bonsaiTALK Community - View Single Post - The Last Frontier: Ugly Rootball

Tony - good to be here!

Glenn,

I'm interested in your thoughts about nursery stock and the treatment of roots. Whilst I agree with your statement that it would be better to use good bonsai techniques on a tree for its entire life - if we were to limit ourselves to doing that we would only have two choices:

1. Growing bonsai from seed / cutting/ airlayering (relatively time consuming)
2. Buying pre-trained stock from a bonsai nursery like yours ( more expensive)

Yamadori would be out and nursery stock would also be out. These are both viable sources of trees.

An example - at the moment I'm training a privet. It was dug last year and stuffed into a washtub. This year I've put it into an oversize bonsai pot to get a flatter rootball. However, it was collected from solid clay, so the only way that I can proceed is to gradually build new roots and replace the clay over a period of 3-4 years. Should I not bother and go and buy a nice expensive piece of potensai from you instead?

I'm not saying that bonsai and pre-bonsai nurseries don't have their place, but they should be just part of the bigger picture. How would I be able to learn how to build a new healthy rootball if all I did was purchase stock from bonsai nurseries?

Also, if I did buy 3 £ 33 pines and learnt from them how tolerant they were to root reduction, even if I did loose 2, surely the experience would stand me in good stead when I purchased the £ 1000 pine from a bonsai nursery? If I hadn't, I'll bet the £ 1000 tree would be dead within a couple of years.

I appreciate that you have an obvious interest in this; I just think that other sources of material are useful for learning purposes and for getting larger trees at minimal cost.

Respectfully,

Fish.

27-Feb-2003	#5
Emperor Fish Bonsai Otaku Join Date: Nov-2002 Location: Hants Country: England USDA Zone: 8 ish AHS Heat Zone: 2-3 Posts: 570	Tony - good to be here! Glenn, I'm interested in your thoughts about nursery stock and the treatment of roots. Whilst I agree with your statement that it would be better to use good bonsai techniques on a tree for its entire life - if we were to limit ourselves to doing that we would only have two choices: 1. Growing bonsai from seed / cutting/ airlayering (relatively time consuming) 2. Buying pre-trained stock from a bonsai nursery like yours ( more expensive) Yamadori would be out and nursery stock would also be out. These are both viable sources of trees. An example - at the moment I'm training a privet. It was dug last year and stuffed into a washtub. This year I've put it into an oversize bonsai pot to get a flatter rootball. However, it was collected from solid clay, so the only way that I can proceed is to gradually build new roots and replace the clay over a period of 3-4 years. Should I not bother and go and buy a nice expensive piece of potensai from you instead? I'm not saying that bonsai and pre-bonsai nurseries don't have their place, but they should be just part of the bigger picture. How would I be able to learn how to build a new healthy rootball if all I did was purchase stock from bonsai nurseries? Also, if I did buy 3 £ 33 pines and learnt from them how tolerant they were to root reduction, even if I did loose 2, surely the experience would stand me in good stead when I purchased the £ 1000 pine from a bonsai nursery? If I hadn't, I'll bet the £ 1000 tree would be dead within a couple of years. I appreciate that you have an obvious interest in this; I just think that other sources of material are useful for learning purposes and for getting larger trees at minimal cost. Respectfully, Fish. __________________ Old age and treachery will overcome youth and skill. HEALTH WARNING: Engage brain fully, before typing into keyboard. "We are the average gamers and we'll kill you badly. There'll be no finesse. no fancy tricks, no inventive attacks, just 2 whole smg clips and a rain of 'nades."