Bonsai class 4
[This is a continuing series of spontaneous and unrehearsed "classes" on the subject of bonsai. Many new readers were coming on board asking about how to get started. I believe you should just start making bonsai. So, I will try to lead you through creating your first. Besides this gentle counsel, be sure to read the FAQ (which appears periodically) and search out some good books or people to introduce you to the subject. I will post sporadically with a subject containing the word "Class". I am going slow, so be prepared to be frustrated. If you have questions or comments about building your own first bonsai, post them "Re:" this thread (and if you have other questions, try to avoid a subject containing "Class").]
===
I threatened to do some ASCII art to try to convey bonsai aesthetics. (Several people suggested GIF or PostScript renderings, but I think I'll hold off on that, suspecting that a lot of readers could not render them. I do have access to a scanner, though. Maybe when class is over, people can send me photos of their first bonsai and we, who are able, can all see them!) I am going to try to do it with words.
In John Naka's wonderful book "Bonsai Techniques I" (Bonsai Institute of California, PO Box 6268, Whittier CA 90609), there is a lovely drawing of an imaginary tree that exhibits 18 branch faults. I love it. It is SO ugly!
Let's see if I can render it in words, from the top down. These are things to AVOID:
- No Apex (just lopped off)
- Stubbed Branch (just lopped off, leaving stub)
- Reversed Growing Branch (is thin, then thick, then thin again)
- Ingrowing Branch (turns and grows back toward trunk)
- Parallel Branch (2 consecutive branches from same side of trunk)
- Bar Branch (2 branches come from exact opposite sides of trunk)
- Pocket Branch (1 smaller branch grows between 2 larger)
- Wheel-spoke Branch (several branches grow at same level)
- Trunk-crossing Branch (turns and crosses in front of trunk)
- Crossed Branch (1 grows down, another upward, crossing)
- Y-shaped Branch (forking, one branch upward and one downward)
- Half-circle Branch (has a single, simple curve)
- U-shaped Branch (grows out, then curves upward swiftly)
- Elbow Branch (has a very sharp bend)
- Up-growing Branch (horizontal, but its branches grow up)
- Dangling Branch (horizontal, but its branches grow down)
- Tangled Branch (horizontal, but its branches grow every-which-way)
- Eye-poking Branch (grows straight out toward the front)
These are all branches that could be produced in nature. But, even in the billions of trees on earth, one hopes that nature has not made a tree as homely as the one in Naka's drawing!
A bonsai artist has a better aesthetic sense than does Mother Nature.
He also describes some faulty trunks to AVOID:
- Pigeon Breast (grows toward front, then curves back)
- Bow Shape (has single, simple curve)
- Gun Barrel (has the shape of a cylinder and does not taper)
- Inverted Shape (has a bulge wider than the base of the tree)
- Zig-zag Curve (has repetitive, monotonous zig-zag bends)
- Repeated S (has repetitive, monotonous S-curves)
And finally, some faulty apexes to AVOID:
- Failure to wire branch upward that is replacing a removed apex
- Simply bending down a larger apex and replacing it with smaller one
- Live apex and "jin" of same height
- A sharp apex shooting out of a bushy crown
- Two or more apex branches
===
Jin? What's that? Jin is another way to remove material. Instead of totally removing a branch, sometimes you can shorten it, or remove some branches and leaves, and then strip it bare of bark, leaving dead wood, as if the branch had suffered some wind or lightning damage. The mass of the branch is lessened, and it conveys a definite feeling of aging. I have seen some bonsai that are more jin than living material, looking like a piece of driftwood with a few leaves. Jin is something to keep in mind when you are thinking about styling. Sometimes, before pruning away a branch, you might try jinning it first to see if it will "work" that way. If not, you can always totally remove it. A beginner probably should avoid jin, for it requires some fussy care, but keep it in your bag of tricks for that situation where a branch is definitely needed, but the existing branch just has too much foliage mass.
===
How are you at pruning? Done much? A lot of the rules of pruning big trees applies to bonsai. (If you have access to big trees, you can practice pruning on them, though it might take a year to see if your technique is right. Through them you can learn what to expect of pruning. Especially if you can find an actively growing big tree to experiment on, nip off the ends of a few branches to see how new growth comes in.)
