AusBonsai

Good Stuff Rory. I’d be happy to have a crack too... I’ll battle Keiranrulz to the bottom! Give me that spoon ... in, fact I’ll donate one too!

This will be enjoyable if it gets off the ground. If there is anything I can do to help - let me know.



Bonsai teaches me patience.

Can't think of a better reason to add a few trees to my benches! I would be in, and happy to help in any way I possibly can.
Pierre

Sounds like a plan!

id probably have a go too.. have nothing suitable at the moment, but any excuse to go out for a shop..

only suggestion i have is to keep it as 3 month updates instead of 6.
To me one of the best parts about the shohin comp entries is the ability to go back and see exactly what everyone did and when. and i think with updates only every 6 months the detail and accuracy (time wise) could be greatly reduced...

In.

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I'm interested. Not having worked with Australian natives & being a novice in general, can anybody recommend an easy species to work on?

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Mbunro wrote:id probably have a go too.. have nothing suitable at the moment, but any excuse to go out for a shop..

only suggestion i have is to keep it as 3 month updates instead of 6.
To me one of the best parts about the shohin comp entries is the ability to go back and see exactly what everyone did and when. and i think with updates only every 6 months the detail and accuracy (time wise) could be greatly reduced...

I very much see your point. One of the greatest assets this site has is progression threads. It gives others a timeline perspective and realistic goals of how big a bonsai gets, patience, the process of branch ramification and what to expect over the years. I also find it wonderful because it shows that everyone is human and even people who can produce great bonsai have often made great mistakes.

My only concern would be that if there is an official comp in the next year or so, I wouldn't want people to feel overwhelmed or obligated to updating this one 3-monthly.
If people wanted to update their threads 3-monthly that would be cool and I agree it would be quite helpful for new enthusiasts to learn from.

gnichols wrote:I'm interested. Not having worked with Australian natives & being a novice in general, can anybody recommend an easy species to work on?

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If the comp is allowed, there are a lot. Any council or native nursery should be able to recommend hardy material.

Most of the commonly grown Casuarina and Melaleuca are fairly hardy.
Banksia integrifolia is a great candidate.

Just remember... For Canberra winters, don't repot or heavily work them in the colder months or leading up to it.

I'm interested. Will be watching to see if the idea gets "the nod".

I'ld be interested too. Some questions though;

What constitutes a trunk chop? I would rarely "trunk chop" a trunk less than 1cm, but would trim back to encourage bushing up or for taper.

What about multi trunked specimens? If I have cut back all trunks to a side branch but haven't wired, then would that be OK?

dansai wrote:I'ld be interested too. Some questions though;

What constitutes a trunk chop? I would rarely "trunk chop" a trunk less than 1cm, but would trim back to encourage bushing up or for taper.

G'day dansai. Yeah I get that. Essentially it just means you can use materail that has been repotted and/or cut the top off or has had foliage reduced. Similar to previous comps, it means it shouldn't have been styled yet.
The primary idea behind the '1cm trunk' rule is to make it more of an even playing field for everyone. This way you can't buy older material to have a head start.

dansai wrote:
What about multi trunked specimens? If I have cut back all trunks to a side branch but haven't wired, then would that be OK?

A clump wouldn't be allowed if the base at the soil exceeds 1cm which it probably would.

But you can happily use individual stand-alone trees that have trunks less than 1cm, then mash them together once the comp begins. The actual entry would have to include all the trees separately before you plan to use them.
This way its fair and showing people that each stand alone tree is only 1cm or less.

You wouldn't be able to add more trees to your entry after the comp begins, so you would prepare all the trees you want to use beforehand.


Hopefully the mods don't see a problem with this, as it will just be a lot of fun.

G'day all,
Sorry for the lack of input lately.
I'm planning to launch the shohin comp in the near future. Just need to tidy up the T's and C's etc first.
I think this native competition is a great idea and more than happy for it to run concurrently with the Shohin Awards.
Regards,
Steven

Yay! Two contests!


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Cool!!! Comps on!

Sounds great to me, now to see if I can zip tie a Euc clump down to 1cm.

Yep - looks like fun...

I known guidelines will be provided in due course but this morning when I was checking out some casuarina that I have growing out in my little back courtyard - I remembered these Kunzea. I purchased a number of $2 seedlings from a local native nursery in 2017 - to my understanding the native nursey grows them from seed.

.... and then, after I purchased them, I proceeded to group plant them, leaning in their side ... yep, strange but true but I pictured a windswept coastal location .....

I know - I can hear perplexed people saying - ‘What is it with MJL and his group plantings? Any chance he can just grow a single Bonsai one day?!’

Anyway - in a comp like being proposed, would I just split one of two of these out perhaps?

Or is it better to just go find some new stock?

Bonsai teaches me patience.