Mental Models And The Contest

bonsaial1

The next 3 months is going to be very exciting indeed. I think it will be quite an experiance to see what the folks of this forum will do with the plants they buy.

Will they go for the natural look?
Will they be done in the Traditional Japanese styles?
Will they be abstract and push some boundries?
Will there be Saikai or Penjing?
Will they be drawn to deciduous or conifer?
Will they model their maple like a pine?

Lately we have spoken of lots of topics from mental models , to roots, and monkey-cages. How will all this relate to styling a tree. Have we been paying attention to all the great threads here?

Will the plant be re-potted, or will the person have to wait for more growth later on?

Will the branches be wired meticuously or just a few? Does one know how to correctly wire all the branches? What if a branch breaks? Does the person know how to change gears in the middle of the styling session?

Will anyone be brave enough to do a virtual on someone's entry after the contest? Would there have been another style?

We have 24 hours till the first posts come thru. Anyone care to add some more to this list?

Al

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diamondlyme84

Will anyone manage to kill their tree?
Will anyone soak their tree in food coloring to change it's color?
Do the contestants actually know what they're doing, or are they just acting like they do?

And the answers:

I probably will, That process is too hard for me, and 50/50 on the last one.

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pdbbonsai

Al, your ?'s made me think of another ? about the contest.....would a person have to buy 3,5,7 etc 20$ trees for a group/forest planting? Or does he she have to do all that under 20 bucks?

I have no intention of doing a forest, just wunnerin.

Paul

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bonsaial1

I never thought about a forest. Hummmm... I would think that the forest would be considered as one entity, or image if you will. So therefore the whole forest would have to be 20.00 to be fair.

You could do it with small maple seedlings in a shohin design, I did one this year again. The only thing is, the project would have to be planted straight away in a bonsai container or else the effect would be lost on a growing container.

Al

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I been kidding the last seven years.
no.... really!

aaguilar

When should I start shaping my stock tree. Here in Guadalajara México spring started 2 week ago. Also I will work with a Juniperus procumbens 'nana' so I need to prune it spacely talking about time.

So when should I start shaping my tree.

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bonsaial1

Aaguilar, Right now dude. I trimmed mine last week. Shaped it and repotted within two days. Start as soon as possible. that way if you want some growout time you have a few months before you post an after. Good luck, Al

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I been kidding the last seven years.
no.... really!

aaguilar

Thanks I will start right now.

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Kazuki

hmm... so we only spend 20 dollars on the tree? so we can spend as much as we want on pots, and cool looking rocks and wire (like it will make a difference)

Mittar

Another question Al,

Can we include collected material? Or nursery stock only?

I'm so new here, I'm not even sure I'm going to enter the contest at this point. If I find some stock that I think will look good after one styling session, I probably will.