Here are a couple of fundamentals:
When a branch is eliminated, a slightly concave wound should be left. Then, when the bark grows over the wound, it will end up relatively flat. This takes a lot of practice to get exactly right, for every tree heals its wounds differently. There is even a refinement for large branches where you leave a slight peak in the middle of the wound in order to get flat healing. Don't worry about it too much; it's really an issue of fine detail. What you do NOT want to do is leave a stub behind that has no chance of ever looking like anything but a stub left behind by pruning. Remember, we are after naturalness in a bonsai, and clear evidence of pruning destroys that. When you are done pruning, and the tree has had a chance to heal, it should look like nature never put a branch there in the first place.
(This is a place where a special bonsai tool can be useful. Some bonsai cutters are designed to produce a concave wound. General-purpose pruning tools often don't bother with this nicety. But, you can always produce a a finer result with a little more effort, for instance, by finishing up a straight cut with a little knife-whittling to yield a concave wound.)
Do pay attention to where new growth will come from when pruning small branches and twigs that are growing outward. In general you want to remove material so that the succeeding growth will tend to be downward. If a bud is left on the end of a branch that will produce upward growth, then it will be hard to train the twig down to the horizontal. A bud that produces downward growth will give you a twig that can be trained to grow horizontally. Oh, how about a picture?
For this branch, you would prefer to cut it like this:
---/@--------\ \--/@-------------@
----------\@--\ \----------\@---/And NOT like this:
---/@--------------/@--/ /-------@
----------\@----------/ /--\@---/(How much of a stub you leave in this kind of pruning is dependent on the tree. Less looks better, but if you cut too close to the bud, you can damage it. The faint of heart can be conservative and trim off the excess stub, once new growth has been established.)
===
Are you getting tired of just looking at your potential bonsai? Are you ready to remove some material? Do you have a design planned? And, are you aware that as you begin removing material your design will undoubtedly have to evolve to accommodate new things you learn about your tree as you work with it? As I said before, be prepared to compromise. You and your tree may have different ideas about what it will be!
Relax. There is no one right answer. There are probably several bonsai trees waiting to be discovered in your subject. All you have to do is "liberate" one of them. I have read articles in bonsai magazines that have several bonsai masters describing what they would do with a given specimen. Often, there is considerable disagreement! Of course, any of their approaches would probably yield a nice bonsai.
I would suggest that you try to begin cutting. Have I offered you enough hope? You can do it!
Feel free to be very tentative. While a good deal of material may need to be removed from your tree, starting slow will not hurt. Take your time.
I hope you can see some branches on your tree that definitely have to go -- perhaps some little sprouts among the lower, main branches that you know you do not want. Perhaps you see a branch that is growing obviously too low on the trunk. (But, first, be sure to remove soil down to the level of the roots; I have spotted such obvious branches before and then found that actually an inch or two of the trunk is covered in soil. A good bonsai will have some roots partially visible on the surface of the soil, just before they plunge into the ground and, if possible, a trunk that flares a little at the base--signs of a mature tree, you know.) Maybe you have a conifer that still has needles growing on the trunk; those can go. And, if you have vigorous shoots growing, they can probably be shortened some; nibble away at it. You can always do more later. Perhaps you can spot one of those dreaded branches to be avoided, listed above, and eliminate the problem.
A possible con to "nibbling" is that the design can drift in your mind and you might lose track of what you are trying to do. Sometimes it is best to get it all done at once. As a beginner, you can go slow, especially considering the languid pace of your instruction. But, if you take the approach of always making the best bonsai you can out of whatever material is currently there, then you should be OK. Sometimes it really helps to remove the obviously offending material, and then stop, so you can better see the material that remains and make better decisions about what comes next. If you happen to make a mistake, do not worry. We all make plenty. Just roll with the punches and modify your design. You'll get there. (And, if you commit a horrible, unrepairable, mistake, there is always another tree to be had.)
[I will remind you that this might not be the best time to prune your particular kind of tree in your particular location. If possible, find out when pruning should occur and wait. But, cut away if you cannot resist; you can always declare this a "practice" tree if pruning causes harm now.]
===
Any questions?
I have a lot more to ramble on about, like wiring and de-wiring, bending branches, roots, tools, pots, soil, maintenance, styles... No wonder people can write whole books on the subject!
Oh, and I began to nip away at those three trees I bought last week. There were some pleasant surprises (and some accidents). I'll have to tell you about them.
But, have a small go at removing some material. Just a little. Get your hands dirty, and maybe that will foster some questions we all can profit from!
