My Old Man Treatise

[DeanoAZ]

I have been on here just a relatively short time and there is a lot of information and opinions available for someone working in bonsai. What I am wondering is how many of you out there are like me:

- I’m a typical (I believe) 78 year old retiree
- I’m like a lot of you and have to manage our money to make it last to the end
- I was an engineer, by education and occupation
- My life is filled with RC airplane flying, yard work, home maintenance, reading and bonsai (very little TV)
- The bones and muscles have started to fail on me like most of us old farts
- I live in the Desert Southwest which limits available bonsai tree candidates
- I like growing things, bonsai or garden

Given those facts and limitations, I believe I have a limited scope of interest with bonsai. I won’t be around to see my JBP seedling live to have a 3” caliper trunk and I won’t be purchasing very much that size anytime soon, unless I mortgage my house. I won’t be heading up into the high country digging anything up, since I have a problem just getting up off the floor when I have to be down there. Besides, all the shoulder surgeries I have had have left me unable to even lift up a 5 gallon bottle of water.

Putting all the above together, and having been an engineer, I tend to focus on the process itself. I like the process of repotting; I like the process of shaping/trimming the tree; I like the process of trying to get a seed to produce a seedling; I like the discipline of watering/fertilizing; I like the process of trying to get moss to grow in this dry country. But when all the processes are done, I just sit there, waiting for things to happen and stare at my plants, which I probably won’t see turn into anything.

Now what? I tend to have the same philosophy with bonsai as I do with RC flying. The largest group of my flying friends have a minimum of 10-15 planes, most of which just sit in their garages. I have 2 airplanes, one I fly all the time and one as backup for when I have an un-repairable wreck. I can’t see the reason for spending the money to just have them sitting around. With the limited sources for plant material I have in the west Phoenix Valley (every nursery I hit always has the same thing), I would just end up buying duplicate trees (I envy you in the Northeast and Southeast). I could visit nurseries in the east valley, but what they have in bonsai stuff is expensive and the pre-bonsai they have is not any better than what I have at home. Besides that, do I want to have a lot of plants just sitting around that I will never see develop into large trees?

I know I am in the minority on bonsai nut, but I would like to hear from any of you out there who are in the same situation. I’m thinking I should step into some combination of mame/kusamono/suiseki, with smaller plants. That way, I can get around the high costs and would have something that could be appreciated as a finished product in a short time.


I’d like to hear from you who are trying to find a similar niche in bonsai. Sorry about the “old fart rambling”.

 

[LanceMac10]

Typical engineer, your too organized to recognize when your having fun!
Honestly, bonsai can be real small......and most of the time your literally sitting there watching a plant grow because it needs to recuperate....


Or you can be like the Duke and get an automatic water-pistol!!!

Envious? It's freezing up here!!!

 

[DeanoAZ]

Typical engineer, your too organized to recognize when your having fun!
Honestly, bonsai can be real small......and most of the time your literally sitting there watching a plant grow because it needs to recuperate....


Or you can be like the Duke and get an automatic water-pistol!!!

Envious? It's freezing up here!!!

Be careful, The Duke was/is my idol.
That's why I think I should switch to the smaller stuff.

 

[Dav4]

Be careful, The Duke was/is my idol.
That's why I think I should switch to the smaller stuff.

I find myself asking "What would the Duke do?"
I suspect he wouldn't care what others are doing.
What specifically drew you to bonsai? Begin there and move forward as you are able to.

78 and starting a new hobby... nice!

 

[my nellie]

What Dav4 said!

... ...78 and starting a new hobby... nice!

I am 65 and a beginner doing bonsai for almost 10 years now
Please, do not mind if you ever see a "finished" tree of yours, just enjoy the journey!

 

[Tidal Bonsai]

Growing seedlings is definitely a young mans game, but that doesn't make it any less fun for anyone!

Not every tree has to be a Japanese import that costs thousands. There is nothing wrong with nursery stock from Bonsai Nursery's, Mom and Pop Shops, or even big box stores. Ryan Neil had multiple videos on picking nursery stock that I have found very helpful! There are many different facets to this hobby, find what interests you.

 

[PaulH]

Growing seedlings is definitely a young mans game

I'm 67 next week and have two flats of tridents just planted and 100 Mikawa black pine seeds stratifying in the fridge.
One of my early mentors, George Yamasaki was still starting cuttings in his 90's.

 

[Adair M]

As we get older, the attractiveness of Shohin bonsai calls to us.

The fun thing is you have much more freedom with pots! Let’s say you had two olives, one was in a bright yellow pot, and another was in a hand painted geckou, they would look entirely different. Or, maybe you would prefer an unglazed pot. With Shohin, you can be very creative!

 

[Tidal Bonsai]

I'm 67 next week and have two flats of tridents just planted and 100 Mikawa black pine seeds stratifying in the fridge.
One of my early mentors, George Yamasaki was still starting cuttings in his 90's.

Let me me rephrase before I start a young vs. veteran war. Starting seedlings and seeing them through to a 3 inch caliper as DeanoAZ said is a "young mans game."

 

[Victorim]

I feel for you, and understand where your coming from. (Not directly, I'm 32 and have 100+ projects *slight smug face*)

If creating is what you want to do, just make sure your picking trunks ready to go, and species with fast development.

Some trees will take 200 years to finish so.. as others have said, the enjoyment is in the process, just get stuck in.

