When to become concerned?

[luvinthemountains]

So I ask this in all seriousness. Yeah, I realize we are all on a website called Bonsai Nut. But is there a point where you start to feel concerned you may have a legitimate obsession? When you find yourself wandering out to the garden for the third or fourth time today, just to make sure everything is alright and look for any new growth? When the amount of attention that you devote to watering, weeding, feeding, reading, researching,and daydreaming about bonsai is beginning to edge out all other non-work pursuits?

Can anyone offer any insight into how one can learn to resist the urge to scratch the itch? (Pardon the expression)? Asking for a friend.

 

[Potawatomi13]

YES! If having normal life/obligations and 40 trees may still be normal. When accumulating another 50 in danger. Then growing hundreds of seedlings/getting several dozen more trees mate has every right to dump you. When do you realize in over head and cannot devote proper time to even most of trees in personal care? Obsession is obsession. Nuts is nuts. Personally have many interests 40 trees more than enough.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

I have around 140 sticks and a bunch of seedlings. But I've ran into this wall when gardening as a teenager. At some point in this ever repeating process, you're going to find out that you're stuck in a loop. At first, you'll make excuses, then you'll get frustrated with yourself, then you'll get angry and question what you're doing.
Plants that grow fast, can surprise you on a daily basis. Bonsai however, seem to be stuck in the same pattern of doing nothing for weeks. You can check for bugs in the morning, and they will probably not cause any issues for the next three days. So it's time poorly spent doing another check that week. When you realize this, the frustration will set in.

There are very few plants that grow so fast that they require daily weeding, feeding, bug checks. So daydreaming, reading and researching is all that is left. But this too is something that ends somewhere. I mean, I can research how to decandle jack pines but I don't need to because my jack pines are far from that stage. So I save that for later, a little treat for myself. Something to sink my teeth in when the time is right.
I could research that now.. And then in 5 years I'll have to do it again because I've forgotten what I read by then. But the longer I wait, the more information will accumulate on the internet, giving me more to explore, more opinions, more experiences.

How do you resist? You don't have to, you manage it instead. Bonsai literature and plant research isn't exactly mass produced, so there will be a point where you've accumulated enough knowledge to just let things rest for a couple months. You're not going to miss a thing - even better, the longer you wait the more there is to find out. I learned to behave the same around my plants.. When I don't inspect them up close on weekdays, I'll have more to explore in the weekends when I have a lot of free time to do stuff with them without having to postpone other things. And sure, I'll miss stuff on my sticks! And find out that if only I would've spent that extra 15 minutes on monday... But that's part of the hobby for me, keeps me flexible.
I think Ryan Neil once said this, and I've said it in other words too: No plant in the world will die within days if the watering is done, it's a process of months, maybe years even.
Once that realization sets in, your "friend" will be fine. ;-)

 

[sorce]

I been watching these lilly pads grow, the tallest was new and half as tall a day ago.


And stretched out a bit more 6 hours later.


Just a $50 TopFin LED. I swear you can actually see these grow when you watch.

Gardening for food gets a lot easier after you learn all this BS and are out there watering everyday too. With the pending food shortages, I reckon it's time to start growing food anyway!

Sorce

 

[Underdog]

I'll just leave this here...

Definition of a B'Nut

If you put your truck cap on so you can take trees,tools and soil components with you while on vacation... you might be a B'Nut.

www.bonsainut.com

 

[Paradox]

Well going for frequent walks is better than sitting on the couch, however leave the branch cutters in the garage.

If you're loving this new activity where your other hobbies are suffering, I don't necessarily think this is a bad thing unless your other hobbies involve live animals. It's up to you to decide how you spend your free time and how much time is worthwhile and brings you joy.

Now if bonsai is causing you to neglect you family, that's another story

 

[Forsoothe!]

