Should advice givers post their own trees?

Treebeard

Just wondered what you all thought.

Should people who regularly give out advice to others post photos of their own trees (at whatever stage they are at) so that the person recieving the advice knows how to take it?

Regards,

Chris.

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jloeschner

I voted yes, however, let me explain my position. I am new to bonsai, but I have read volumes about the subject and have retained quite a bit of info. Whenever I offer advice, I always make it clear to the person I am advising that I am inexperienced and am usually advising on what I have read. My trees are not of a quality to post here as bonsai, so I have never done so. If people would like to see my work in order to judge my advice, I would glady post the pics of the various nursery containers that I have. The only "finished" bonsai that I own have been purchased. I did not contribute to their designs, and even they are not "great" quality. Not having trees of my own does not mean that I can't know something about them. Of course, there is no substitute for experience, and I recognize that. So, in the future, if we should post pics of our efforts in order to give advice, I will. Or, if I have no pics of decent quality trees, I will refrain from offering my meager knowledge.

Just my opinion...

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TreeBay

Don't know if you mean in the context of the specific advice or in general?

1. I am not sure that it would really be a foolproof method anyway - I have seen some pretty nice trees for sale. I have even bought a few.

2. Why only those who regularly post advice?

Regards,

Matt

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jloeschner

I did not think of that, Matt. As much as I would hate to think it, I am sure that there are some individuals out there who would buy a masterpiece and claim it as their own work. That could be extremely misleading, for sure.

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Carl_Bergstrom

I think that it's more important that they just be sure to give good advice in the first place, and that the rest of us keep advice-givers honest by making sure it's good advice and by questioning it when it isn't. This has been working quite well on BonsaiTALK lately.

We saw a nice example yesterday. I've got a fair bit of experience working with Japanese maples, but I flubbed a question on the timing of trunk chops and rootwork. Attila had a better answer, we discussed it, and came to a consensus. Now, I don't recall ever seeing one of Attila's maples (and for that matter, don't think I've posted a finished maple myself) but I could tell that his advice was right on the mark and I was happy to admit it.

Best regards,
Carl

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ChrisM

chris, very interesting topic. i have no real opinion on it yet though, so i am withholding my vote. i am looking forward to seeing this one develope.

chris

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rowan57

Hey chris, tres interesting topic.
I think yes, and these are my reasons:
when an advice giver gives advice out they are giving from past experience OR the past experience of others. You never stop learning, its almost like regular testing for the advice giver to become the advice taker and see if their skills have been sharp enough to give out quality advice in the first place.
wow im not sure if any of that made sense
I refrain from posting a lot of advice because i have little personal experience. I have 2 trees that i would consider nearly finished, and these were both purchased so as yet i have no personal experience in the design field. However i can understand why people post advice from what they have read/seen, but i think it is important in this case for the receiver to take the advice in a context that means that it adapts to their climate etc. or that the advice giver adapts what they have read to the readers climate etc. i think without this the advice is poor because it may be incorrect for the person receiving it.

In finishing, yes i do think it is a good idea, because it gives the advice receiver a chance to see all the things they have missed about the tree and a chance to spot these things next time when it comes to someone else tree

Hope some of that made sense.
Rowan

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breefe

Been thinking about this topic for a while...I wanted to say that I am quite new, but I do give out advice/links and so forth. I'm comfortable with it because I read things from different sources on each topic I try and advise on. So as Rowan said I would be passing on the experience of others. I do enjoy giving advice, or posting a link, and then someone far more experienced than me, giving the same basic advice, or posting similar links...I think I've done OK so far...I am very fairly active in this board and more in others...I read tons and discuss much...
I did get TWO negative rep points, because someone having a bad day decided I was just too wrong...Later I gave a person some well deserved positive rep points, but because of my new low Reputation rating, it came out nuetral...How the wheel turns...

Randall......

jhill

Chris, Great question.

Advice?? What does this mean? I think that people that give advice are great but what kind of advice is it, Horticultural or technical advice. Now if it were technical advice, sure I think they should show us some of the works they have either accomplished or are working on. Show some (before and afters). Then again maybe they spent all their money on trees and can’t buy a camera

IMHO. Horticultural advice can be taken and checked on,, but Technical advice should come from experience. So yes,, show us your trees

With respect
John

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