AusBonsai

Hi All,

Firstly fantastic forum, so glad I found it. I'm very new to all this, I've been interested in Bonsai for a while but earlier this year I've really got in to giving it all a go. I've formed a bit of an addiction in that everywhere I go I'll drop into nurseries and look for plants I like, and with my limited knowledge that I think might make a good bonsai. Sometimes I purchase sometimes I don't.

I've also decided to buy some cheap plants from the overgrown/old stock/struggling type areas of nurseries and just try different techniques I come across.

Because I'm doing this I've picked up a couple of junipers that have straight trunks but that's because I want to try bending thicker trunks.

This all led me to wondering how people go about their design process, which is probably quite individual but I'd be interested to hear how you go about it.

Do you always have a design in mind when you buy your stock?

Do you get it home sometimes and don't see in it what you did in the nursery? So then what do you do?

Do you always sketch a design and then try to stick to it? Or at least have it in mind?

Do start trying to get some good movement in the trunk, only to find out it doesn't bend as much as you'd like, or more so, so change your design?

Do you just wing it? See what movement you can get in the trunk and then work your way up, with a very loose or even no plan in mind?

So yeah, interested in anyone's thoughts on the whole design process and going from raw stock to your end design.

Welcome to the forum. This is a fantastic tool to help guide you. If you have a question, ask.

Everyone works differently when it comes to design / buying.

Me personally, I make a decision when I buy a tree what my purpose is for getting it.

Some are for cuttings (I enjoy "creating"), others are to learn on (like doing grafts, bend, style etc) and others which are worthy of status as "Bonsai" as they are more Bonsai established.

When styling, I often look to find a photograph of a tree with the same branch positions/options as the tree I have. I then try and style it as closely as I can. Other times, I go in blind, and style in a shape I imagine.

I sometimes change my mind while styling, or go away and come back later and change a bend. This is common - sometimes you see things you didn't before, or need a fresh set of eyes.

Don't be disheartened snapping branches, killing trees etc.

Don't waste money on thin and unhealthy trees (I wish I understood this when I started). Keep the money for something with more potential. You can learn on something decent for $50 which you can learn on - rather then 5 x $10 twigs. When purchasing more expensive trees go for ones at Bonsai nurseries - they have given you q head start.

Learn something from every mistake.

Good luck.

Unless growing stock from a cutting or seed where you are able to lay the ground work from the begining I find that all my styling is based on the movement in the trunk and the trunks relationship with the defining branch.

The defining branch doesn't need to be the first branch, but it is the most important and should dictate the flow or direction for the tree. Establishing this will allow all the other elements to fall into place

Hey! Welcome aboard!
Somefimes I vo looking for something specific; either species or style...something suitable for a raft, for example. In this case I usually have a design in mind, though this can change as I get to know the tree. Other times I'll fi d something with potential; good roots, strong trunk line, whatever grabs me, and then work with the tree to see what design is in there. This can mean staring at the thing for weeks, months, even years! Bonsai is a patient art....
That's my way, anyway.

Yes, I usually have adesign in mind when purchase/ collect stock. BUT, regularly find after a second or third look that it might not be the best design for the material. Look for other possible designs or pass the tree on to someone else who can see potential.
With experience you get better at picking stock that will suit what you want to do.
With experience you also get better at finding a design that suits most raw stock. An experienced workshop leader will probably be able to come up with something for nearly all stock presented before him/her.

Although a sketched/ drawn design is handy to remind you what you were trying to produce it is not essential. You should always feel free to change direction if you see something better in the tree. Don't be locked in just because it has been committed to paper.

Experience will also teach which plants can be bent and how far. look for alternative techniques to allow you to bend further than just wire alone - wrapped with tape/raffia, etc; split and bend, etc
I usually have a plan from the base to apex. not much use getting half way up and finding you can't complete the design However you don't need to complete a design in one sitting. Many of us cut back to an attractive lower trunk and grow the rest of the tree over the succeeding years.

Thanks for all the replies, it's really interesting to see how you approach it.

One of the annoyances I have is that I live in central west NSW, in Dubbo, so my closest bonsai nursery is at least 4.5 or so hours away. So mostly I can only purchase from Bunnings (I quickly learnt not to shop in their "bonsai" section as all they have is twigs) or other local nurseries, though every time I make a trip to Sydney or the Central Coast I try to come back with some decent stock from a real bonsai nursery.

Funny thing is that I took up this hobby with a lot of naivety, in the sense that I had no idea I would be talking in years, do a little bit with a plant and then just wait a couple of years and then maybe it'll really start to look the goods. I'm not impatient as such, at least not on a daily basis, but previously a week or two was a long time to wait for me

Chris,

I think this is a fantastic subject and should be brought to the forefront of current established views within the Aus bonsai community.

When you search the Net for inspiration and see trees that you admire at the highest level we could generally say that the leaders in the game are the Japanese.
In all the three aspects they excel; Plant development & Styling, Ceramics and Wooden Stand displays.
They have the benefit of hundreds of years of industry development, professionalism and most importantly the foresight and security to pass down trees over multiple generations. Moreover the industry is divided into two distinct processes:
- Trees in Development (95% of Australian Bonsai)
- Mature Trees to be styled and showed ( 5% of Australia Bonsai)

Achieving Bonsai of any quality in the vacuum of Australia and its Bonsai communities filled with bloated, dogmatic, self proclaimed "experts" is difficult.
In my opinion it may be done by realizing that for the first ten years, if your are growing whips, you will not have anything of show quality or something to put into a confined bonsai pot.

