Pre-Bonsai help? (slight rant)

subnet_rx

Yeah, I'm having trouble finding locals. We used to have a local bonsai shop, but it has since closed down. The closest club to me is about an 1.5 hours away. I do have a couple of shows coming up in this club and another a little farther that I plan to go to.

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lehket

From what I understand, the general dividing line between pre-bonsai and bonsai is : when it's ready to be styled.

That is of course subjective, but styling is basically about bending and pruning branches and twigs. So if you're working on thickening up a trunk or developing good rootage you're in the pre-bonsai stage, and if you're working on shaping and refining, you're in the bonsai stage.

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--Dale
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Co-author of Spiritual Telemetry,
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Nicsai

Does the trunk-thickness tell you, when your "plant" has become an actual "bonsai"?

Hawthorn

There is no actual definitive stage or "line" that divides pre-bonsai from bonsai. It's subjective to each individual tree. Trunk thickness, styling, roots, all of these must be in line with whatever style of bonsai the tree is intended to be, before it should be considered bonsai. Also, no bonsai is ever complete, until it is dead. So, a bonsai may go from pre-bonsai to bonsai, and then back to pre-bonsai, many times in it's life. It's all up to the trainer, the beholder, and whom-ever else's opinion matters most to you, the owner.

Nicsai

I think...

If you have a tree, it looks nice (you like it) and it's in a pot then it's a bonsai.

Bonsai simply means "tree in a pot".

Nicsai.