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Hello from East Anglia
http://weetrees.co.uk/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=18260		 Page 3 of 3
Author:  daryl [ 06 Feb 2019, 19:48 ]
Post subject:  Re: Hello from East Anglia
Well done :30clap2: :30clap2: :30clap2: :30clap2:
Author:  NickD [ 06 Feb 2019, 22:02 ]
Post subject:  Re: Hello from East Anglia
[quote="daryl"]Well done :30clap2: :30clap2: :30clap2: :30clap2:[/quote
Domo arigato sensei
Author:  Gary Jones [ 07 Feb 2019, 01:34 ]
Post subject:  Re: Hello from East Anglia
NickD wrote:
OK
I know!!
There is a third Acer but it's at the same stage.
I'm not daft enough to call them Bonsai yet but is there hope?
I also have another stub very similar the the 'thorn which is a beech . It looks pretty much like the former.

:hatoff:


Depends on how you define Bonsai. I like to think of Bonsai in an inclusive way - a tree that you're trying to miniaturise rather than a tree that might score highly in a bonsai show.

Re your first question - bonsai soil or ground grow?

I'm going to be possibly controversial here. The experienced bonsai person would want to make the best possible tree from each specimen and follow something like this.

1. Grow in the ground until you have a nice thick trunk - shaping and styling the trunk and nebari as you go. Quite a few years for a seedling
2. Develop the primary branches whilst still in the ground. Another few years
3. Put in a training pot and develop secondary branches and start ramification.
4. Eventually move to a bonsai pot and finalise the ramification and look to presenting at shows.

However that's way too long for a noob in my opinion. I think it's more fun and rewarding to prune and shape trees and develop those skills on cheaper material. I'd look to learn the skills of branch selection and placement using pruning and wiring and also cleaning - i.e. removing the stuff you don't need or want - crotch branches, upwards growing or downwards growing stuff.

If you do that and learn to (re)pot your tree in a bonsai pot using a good mix and wiring it in and then using moss as a top dressing you could have a nice looking little tree in the first or second year .

Phase two will be when you want "better" bonsai so you'll go looking for bigger trunks with more interesting movement (buy, collect or look sad and hope your new friends give you stuff). Then with your emerging styling and pruning skills you'll be producing material that others in the bonsai community might admire. For me this is material that you can make look good in 2,3 or 4 years.

Phase three is when you take some raw material and ground grow it for a few years to try to build your own trunks and nebari and to fatten up what you already have. You might start this the same time as phase two trees but it'll take a good few years and these are 5 - 10 years+ project trees.

This is simplified I know, but my point is enjoy your trees and work on them now to get progress you can appreciate and make the most from the hobby. Once you're there take on bigger longer term challenges. The other route I think carries a higher risk of becoming boring and you certainly won't learn as much anywhere near so quickly and may waste many years especially if you get the ground growing wrong and just produce thick straight trunks.

Just my humble opinion :-)
Author:  daryl [ 07 Feb 2019, 10:32 ]
Post subject:  Re: Hello from East Anglia
Well put, Gary :30clap2:

Personally, even after many decades of growing trees, I see myself still at stage one and I am happy there. I enjoy developing little trees from cheap or free material and I love the process of watering, feeding, trimming, repotting etc throughout the year. If some of them turn out quite well and can sit happily on a club show bench then that's an added bonus :grin:
Author:  richardb [ 07 Feb 2019, 14:14 ]
Post subject:  Re: Hello from East Anglia
Totally agree with Gary and daryl on this one. You are progressing all the skills you need and also starting to think about the final outcome. Also you will still be developing a final tree which can be a very good tree in all aspects other than a great fat trunk. Enjoy.
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