What are your bonsai goals for 2024?

[19Mateo83]

My bonsai goals for 2024 are to get my nursery area under control and organized, collect more hornbeams and add more conifers to my collection.

 

[Jcmmaple]

Learning pines and junipers, just getting better in general. I have the same plan on hornbeams, and play with more natives. I also plan to ground grow a lot, so I’m going to start preparing the ground now.

 

[Paradox]

The main thing is getting through another year healthy.

Bonsai-wise. Id like to find a nice American hornbeam to play with. Other than that try to get my collection more under control and moving forward.
Too many trees and not enough time. Need to clone myself or retire already.......sigh

 

[BrianBay9]

I moved to yet another radically different climate zone, so mostly I want to learn how to keep most of my things alive. So far not too bad. I moved from the coast with 127 trees, and now have 91. Most were lost due to squirrels chewing trees or irrigation lines. And I've sold a few. Looks like I need to shift to more junipers.

 

[Lorax7]

Plant some trees in the ground on tiles to grow out trunks and develop nebari; repot some trees; air layer a few trees; get some root over rock/statue plantings started; get a forest planting started; maybe do some grafting; maybe do a first styling of my Ponderosa yamadori, if it shows a level of growth that indicates it’s well habituated to container growing and ready to rock ‘n roll; make a pilgrimage to Green Witch Gardens (a.k.a. The Flower Market); figure out how to get the garden hose unstuck from the spigot (I was unable to separate them this fall)

 

[PowerTap]

I have some pre-bonsai stock that I have been keeping alive and want to start to progress into real pots and take them up a level.

 

[pandacular]

I have a few different sets of goals. The first set are related to education and engagement. I am taking quite a few classes with a number of different teachers, and I have a goal of establishing a “main” teacher once I get a feel for the teachers in Portland (sadly, I don’t think Seattle has the same caliber of public teachers). I will also begin volunteering at the Pacific Bonsai Museum, starting with being a teaching assistant in their expanded classes, as well as being a docent. Long term, I would like to volunteer working on the trees.

In terms of my garden, I would like to figure out some sort of automatic watering system, at least for when I’m traveling. I have a ton of pumice, so maybe I’ll get it sifted and sorted.

Some of my trees have individual goals, but most of them are still in quite early development. The primary goal is to get most of them repotted into bonsai soil.

 

[Nybonsai12]

1)continue toward my goal of having only a few nice trees in nice pots on my bench
2)continue to start seeds/cuttings of a variety of interesting species( deshojo J. Maple, arakawa j. Maple, ginkgo, full moon maple, itoigawa, Ume, JBP)
3)continue to ground grow for the future.

 

[leatherback]

1. Reduce my collection by 50 trees
2. Not killing any trees in a stupid mistake
3. Get my 2 biggest maples on-track towards bonsai

 

[Deleted member 47471]

JPNs 1: keep in container since repot in 2023 and major work done (just feed and grow into structural styling, maturing trunk and primaries along the way).

JPN 2-3: repot, thicken/widen, increase foliage mass, mature 1st and 2nd branching, growing into the initial structural styling, and introduce Silica.

DAS 1-5: repot, thicken/widen, selective trunk chops, mature 1st and 2nd branching, styling, and introduce Silica.

Bird’s Nest Spruce: repot, thicken/widen, increase foliage, mature 2nd branching, determine style/additional wiring, introduce Silica.

Cryptomeria Blk Drgn: repot, thicken/widen, increase foliage mass, mature 1st branching higher into the tree.

Hinoki Cypress: remove from temporary place in ground during Winter, plant into Anderson flat, fertilize, grow, learn the tree, and potentially initial structural styling.

 

[Orion_metalhead]

My only real goal is have fun and enjoy.

Second goal on a technical level is properly tie trees down into pots this year during repots.

Third goal: display another tree this year at some point.

 

[PowerTap]

I have a few different sets of goals. The first set are related to education and engagement. I am taking quite a few classes with a number of different teachers, and I have a goal of establishing a “main” teacher once I get a feel for the teachers in Portland (sadly, I don’t think Seattle has the same caliber of public teachers). I will also begin volunteering at the Pacific Bonsai Museum, starting with being a teaching assistant in their expanded classes, as well as being a docent. Long term, I would like to volunteer working on the trees.

In terms of my garden, I would like to figure out some sort of automatic watering system, at least for when I’m traveling. I have a ton of pumice, so maybe I’ll get it sifted and sorted.

Some of my trees have individual goals, but most of them are still in quite early development. The primary goal is to get most of them repotted into bonsai soil.

I'd really love to have the capacity to volunteer at the PBM, it seems like a wealth of knowledge so close but I don't have time or consistency to do it.

 

[Deleted member 47471]

I’m doing this to JPN 3. Repot and develop into this style.

 

[Kievnstavick]

I will be working on my skills and my teachers will be preparing me for the Joshua Roth New Talent competition.

I also plan to start working on my propagation skills and knowledge. An official start towards my (current) ultimate goal of offering quality stock for bonsai to my area.

I have two trees ready to move into refinement work and a tropical that needs reworking to eventually fit into the design I have in mind.

 

[Kievnstavick]

@pandacular if you are quite serious about your Bonsai journey I can get in touch with the Ridgeways for someone closer and more accessible.

Dan Robinson would probably also enjoy some consistent volunteers.

 

[Scorpius]

Buy better trees. I'm not gonna live forever.

 

[19Mateo83]

The main thing is getting through another year healthy.

Bonsai-wise. Id like to find a nice American hornbeam to play with. Other than that try to get my collection more under control and moving forward.
Too many trees and not enough time. Need to clone myself or retire already.......sigh

Come spring time I’ll keep you in mind when I go out hornbeam collecting, I’m sure I can find you a decent one to mess around with.

 

[bdmatt]

1) Enter a tree into the 2024 pacific bonsai expo. I've never displayed a tree so I hope this would be a good debut. Been working on several trees towards that direction

2) Propagate more cuttings. Goal is to have 1000 kishu and itoigawa cuttings. I have about 400 as of now

3) Visit Ed Clark's nursery. Its a 250 mile drive but I'm looking to get larger juniper material

4) Get more yamadori

 

[Wulfskaar]

For most of my trees... grow, GROW, GROW!

Repotting seedlings into larger pots.

Start the branch building process on my BC.

Also want to get a couple of my 3 year old JBP's on rocks and the the ROR started.

I might soon dig up a couple yardadori oaks and see if I can get them to survive this time. All other attempts have led to dead trees.

 

[Deleted member 47471]

For most of my trees... grow, GROW, GROW!

Repotting seedlings into larger pots.

Start the branch building process on my BC.

Also want to get a couple of my 3 year old JBP's on rocks and the the ROR started.

I might soon dig up a couple yardadori oaks and see if I can get them to survive this time. All other attempts have led to dead trees.

Found some pines in my neighborhood. Fields of them back in the woods.