Winter Thoughts

Jay

Winter Thoughts

So, the Trees are snuggled in their winter places and I am thinking of the things I need to do. One of the thoughts I have is on the size of my collection and the possibility of improvement (additions and detractions). As you are aware I have been ‘doing’ Bonsai for about 4 years. My collection has grown quickly over that time, but the growth has NOT been with much thought. If I see a tree… I buy the tree (well pretty much). If I was out collecting, I collected something, maybe somethings. As I sit and contemplate, I think what do I want to do? Here are some of my thoughts:

1- I will be extremely selective in collecting. I do not need quantity; I have trees that may never amount to much that I can practice on now! I will try and use a selective eye with all collected material!

2- I will only purchase trees that fill a hole in my collection. A tree that is something I want, but that is not of the proper quality or advanced enough in development, I will leave for someone else.

3- I will try and reduce the amount of trees in my collection from the present 75-80 to a more manageable number. Perhaps by using some in group plantings or by trading 4 for 1 or just by selling some.

4- Try to get the mind set that it is OK to move a tree from a pot back to a grow box if it needs it! Cannot speak for you, but I have several trees I rushed to a pot in ignorance.

5- Try and remember these thoughts come spring, with any additional thought I come up with or glean from this group!

Your thoughts and comments?

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A Bonsai student living with his trees at N 44.37 W 77.49...
Think before you act... then think again... no good comes from rushing

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Bonsainut

Jay,
Great many new year resolutions! Let me add Eat healthier and excersize more, treat the dog better.---NUT

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Keep growing,---'Nut



Lethal Use of Farce

Leesa

7) Lose 10 pounds!

Jay - you talk about reducing your collection and then only "filling holes" in your collection - what do you see as the "ideal collection"? I lean towards having 2 or 3 fine (some day I hope) trees of a variety of species - maple, black pine, juniper, azalea, oak, hornbeam, fruiting ( pomegranate, persimmon, crab, cotoneaster - not sure that fits there), olive - not to exceed say - 25 (?). What do you think?

Also - I would add more specifics on being "selective" - which seems to be a popular word right now. On another thread Jim Stone said .
I would add getting rid of the starters - the cuttings, the 4 inch liners, etc. I keep telling myself that they aren't really bonsai - not even potentsai - so they don't count in that magic number. But - I still water them and I give them attention which could be spent on the 25! So - I am hardening myself to put them ALL on the donation table at the next club meeting

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Respectfully, Lee Sanner

Jay

Leesa, hi.... as you probably suspect, I am forming these ideas as I go. I think it will be hard to reduce the amount of trees I have by outright sale, although I may try. When I acquired them, I sort of got attached. As you have said, they may be seedlings or young trees, but they are mine. These I hope to be able to place into group plantings.

As for the "ideal collection", I'm not sure. I had the good fortune to have dinner with Michael Persiano, and his thought on this was that a collection should not be larger than the amount of trees you can remember and visualize in your mind. For him it is approx 25 trees. I think the more advanced your collection becomes, the small in number it gets. Young trees do not require the time that mature specimens do!

The 'selective' question goes back to the thoughts of Waler Pall in another thread here. With our limited time on earth (some more limited than others), why work on a piece of material that will not ever become something. I am not putting myself in the same class as Mr Pall, or in the group of talent below him. But I should try and do the best I can, and I should try and do it with the best material I can find or afford to buy!

I think it is a good thing to try and specialize.... to have a few of each type of tree you have and only a few types. Each species requires different growing knowledge and different care. It is also a good thing to be able to see one trees progress against another like itself.

__________________
A Bonsai student living with his trees at N 44.37 W 77.49...
Think before you act... then think again... no good comes from rushing

bnsaijim

Good ideas.

Colin had a come back for my plans to sell or donate- why are you passing on bad bonsai material? Food for thought...

It was awful hard to throw a lot of the worst stuff on the compost pile... But I did it.

I think you will always "acquire" new pieces, however, what you let in becomes "different".

I still have "junk" that I should make a decision on, but my buying trips tend to be more fruitless than not... Some pieces may end up being grown out in my yard, I'll still airlayer advanced but unnecessary branches for shohin, etc. Most will go to my kids.

I would offer one more "resolution"-

For each piece kept, find the tree within. Not the skeleton but the one in 5 years, 10 years. Draw it in a sketch book. Save the virtual design(s) you receive or do. THEN spend some time thinking about how you will get from here to there and develop a long term plan for each tree. Address any fault in that plan that can be corrected...

Jim
TX

Tony

Jay,

I would say you/we should do what makes us happiest. If you like to piddle with seedlings and cuttings and try to turn them into bonsai, there is nothing wrong with that. If you're into the shows then you would probably want to buy the very best close to finished bonsai you can afford.

Me, I do like to piddle with the seedlings and cuttings. I've always been fascinated by the cause and effect part of bonsai training. You know what I mean. If I cut trunk X here then Y will happen. Can I graft a root on this species. Will this species backbud on old wood? The only way to find out is to try it. For this "experimentation" the inexpensive cuttings and garden stock come in handy. You certainly wouldn't want to do this with expensive trees. Plus I like to try unconventional trees for bonsai that may have never been tried before. You know that with the thousands of species out there there just has to be a few that would make good bonsai but have never been tried for one reason or another. You're right though, you have to clean some out every now and then for lack of space if nothing else.


So I'd say please yourself first and formost. I'll bet that's why every one of us started this hobby originally. If others enjoy it too then that's icing on the cake.

Tony

skydivingcoffee

As a recent beginner in the Art, I have only 3 trees. Two are in bonsai pots and the other is in a nursery pot. All three will go in the growing box when I build it.

I also plan on collecting at least 15 or 20 specimens come spring. Most by air layering but maybe some others in a different fasion. This is all practice for me. I'm pretty sure that 70% of those won't make it or will be planted back in the ground. Practice practice practice!

Jay

Tony, I hear you! I too piddle with the young stuff. I have several seedlings and mucho collected, raw, stock. I will probably continue to collect raw stock and obtain seedlings. I am just trying to limit what I do. There is a point where my time gets divided to thin amongst what I have. At that point all the trees will suffer for my inability to give each the time it needs. The number that is too many is different for each of us. I still have to see what it is for me, but I think seedlings take the least amount of time, raw stock that is adapting is also not heavy on my time.... but both groups do need to be attended to and watered. So, I am looking for the magic number!

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A Bonsai student living with his trees at N 44.37 W 77.49...
Think before you act... then think again... no good comes from rushing

Craig Cowing

I've decided that this coming year I'm going to do my level best not to buy any trees. I've got some that are developing well, and a bunch of collected material that is progressing, and some collected material that is still pretty raw. I've gotten to the point that I don't really *need* any more trees. Want? Sure, but the budget is kinda tight. I've got some good spots for collecting this spring, and I'm going to try to satisfy the craving for new material with collected trees. No, I'm not going to dig up everything I see, but I'm just going to try to discipline myself, and if I spend any money, I'll try to spend it on a conference, or a better pot, or something like that. Who knows, I might have the opportunity to trade too.

Craig Cowing

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I'm not finished yet, neither are my trees.