Obsession has or is an intensive focus, and bonsai is just one of a million possibilities. Obsessive behavior exists in the person and will be directed or focused in some direction. Exactly which direction? I have no idea, that's probably a question for a headshrink. I think we may be drawn to ~do~ what we like to ~look at~ or possess. I don't really consider myself an artist, I'm a gardener that makes little trees (and big Hosta and a jungle-like landscape reminiscent of The Secret Garden, a book that was pivotal in my learning how to read as a child). Bonsai dovetails with my other obsessions. I knew one ~artist~ who went to art school and painted and sculpted, et al. He would paint a picture a dozen times, each time changing little things to achieve a better piece. Many intermediate steps would be abandoned half way through when he realized (I assume) that he was wrong headed. The only difference between him and I (and us) was the medium. I wouldn't paint on a bet. Paintings are nice on a wall, or a few are OK, but I have no real interest in depth.

Trees, on the other hand have always fascinated me as living giants, and often very old live things that I would wonder about whether or not they were aware of their great size and age and place in the world. There are lots of bonsai styles I don't like and I avoid them. That leads to having a lot of trees that look alike. There are some styles that I try to create, but my mental set is to tweak or improve the starter material, not change it greatly. I'm now a pretty good shopper and I buy things that I think I can do that do. I don't buy an upright starter and try to make it a weeping cascade. If I find a tree that lends itself to a weeping cascade, I will make it the best it can be. I would like to make more trees that are avant-garde, startling designs, but have very few like that, probably because I still have much to learn. You practice bonsai for the rest of your life.

 

[Dav4]

“Hello, my name is Dave Murphy and I am a bonsai addict”…

 

[jeremy_norbury]

I have no idea what you are talking about.

IMG_7897 by Jerry Norbury, on Flickr

 

[hinmo24t]

theres a balance to be found, but i noticed the proximity of my garden to my pup and girlfriend usually helps incorporate them. if kids happen, they can enjoy the backyard space and hobby if they want as well. i used to workout for an hr 5/7 days a week at gym but invested in equipment for my basement where i workout (not as much) so i basically brought time closer to where i need to be for other aspects of my life.

its a positive hobby, but still something to keep in check in some regards with time mgmt

 

[penumbra]

What else are you gonna do? Keeps you off the streets doesn't it?

 

[Cadillactaste]

I no longer go check on them as more tend them when they need care.

Eight years in. I've strived to keep the collection small. 33 trees. Some who aren't in the hobby find that a huge number. Then I explain the scheme of things. Many consider my collection quite moderate. But I enjoy the hobby. My husband is proud of my hobby and collection. That means something as a whole to me.

I remember those early years of worrying far more. Now it's way less worrying and just enjoying the journey.

 

[Paradox]

I have no idea what you are talking about.

IMG_7897 by Jerry Norbury, on Flickr

And I think my benches are too crowded.....yikes

 

[ponderingsage]

I think one thing that drives this obsession is the diversity of styles and techniques, not to mention all the species to try.
Well, I don't have a maple clump project yet...

 

[Carol 83]

You might need to be concerned if you bring trees along on vacation, which I did not. However, I seemed to have acquired a new one while on vacation. (Not my fault, my husband wanted it.) I am a bit concerned about what I will find when we get home, leaving my son to water for 5 days.

 

[Wood]

...I've strived to keep the collection small. 33 trees...

As a beginner whose apartment balcony is bursting with developmental seedlings, I think you're on to something here...

 

[Colorado]

I’d be lying if I said my thoughts during work meetings have never drifted to pines and maples and wiring and watering and….

 

[Wulfskaar]

I've been looking for affordable and calming hobbies for a long time and this fits the bill, at least to a point. The main problem I have with bonsai is that I can't really spend a lot of time on my baby trees because they usually don't need anything other than water. So, I dabble in a lot of other things in order to try to keep my mind off my baby trees for a while and maybe when I go back to them, I'll actually be able to see something new.

 

[luvinthemountains]

40 trees may still be normal. When accumulating another 50 in danger

I had to go out and count. My mental estimate had been maybe 50. I just went out and counted - I have about 80 trees/sticks in varying stages of development, plus about 20 cuttings and seedlings. (Holy crap!) So yes, that probably puts me in some "danger."

growing hundreds of seedlings/getting several dozen more trees mate has every right to dump you.

Yes this is a probability here, not a possibility. I should probably cut back.

 

[luvinthemountains]

How do you resist? You don't have to, you manage it instead.

Good advice, thanks! Certainly a better word that takes more personal responsibility.