The WINNER is...

Mittar

Congratulations all!

All three trees were magnificent. TB, thanks so much for the quicktime, really gives insight on what you saw in your tree as opposed to what may be readily apparent to others. Shows us more of your interpretation if you will.

I planned on competing, I really did. And I had three trees that I thought would be sufficient to enter for my level. However, it was also apparent to me that although the trees were rough nursery stock, the person who cared for them knew bonsai. They were cut back to produce taper and to enduce budding low on the branch to keep them in the shohin size range. Therefore they did not qualify. I suppose I could have passed them off as normal nursery stock and the before pictures would have supported this, but I knew better.

I also realized shortly into the entries that this type of contest heavily favors evergreen trees. They are much easier to convert into convincing bonsai in a short period of time. At this point I have little interest in evergreens and even less motivation to attempt to bonsai one.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable contest to observe, and I plan to participate in the next one.

Nicely done!

Mittar

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Knees in the breeze.

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Carl_Bergstrom

How noble of you!

Seriously, though, I empathize. While looking for my contest tree, I picked up the shimpaku shown below for $18 (a steal, in my opinion). It was a lot bigger, a lot more mature, and all around a lot nicer than my entry. Problem is, it had been wound around a stick with bonsai training in mind, so I didn't feel that it qualified for the contest.

I've since separated the two trunks (they were two distinct trees) and planted each in large training pots to start getting the roots into shape. Both are growing like wild. I'll style next year.

All the best,
Carl

Attached Images

two_trunk_shimpaku.jpg (53.0 KB, 52 views)

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In love with trees