Juniperus Rigida (not Bonsai-related, Eh)

RonMartin(deceased)

Now that is a good one ;o)

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Attila

Hi Jacob,

Your wiring and jinning of the forest juniper gives you absolutely no experience.

Experience is to be evaluated in light of the result of your actions. In this case, you will never know the result since the tree will outgrow your "procedure" and will revert to its natural shape.

If you just wanted to waste some time, you did a good job. If you want to learn, working on a cheap nursery juniper will serve your purpose infinitely better.

(sorry if I sound critical, this is just my honest opinion)

Regards,
Attila

Treebeard

Hi Attila,

I'm a little puzzled by your post. I thought the stock suggestion for wiring newbies was to practice on some tree or shrub in the garden, so you don't accidently damage a real bonsai. I can quite easily see the point stretched to cover jins too.

As an exercise in getting to grips with how to hold wire, how to coil it around and how to anchor it I think it will not have been a waste of time.

Regards,

Chris.

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RonMartin(deceased)

I was going to post but, I do think you have said it all. And quite nicely at that

Attila

Hi Chris,

Here is why I think that this is a waste of time:

When you apply any technique, you have to view it in the context of the overall design of the tree and within the circumstances of the particular tree.

When you wire a tree in the pot, there are factors that influence your decision: the overall health of the tree, the size of the tree, the age, the growth rate, was the tree just recently styled, is the tree in the initial styling phase, etc.. These circumstances cannot be ignored.

When you wire a garden tree, you are applying the technique regardless of the above mentioned factors, in a void so to speak.
If you are just trying to improve your hand-eye coordination as applied to bonsai, why not get a chopstick and practice wrapping it in bonsai wire.

I belive bonsai is more than just techique. Everything you do has to come from focusing on the final result.

Regards,
Attila

TreeBay

>As an exercise in getting to grips with how to hold wire, how to coil it around and how to anchor it

Well maybe in "how not to anchor it" Without proper instruction and feedback, it might be worse than a waste of time. It can instill bad habits that will last a lifetime, or possibly less if the student gets frustrated with progress and quits.

My suggestion is to get some aluminum wire and practice wiring branches in pairs. Don't try and anchor wire against the trunk.

Regards,

Matt

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Carl_Bergstrom

Attila and Matt are right on the mark here.

Bonjakob has learning nothing that couldn't be learned using a branch cut from a forest tree.

Best regards,
Carl

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Larry

so these are red junipers then?

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discobassoonist

Bonjakob.

I agree especially with Attilla.


But, I want to ask you this. Can you go and dig up that tree? Get a nice training pot, or even a small grow box, and plant it in there.
As mentioned before, the tree, left alone Will grow back to it's natural state. As the sculptor removes the stone from the quarry to work on in the shop, bonsaists must stick to the rules of training a tree(s) in a pot.

To be honest, I like what you did, and I think that you have the ability to craft your own bonsai. If you are able to go and get such great material from the wild, I would do it. Of course... it makes me jealous becuase I can't so much as pick a flower here without getting a fine!!! ARGHH.
So, go see if you can take that tree out of the ground. When it's in a pot, you'll see immediately from the previous work, the improvement on the styling that needs to be done.
Anyways, don't let this discourage you, keep on at it.
Dane