tree this fall with a five foot tall hinoki cypress currently growing in a friend's yard

I will clarify, intent to kill is murder; acceptance that you may kill is soldiering.

And that's another philosophical can of worms just spilt.

 

[Harewood Hobbyist]

The taper justifies the trunk chop

 

[TinyArt]

As soon as you accept that even your peers might not get it, you're on the right track.

Note to younger self...

 

[leatherback]

I will clarify, intent to kill is murder; acceptance that you may kill is soldiering.

Knowing why you killed is the start of learning.