You Just Can't Rush Time

dbz12fan

Many people have said, "you just can't rush time". I have now come to realize just how much this correlates with bonsai.

This theory comes into effect once you start growing bonsai. Unless you are financially set and are able to buy several finished trees, you will have to wait for your bonsai to become masterpieces. So, most people learn different technuiqes in bonsai as their trees become older.

The technuiqes can be seperated into three main catagories:

1. Getting a large trunk

2. Branch selection

3. Ramification

There are many subcatagories to this, but these are not necessary for listing.

So, bonsai enthusiasts should progress through stages of learning as their trees progress through these stages.

I have attempted to rush time, and have come to realize that this is impossible. As many of you know, I have spent the past year studying under Jim VanLandingham. Once a week, I would go to Jim Smith's nursery with Jim V. and spend time working on the different stages of bonsai- trimming potensai, defoliation and styling, branch selection, ramification, etc. While most people will learn these technuiqes one by one, they were crammed into my head all at once. Now, I can tell what to do and when to do it with a tree, but time has held me back from doing this. Just about every single one of my trees is in between the stage of branch selection and ramification. And only time can push these trees to the final stage. So, no matter how much one wants to, they cannot rush time.

(And now I go a bit off topic )

I have come to see that some people feel that a bonsai artist can only be as good as their trees. If that is true, then I am a novice. But we must think beyond these ignorant thoughts, and always remember that every bonsai hobbiest out there knows at least one thing that you do not. If we all can keep an open mind when talking with a bonsai artist (no matter what their skill level) we may just learn something new.

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If you think I am just rambling on about nothing, then just ignore me. I do ramble sometimes . Also, I am not positive exactly how other bonsai artists collect knowledge about bonsai as I had it crammed into me. So, if my theory is way off, I apologize.

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"Success demands understanding"-Andy Rutledge

Charles Bevan
Vero Beach, Fl

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Here are my random thoughts -

If you want a lot of large trunks, collecting and air layering are your best bets.

I spend a lot of time working on the root crown and trunk line of potential bonsai material, cleaning up wounds and cutting back.

Ramification itself is a tricky deal. If you consider a developing pine branch has twice as many candles every year you prune it, you will soon find out that there never IS enough time, and maybe a bonsai collection should be getting smaller over time, not larger.

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Jerry Meislik

Charles.
You are so right. Time is the factor that we almost never credit in our bonsai's development. Some things just take time.
One of my big bonsai fallacies is the "instant bonsai". Instant bonsai are rare. Most trees, even very good materials, will take time to mature and attain their full beauty. One afternoon will just not suffice.
Sounds like you too have matured in your bonsai skills and thought processes!
Jerry

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Jerry Meislik
Whitefish Montana USA
Zone 4-5
http://www.bonsaihunk.us/