Thinking about unnatural bonsai

[Dhalgren]

I have dabbled over the years with bonsai, but due to my different living situations, I could not establish long-term bonsai trees. Then I realized that creating tortured plants shaped like sculptures never interested me. I believe in the natural growth of trees. Size can be controlled with diligent pruning, but not torture. I now focus on large planters that contain bonsai forests. Most of the trees are very young and will have an opportunity to bond with the other trees with fungal connections. Trident Maples, Alberta Spruce, junipers, boxwoods, Colorado Blue Spruce, Norway Spruce, Douglas Fir, and Chinese Elm all grow with each other. They will be pruned to imitate what the trees look like in a true forest.

Is anyone else doing this?

 

[pandacular]

[double post, removed]

 

[pandacular]

Define torture.

Is anyone else doing this?

Someone is always doing any given thing, especially when the idea is pretty simple

 

[Cadillactaste]

Tortured...

Even outside our hobby... grafting for nursery purposes and propagation is a thing.

You wish to do clip and grow...one could say...is Tortured. Removing parts off a tree.

I happen to have trees I have heavily put my hand on with style...and, I also have naturalistic trees along with them on my bench.

But end of the day...as long as one finds joy in the process they choose. That is the key.

 

[Gabler]

Trees aren't conscious. They don't feel pain. Ergo, they cannot be tortured. If you've been alive for more than a week, you know this. OP is a troll, and we should not feed it.

 

[Cadillactaste]

Trees aren't conscious. They don't feel pain. Ergo, they cannot be tortured. If you've been alive for more than a week, you know this. OP is a troll, and we should not feed it.

... I'm bored... ... But I hear ya.

Speaking of tortured. I love the pain from getting my eyebrows waxed. Ha! I can't say more...this is a family friendly forum. giggling.

 

[Paradox]

Yea....despite my signature, I never understood why some people think doing bonsai is torture to the trees

 

[Orion_metalhead]

If the torture results in a more robust specimen, how is it any different than humans going to the gym?

Anyway, everyone has a forest or two. You are not as "beyond the curve" as you want to imagine you are.

 

[BrightsideB]

It’s more like strategic horticulture than harm.

 

[just.wing.it]

I don't know about you guys, but I like to tie my trees up with wire, sometimes every limb. Then I bend them to my will and force them to do what want. I only feed them sparingly and I keep them fully exposed to the elements. I also bind them to the small containers in which they live, and I strap the containers to the ground so they can not move.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

an opportunity to bond with the other trees

Yeah, that's not what happens my friend. It's a biochemical warfare of competition to the death, with each one trying to starve the other out of resources and sunlight.
It's like cage fighting dogs: you put them in the same enclosure and only one comes out alive in the end.
That's not just torture, it's blood sport.