Any younger guys or gals here?

Txhorticulture

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The pics are beautiful superlative examples. Is it a fad or will it endure ?
 

JoeR

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*Thinks Chojubai are over-rated*

*Sees Bill's post*

*I wonder where I can get a red one...*

I think brent has them. Maybe I will add one to my winter order from him.
 

sorce

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I always thought that was what the spouses say......

Chojubai another tree huh?

Malus.

Sorce
 
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Japanese flowering quince bloom ONCE yearly, although with the right weather it may last over a week. Chojubai flower for months. My garden stock plant has been flowering since July. Their normal blossom time in Japan runs from November through spring.

Japanese flowering quince has smooth or peeling bark. Chojubai develops rough bark.

Japanese flowering quince have large colorful flowers, which come in numerous different colors, variegated and also double. They are a bit too large and coarse for shohin bonsai. Unfortunately Chojubai only "generally" come in two colors, red and white, but their flowers are like jewels, small and delicate.

Japanese flowering quince, like Chojubai are appreciated for their flowers, not foliage. Japanese flowering quince has long, dull green leaves while Chojubai has small, dark green thick foliage which is attractive. I've seen and exhibit Chojubai with leaves, NEVER Japanese flowering quince bonsai.

Japanese flowering quince are fast growers and easy to propagate. Chojubai are extremely slower to develop and slow to propagate, but the white cultivar grows three times as fast as the red cultivar and is much easier to propagate and grow.

Have you actually SEEN a Chojubai bonsai? You will surely fall in love when you see one.
CHOJUBAI-RED_WHITE-web.jpg
 
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thumblessprimate1

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@William N. Valavanis : Awesome info Mr. Valavanis. Do you mind touching upon ramification? I'm getting my hands dirty working on some Toyo nishiki. Some are saying that it's a challenge to ramify. I suspect that it just might be a matter of having more patience :D. Also, does Chojubai ramify more readily?

By the way, I'm in my mid thirties. Hopefully I have many healthy years ahead.
 
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It takes many years of growing and cutting back to develop ratification on Japanese flowering quice. But they are NOT grown for ramification, only for flowers. Yes, Chojubai develop ramification, although slow. Unfortunately, there is no substitute for time.

By the way, I just added a photo and some more text to my earlier post. The photo was not on my iPad and had to wait to get to my desktop.
 

Brian Van Fleet

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I think brent has them. Maybe I will add one to my winter order from him.
His website shows he's out at the moment. However, if he has them, you need to prepare your expectations. This is what $12, 2 3/4" pots of red chojubai look like. Please don't come here and light him up if you expected something different.
image.jpg
After 2 seasons in the ground and most of a third season in pots, here is what they look like:
image.jpg image.jpg image.jpg
 

Djtommy

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The name "Chojubai" means "long flowering apricot" because the flowers and bark are similar to Japanese flowering apricots.

I think you forgot "life" long life ume, so they also convey the feeling of living a long life, funny this young age thread lead to the "healthy at old age" feeling chojubai also kinda stands for, by the way im 37
 

Giga

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chojubai-hmmm wouldn't mind one but I don't think I will ever go out of my way to obtain one. I'd say I'm more of a fan of ume! I plan on getting a nice one this winter and maybe 2. Since I'm "younger" My wants may change.
 

JoeR

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His website shows he's out at the moment. However, if he has them, you need to prepare your expectations. This is what $12, 2 3/4" pots of red chojubai look like. Please don't come here and light him up if you expected something different.
View attachment 81324
After 2 seasons in the ground and most of a third season in pots, here is what they look like:
View attachment 81325 View attachment 81326 View attachment 81327
You really need to let that thread go. Im sorry I offended you by giving a review.

And anyway I think those are very nice.
 

Txhorticulture

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The thread started as a question about the age of members and has evolved into a chojobai thread.

My thoughts are 1) bonsai is taken up mostly by middle aged males and some continue to do it for decades. I myself am 37. I would guess the average age of the members in the local club is in the 50s and more than 2/3 dudes.

2) the chojobai thing... different strokes for different folks.

Oh and p.s. I don't think it's fair to say Joe r. 'Lit anyone up' by describing his mail order plants. It was mostly positive as weRe most of the other members posts.
 

Anthony

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Brother-in-law started at 17 or so , he is 53 now, seeds and cuttings from back then.
Studies before Bonsai, and then go for it [ see Wu Yee Sun's work ]

Good Day
Anthony
 

Bunjeh

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I was up at Elandan Gardens a couple of weeks ago. In front a 400 year old juniper, I felt young as well.
 

carp

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TLDR Version; read the quote in my signature. You can be as successful as you want to be.

-------------------------------------

I'm 23, I am the curator of a collection and exhibited one of the bonsai I care for (in honor of the collection, not as my own) and the tree was awarded Best Tree in Show.
I also exhibited a tree of my own for the first time this year and I am planning on submitting to exhibit at, at least 4 different shows next year. In 2014, I did a few blog posts before everything I knew fell apart (I have since stopped) and on that blog I wrote that I wanted to exhibit at least one tree in 2015. Set goals for yourself.

