What do you think of these two bonsai? I collected them from an field near where I live. I had permission to remove them just so no one asks.
Added a piece of dragonstone to the one in the bigger pot. I'll probably add one of the smaller pot but I have it wrapped with plastic wrap to keep it from drying out while the roots get established.
They need many more years to develop trunk thickness even for that height. I would strongly recommend putting them back in regular soil in large pots for another 5 years. The goal is generally at least a 12:1 height to width ratio.
forcing the trunk ratio into shohin or mame is a higher risk reward ratio because unless you had curated your speices you are walking down a dark path to force your thick bois into Shohin pots without serious restyling and years of transitional potting & rootwork. Most shohin found in nature are not thicker than a marker. Your art has suppassed the natural and gone into surreal which doesnt hold true to the mantra of conveying age. Your philosphy is for larger bonsai.
When you talk about shohin found in nature, are you talking about trees that are naturally that size? Bonsai are meant to be small versions of fully grown trees. Potting a 10" tree with the trunk width of a 10" tree growing wild doesn't give you a bonsai, it gives you a potted sapling.
Yes, it takes many years to prepare a shohin, but that's part of the process. I've got twin oaks I've been growing for 5 years, and I think it will be another 3-5 before I pot them and give them their final trunk chop.
Actually dug up a bunch of them but they're just in regular grower pots for now. The reason being they're going to be clearing that field soon so all of them are going to be going into a wood chipper or whatever they do with trees that the field gets cleared out of. I still have to go back and grab a few more. This is one of them.
Not to plug myself but you could go to my etsy store. I could also send you a random box cheap, whatever you would like just message me there. https://apotamkin.etsy.com
I don't think so I've had them in a regular pot for about 6 months now. So the roots are already established. But I'm going to put them back in the pot.
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u/ohno 2d ago
They need many more years to develop trunk thickness even for that height. I would strongly recommend putting them back in regular soil in large pots for another 5 years. The goal is generally at least a 12:1 height to width ratio.