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Bonsai nare-do-well
Join Date: Jan-2003
Location: Summerville SC
Country: USA
Posts: 4,653
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Pre-bonsai etc defined ;o)
Just about everybody has heard of the term pre-bonsai. And just about everybody has their own definition of just what that means. I had nothing better to do this afternoon so I thought I would astound (or bore as the case may be) you with how I define the term.
For the purpose of this discussion I have lumped both nursery stock and collected (yamadori) trees into one major group. They are different only in how they are obtained. The basics on selecting them is however exactly the same.
Bonsai Terms Defined
Nursery Stock and Collected Trees
Any and all items grown from seed, cuttings , air layers, ground layers and the preverbal Petri dish fall into this category. This category also includes all plants collected from your back yard, the neighbors yard, nearby mountains or cow pastures. Every plant in a nearby nursery or chain store also qualifies as a candidate .
Mostly things in this category must merely be alive.
These items here are easy to find. Takes no real talent to select.
It is, however, an important category of plants. Even the most famous of all bonsai started off in this category. Masterpieces can be found here. One just has to look close because that masterpiece is hiding among all those lesser trees. Kind of like that old “needle in the haystack” thing.
Pre-Bonsai
What is left when one goes through all that nursery stock and pulls out what might just be worth consideration as bonsai material. It usually has a nicely turned trunk and sufficient branching to work with.
When collecting trees from the wild the pre-bonsai is seldom found 10 foot away from the car. One has to learn to walk past a lot of nursery stock in order to find the pre-bonsai. Lots of trees in the forest but only a few pre-bonsai.
About 20% of nursery stock will fall into this category.
Some skill and training is required to be able to distinguish between nursery stock and pre-bonsai. Most beginner bonsai students (and some bonsai shop owners) need to do some study in this area.
Come to think of it some that profess to be bonsai teachers need some remedial study here.
Potential Bonsai (called potensai by some)
What’s left after looking through all the pre-bonsai stock out there and weeding out all the stuff that really doesn’t have a high amount of potential. Items left may still have some flaws but they can be corrected within a normal human life time.
In this stage styling starts. This may take many years.
During this time the bonsai student will be molded just as much as the tree is. The student will have to learn many things to keep ahead of the tree.
Only about 10% of pre-bonsai will ever make it to this category. The other 90% will fall into the “what the heck was I thinking” category.
Bonsai
The final group. It can be broken down into several categories. Good; bad; indifferent and masterpiece are among a few of the possibilities.
The percentage of trees that make it to this category will depend on how skillfully one can weed through the previous categories and pick the “right stuff“
The pity of it all is that quite a few of us never take that road that leads from nursery stock to bonsai.
It doesn’t have to be an expensive trip. Just one that has a planed route. A logical beginning and end.
Ask yourself why you would start off with material that doesn’t have a lot of potential. Does it make any sense ?
No where in this have I said that only expensive material is worthy of your efforts. Material with potential does not require big bucks. It only requires you to be knowledgeable enough to look for, recognize and then select it. Pass up anything less.
Anything less is too expensive ;o)
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