shohin in under a year. HOW?

[Watto]

JME - very wise words written above here and you should take note of them.
For your part of the world if you select a fig which should grow quite quickly there, and select one with a reasonably sized trunk, learn how to cut and that will be your best bet IMHO.
Could not finish without recommending you join a bonsai club.
Good luck.

[Josh]

Another thing is don't be afraid to cut 90% of a tree off to make a better tree. I had to get past the fact the if I have a big old tree with heaps of branches does not make it a good bonsai. Sometimes cutting off alot a the growth (hard to do at first) can transform an ok big bonsai into really top quality smaller bonsai. I was watching a video (can't find it now) some time ago where the person had a large juni with a really think trunk and heaps of branches to choose from. I was amazed by the size and age of the tree. He then cuts 3/4 of it off and throws it out. (yes he could have airlayered it but didn't for what ever reason). I thought what the... are you doing. There goes 20 yrs of growth. Then he starts to shape the branches and I start to see what he had seen originally. What he ended up with was a show worthy tree. Without the chop it would have just been a really good big bonsai mainly because of it's age, not it's shape.
The big thing is to learn to look for the tree with in. To learn this watch as many people as you can work on raw material and look at what you would do with the tree, then see what they do with it. See if you can find the tree before they reveal it to you.

Josh

[craigw60]

There is so much more to a good bonsai than just the structure, elements like bark texture, taper etc. These things take time to develop. In my opinion there is just no way you can come even close to developing bonsai in one year, multiply that by 10 and you start to get close.
One of the beautiful things about growing bonsai is the time and patience it requires to develop these plants, this should be celebrated and encouraged. In a world where everything is instant this is one art form which cannot be hurried.
Craigw

[Josh]

There is so much more to a good bonsai than just the structure, elements like bark texture, taper etc. These things take time to develop. In my opinion there is just no way you can come even close to developing bonsai in one year, multiply that by 10 and you start to get close.
One of the beautiful things about growing bonsai is the time and patience it requires to develop these plants, this should be celebrated and encouraged. In a world where everything is instant this is one art form which cannot be hurried.
Craigw

Very true Craig, Even if you go out and buy a tree that has a fat trunk and good taper with some some branch structure and over the next year train it into a nice bonsai it is not really a bonsai in a year as someone else has already spent years getting it to that point. Yes it is a bonsai in a year for the final owner but not really a bonsai in a year.

Josh