Agriff
Mame
I was reading through this thread here about wiring, and it encouraged a debate about clip and grow. I think it would be worthwhile to highlight some of the merits of this bonsai philosophy.
Pro-wire folks regard clip and grow as one useful tool in their toolbox, but I'm intrigued by this quote by @Owen Reich: "Kyuzo Murata didn’t wire much at all, but styling took likely 3x as long. I happen to be an advocate for not using wire for some species and styles, given that sometimes the trees I like only have a handful of small branches. I can tell if a tree has been made fast or slow. The slow grown ones are my favorites".
Other folks who eschew wiring as a method and rely soley on clip and grow tend to attract controversy, like Nigel Saunders. But people in this camp clearly put a lot of faith in this slower and (what they would consider to be) more patient approach to bonsai, and seem to gravitate toward one another. I took a beginner's bonsai class taught by a clip and grow advocate at my Bonsai society last weekend, for example, and he had a youtube channel that got regular feedback from Nigel despite the channel only having about 800 subscribers.
Now I'm not trying to rehash any heated arguments here, but I think it would be cool to see some examples of what clip and grow can get you over time. I'd like to see the fruits of this patience, and try to better understand what can be gained by allowing trees to style themselves. So if you have any pics of clipped and grown trees that you really like, post them here!
Pro-wire folks regard clip and grow as one useful tool in their toolbox, but I'm intrigued by this quote by @Owen Reich: "Kyuzo Murata didn’t wire much at all, but styling took likely 3x as long. I happen to be an advocate for not using wire for some species and styles, given that sometimes the trees I like only have a handful of small branches. I can tell if a tree has been made fast or slow. The slow grown ones are my favorites".
Other folks who eschew wiring as a method and rely soley on clip and grow tend to attract controversy, like Nigel Saunders. But people in this camp clearly put a lot of faith in this slower and (what they would consider to be) more patient approach to bonsai, and seem to gravitate toward one another. I took a beginner's bonsai class taught by a clip and grow advocate at my Bonsai society last weekend, for example, and he had a youtube channel that got regular feedback from Nigel despite the channel only having about 800 subscribers.
Now I'm not trying to rehash any heated arguments here, but I think it would be cool to see some examples of what clip and grow can get you over time. I'd like to see the fruits of this patience, and try to better understand what can be gained by allowing trees to style themselves. So if you have any pics of clipped and grown trees that you really like, post them here!