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Originally Posted by bwaynef
Anyway, I wasn't planning to argue this point really. I just thought for future reference it might be beneficial if you mentioned it wise not to be distracted by the branching.
WF
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Sound advice on some broad leaf trees but poor advice on conifers.
Simple horticulture knowledge that everyone needs to know. Really has nothing to do with bonsai per se.
I have spent what seems like a lifetime trying to get pines and cedars to bud back where I want a branch. Or trying to graft a branch where I need one. All of this could be avoided if the stock I selected would have had excess and abundant branching in place. It's easier to cut away than to cut and pray for a bud. It is a direct result of poor stock selection - just like Ron said. However - as a beginner I did not know this. As a more advanced student I now have the abilities to correct the problems of poor trunk size, bad branching and poor nebari. It is also a direct result of not caring for the trees properly after they were in my care...
Not trying to argue a point either - just trying to demonstrate that caring for the trees takes a certain amount of knowledge about the specific species of tree we are caring for. It's growth habits and it's needs. What the plant will do if pruned like this or like that. More knowledge that the common newbie seems to have on caring for a plant - any plant.
It seems that this lack of plant care knowledge sends most newbies into a spin when the plant starts to die - overanalyzing the soil, the fertilizer, the light and water requirements and the zone in which the plant will grow. At that point it is too late and they have deadsai. This could have been avoided if they had obtained a certain level of plant care abilities prior to even touching the potential bonsai - way prior to selection.
This is the other learning curve not mentioned in Ron's article. You have to be able to give the plant the care it needs - even micro adjusted to what that plant needs at the stage of development it is in at this time. For example I have a ton of Japanese Black Pines. Not every one needs the same care. Some are almost complete so I am slowing down the growth and lowering the amount of food. Some are on the fast track and are being super fed and watered 4 times daily. Some are in huge pots and need less water and some are in very small bonsai pots and need to be watered more often.
Did I know this in the beginning? No way - it took killing some plants and reading everything I read as a newbie once again. It took trips to nurseries and growers, trips to masters workshops, tons of more reading and hands on work to get to where I am - and I still feel I do not know everything I need to know.
So select the best stock you can - chances are you will make all the wrong choices because you do not know why you are making those choices. And then go home and kill it with the lack of proper horticulture know how. Only at that point do you seek out the experts and learn what they take for granted as they have been doing it for so long that they have forgot more than I will ever learn.
Bonsai is not just about styling - it's about growing.