Start with getting the basics correct: Good free draining soil media, appropriate species for your climate, a good fertilizer and pest regime and understanding the nuances and light requirements of your varying stock and most importantly correct watering!

If you can't take a long term view on this art form then its probably not for you. A seedling in a bonsai pot is not a Bonsai.

Pretty sick of mediocrity.

My design process:

This is MY design process. I am just stating what I do, so others can ignore this or laugh at it, or trial it.

On a side note, when I first started out, I quickly learnt that I needed to research what the best method/times was for each genus I was working on.
In other words, determining the best time to perform a significant cut-back for a particular species... researching how much foliage / root you can safely remove at repotting time / cutting back etc etc. If I had asked members more of these important questions 20 years ago it would have greatly improved my successes initially.

But the following is pretty much how I roll...

1. I go to a bonsai nursery / nursery. (the advantage of visiting a bonsai nursery is that the stock has been continually cut back and root pruned over the years, so once you get stuck in, the shock on the tree is usually less on the more advanced material).

2. Critique the tree BEFORE you buy it. This is THE MOST important moment in the trees life. You need to spend the most amount of time and effort at this point. Look at the main trunk and lower branching and decide if you are happy with this. Obviously you are better off buying something with movement you already like rather than creating the bends after the purchase. Yes, you can have fun creating a tree with your natural 'talent' and shaping the tree as well, but I have in the past been guilty of buying material that I have no passion for later on. For this reason I now question my purchase over and over again before I commit to it. Don't just buy that genus because it is that genus.

3. Depending on the stock you buy, branch placement may or may not be important. Some trees can be harder to get the right branch placement, so try to purchase material with a lot of branches, as you will always change and chop your mind in regards to the branches as the years go by.
*Give a lot of thought about whether the material shoots back on old wood ; if it doesn't, then consider what the material will look like if it is cut back to the start of the foliage after first styling, and are you really going to be happy with this.
*Try to dig around the trunk and see what is happening. If you are not a fan of reverse taper, this can sometimes reveal its weakness. For me, reverse taper isn't a deal breaker, and in many cases it can look beautiful if done right.
Remember, it is a lot easier to cut branches off than have to create one somewhere.

4. Make sure you are happy with the trunk thickness. If you aren't, grow it long and strong with fertilizer and sun, and don't keep cutting back the whole tree. Once every year or 2 is a good guide if you are building up the trunk. You are only going to thicken the trunk by giving it adequate room to grow and letting the leader(s) grow long and strong without being cut back often.

5. Only buy material that is in good health. Do not buy material that is ill. This isn't a rule of thumb, and I have in the past purchased material that was not in good health. This was because the material was very old and in my eyes it was worth the effort, but I was buying it knowing full well that it may die back significantly or altogether. For a new enthusiast it is much better to learn with healthy stock than sick stock.

6. I never put anything on paper. I never commit to a style. I find it is much, much better to be able to envisage what the tree will look like in your mind with what is presented to you immediately. By this I mean, if you can master the talent of ageing the tree ... say 5 years from now in your mind from what is shown in front of you, this is a far greater resource than constantly referring back to a sketch on paper. Primarily because the tree is constantly changing as it grows, and thus I simply adapt to this change and shape the tree each time I work on it by applying this 2 - 5 year aged visual picture in my mind each time.
Of course I will perform significant cut backs and try to shape it to how I like it, but I find if I stay committed to something early on, then the tree can potentially change so much over the years that it doesn't suit this style anymore. Therefore I have found more so over my experiences that I just work in the moment. Yes, of course I initially do have an idea in mind which is why I purchased the tree, but that can often change depending on what goodness the tree presents me with over time.

7. Keep an open mind! For example with material that shoots back on old wood, always assess the tree before you rub off new buds.
-A bud may form and develop into a second suckering trunk which changes the whole aspect in a very beautiful way. But if you had kept to the sketch you would rub it off as it wasn't to plan.
-After letting your tree grow a strong leader you might find that the increase in height combined with the strong lower foundations now makes for a 'romantic literati'.
If you don't keep an open mind, you miss these opportunities.

8. Try to remember a bonsai is a 3 dimensional organism. Too often you may continually focus on the 'front' and fail to give it any depth or character. Always spin the tree when you work on it and consider the entire 360 degree view before you cut off branches or perform significant bends.

9. Don't focus on what you 'shouldn't be doing'. Concentrate on what makes the tree look better. If it has bar branching, you can usually prune the bar branching and not allow them to grow long. This usually reduces that chances of bulging if it really bothers you. You don't have to correct reverse taper if it looks natural and compliments the tree. You don't have to cut off a large portion of the tree or reduce the height because it has lost a significant branch of your sketched design. (trees can lose branches in nature all the time) Rather, you can just assess if this would make a good feature to the tree before you try to 'work it out of the design'. You also don't have to have branching everywhere, as this also may shade the lower areas and hamper the growth down low.

10. (this is more of a side note) ... Allow the tree to grow with a lot of sun. This is the most under performed step in the life of many bonsai. If you continually cut back and prune the tree every few weeks or so, then you will not only weaken the tree but it will never really grow or put on any significant growth for you to utilize. It will not present you with any decent options and after 5 years you will not have had any real progress on the tree.