 

[Sn0W]

Sounds to me like you may get enjoyment from propagating seeds/cuttings and then passing/selling them on. Who knows, you may even be able to purchase one of those big trunks you mentioned with the proceeds

 

[StoneCloud]

@DeanoAZ

I'm young only 34 and compared to your experience in life, I'm an amoeba

But I will say this

Great idea to stick to mame/ shohin sized trees as they will show you results and you will get to see the changes you are looking for,

but more importanly I feel.........


Focus on starting good tree and let the rest fall into place. Age doesn't matter, if you create great starts to build ramification onto and one day create amazing trees....your legacy will go on. You can pass them down, or they will find their way into the hands of a bonsai artist that will take the tree further!!!!

There are many trees that have been passed down for hundreds of years in families.

For me it's all about the end goal.

I'm already thinking like you! Starting to piece together a legacy to leave my kids


Sorry for the young buck rant!!!!

 

[Bonsai Nut]

I think there is a lot of enjoyment to be had from seedlings, pre-bonsai, nursery trees... and finished show trees. I enjoy the process of bonsai and being able to daily walk among my trees and just enjoy them in all their various forms and finished or unfinished states.

I would never NOT plant a tree just because I won't be around to see it as a 80' tall specimen that shades an entire yard

 

[Victorim]

Bnut is 92 next month and still planting black pine seeds!

 

[Bonsai Nut]

I live in the Desert Southwest which limits available bonsai tree candidates

By the way - I just want to point out that west Phoenix Valley is USDA Zone 9B... so you actually get more cold degree days than I do. If I can grow it - you can - and I have a LOT of tree species. You might have to provide some shade cloth in the summer due to sun intensity, but I assume there aren't many people who don't have sun protection of some sort or other in their yards there.

There are even some natives like Texas Ebony that you can grow in full sun and they wouldn't bat an eye at Phoenix summer heat...

Bnut is 92 next month and still planting black pine seeds!

Last year the only thing I grew from seed was Texas Ebony, but this year I have some Kinzu Kumquats in addition to my thousands of Japanese Black Pines. I also will be planting some rose seeds because one of my vendors from Hong Kong sent them as an add-on and I am just curious what pops up.

I freely admit I am not as much of a seedling guy as some on this site - because for me I can get three years head-start with cuttings, and five years (or more) with an air-layer.

 

[0soyoung]

Let me me rephrase before I start a young vs. veteran war. Starting seedlings and seeing them through to a 3 inch caliper as DeanoAZ said is a "young mans game."

Yes, indeed.
But growing them in small pots is instant gratification that never quits.

I grow all kinds of things that pop up in my yard. In Phoenix I think of Aleppo pine, palo verde, possibly CA juniper, fiddle with minimizing stuff in the local garden centers - its all fun. Keep it alive, clip it, snip it, wire it, bend it, let it grow. Grow old together.

Norway maples Vine maple

Camellia cutting Forsythia

Horse chestnut Juniper

Douglas firs and more.

 

[0soyoung]

There is also all kinds of fun grafting stuff to do, like @bonhe does.

 

[Anthony]

5 gallons of water is 50 lbs

The watering can here is 1.5 gallons and to go down to 1 gallon if need be.

Trees are normally grown to 15 inches high or wide and down to mame' [ 3 to 6 inches ]
.
For more complicated efforts focus shifts to trees/shrubs that can handle high
density at say 12 inches - example Chinese Serissa or Yaupon or Sageretia or Elm and as
stated before Texas Ebony.

So you just shift to trees / shrubs of higher density.

We are testing J.B.pine to 3 inch trunks - how long, will let you know.

Most trees here can hit 3" in the ground within a year.
So have you tried ground growing natives ?

Additionally, we make our own pots and compost.
73 is young for my family, they normally pass on in the late 90's .

What we did for the ladies in the Bonsai Club was factor every container smaller.
No more than 1 lb to 3 lb's.
If you need more, make another trip.
So I encourage you in Bonsai, slows the heart and excites the mind.
Makes the body happy.
Good Day
Anthony [ still early 50's ] and also retired.

My brother-in-law sent seed to a friend in New Jersey about 10 or so years
ago. He was then in his late 70's.
Tamarind from 10 or so years ago.

 

[CamdenJim]

I'm a 71-year-old beginner, I've been "into" bonsai only 6 years or so, and I love doing every bit of it. I think I'm getting better at it every year, and my goal is to be a better grower/developer/designer/putterer every year until I shuffle off this mortal coil. Like you, @DeanoAZ , I love the doing of it. It's fun, it brings its own satisfaction, and for someone with my strong OCD tendencies, it presents me with all sorts of challenges I may never overcome. Striving is what it's all about.

Neither of my children have any interest in maintaining any of my trees (sticks in pots) after I'm gone, and that doesn't concern me at all. I'm doing this for my own enjoyment, I have enough two-year seedlings, nursery plant adaptations, air layers, etc. to keep me busy, and the three or four "real" bonsai I've acquired are surviving well at this point. I'm happy.

And I'm happy to have a live-in supporter who actually encouraged me to start this hobby, so I have a goal in all of this. Every time she tells me something looks good, I'm thrilled and feel like I've achieved as much as anyone else around.

 

[defra]

78 and you find your way to bonsainut is a great achievment!
Aim for smaller trees shohin/mame could be developed from nursery stock faster than you think !