My life story is like every other degenerate millennial who can remember playing outside and then having that stolen away by advancing technologies. I'm old and bitter at a young age because things didn't happen the way I was told they would. I would go to college, graduate, get a good paying job, buy a house and raise a family, then retire. I mean, all of us kids knew by the time MySpace became obsolete overnight that times were changing. We knew technology was advancing faster than ever before, and we still held onto the same ideas that life would be good as promised. So, you know how that goes. Depression, a broken home, being kicked out over and over, sleeping on friend's floors, drinking, doing drugs, selling drugs, dropping out of college, FBI, FDLE, SWAT, DEA, being dumped, getting kicked out again...the usual crap you hear.

So, when I found myself moving back to my parent's house because I had no where else to go; I decided to really get my shit together and better myself. I set four goals for myself to finish the 2014 year: find a way to make money doing bonsai, buy a house, fuck a girl in the ass, and take a girl's virginity. I did all four of those things. The last one was added to the list after achieving the first three.

1] Because I dropped out of school, I told myself I would pursue bonsai and be successful at it. My thinking is that I love bonsai, and if I love my work, I will be successful at it, no matter what it may be. So I seized an opportunity and made sure I did a good job to land the curator position. Some people really love to cook, other's like to do legal work; if you're passionate about your work, you will be good at it. That's the idea I ran with. Age has not affected my abilities nor skill-set, but it definitely alters the perception of my credibility, from inner and external sources. I am in a game where I'm the youngest player. I can say without a doubt I am the youngest curator in the nation, by at least 10 years, maybe even 20. I don't do demo's or workshops yet because I realize a lot of old-timers "have been doing bonsai longer than I have been alive." I've literally been told this more than a dozen times. With my introvert personality, and low self-confidence (I've mastered the art of self-degradation over the years), I have turned down the opportunity to demo 3 times in the last 9 months because I don't think I'll do a good job or be taken seriously. Beyond curating and displaying, getting past this is my next step in bonsai.

2] I bought a house because I needed something stable in my life. I needed somewhere I could sleep for more than 2 weeks or a yearly lease. First time I ran away from home was in 7th grade, slept outside. Then in 8th grade, same thing, over night. 10th grade my parent's kicked me out for a week. 11th grade 2 weeks. Then 2011 they told me to find somewhere else to live and I left with 3 garbage bags full of things I owned. Then I moved into a friend's, slept in a sleeping bag on the floor in a spare bedroom, then moved into my ex's parent's house, then got an apartment, then a rental house, then got kicked out, dumped, separated from the bonsai I owned at the time, and moved back into my parent's. That last bit, I lost 20 trees before I bought this house. Though the bank owns it, if I don't stop paying my mortgage, no one can kick me out. This is mine. It's nice to have something like that in your life.

3 & 4] One word. Erlebnisse.

------------------------------------

Do whatever the hell you want to do, because when you realize what that is and dedicate yourself to it; you've set yourself up for success. My parent's wanted me to be a teacher, and I was attending UCF as a Communications major btw. Neither of those things I wanted to do. That's one of the major factors as to why I dropped out, also drugs and a continually falling GPA.
 

zelk

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I'm 25 at the moment, started showing up at the local club when I was 16. It felt weird as I was always the youngest. Despite this, I found it worth it because of all the exposure I received through some very kind and welcoming members and guest speakers.
 

Smoke

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TLDR Version; read the quote in my signature. You can be as successful as you want to be.

-------------------------------------

I'm 23, I am the curator of a collection and exhibited one of the bonsai I care for (in honor of the collection, not as my own) and the tree was awarded Best Tree in Show.
I also exhibited a tree of my own for the first time this year and I am planning on submitting to exhibit at, at least 4 different shows next year. In 2014, I did a few blog posts before everything I knew fell apart (I have since stopped) and on that blog I wrote that I wanted to exhibit at least one tree in 2015. Set goals for yourself.

My life story is like every other degenerate millennial who can remember playing outside and then having that stolen away by advancing technologies. I'm old and bitter at a young age because things didn't happen the way I was told they would. I would go to college, graduate, get a good paying job, buy a house and raise a family, then retire. I mean, all of us kids knew by the time MySpace became obsolete overnight that times were changing. We knew technology was advancing faster than ever before, and we still held onto the same ideas that life would be good as promised. So, you know how that goes. Depression, a broken home, being kicked out over and over, sleeping on friend's floors, drinking, doing drugs, selling drugs, dropping out of college, FBI, FDLE, SWAT, DEA, being dumped, getting kicked out again...the usual crap you hear.

So, when I found myself moving back to my parent's house because I had no where else to go; I decided to really get my shit together and better myself. I set four goals for myself to finish the 2014 year: find a way to make money doing bonsai, buy a house, fuck a girl in the ass, and take a girl's virginity. I did all four of those things. The last one was added to the list after achieving the first three.

1] Because I dropped out of school, I told myself I would pursue bonsai and be successful at it. My thinking is that I love bonsai, and if I love my work, I will be successful at it, no matter what it may be. So I seized an opportunity and made sure I did a good job to land the curator position. Some people really love to cook, other's like to do legal work; if you're passionate about your work, you will be good at it. That's the idea I ran with. Age has not affected my abilities nor skill-set, but it definitely alters the perception of my credibility, from inner and external sources. I am in a game where I'm the youngest player. I can say without a doubt I am the youngest curator in the nation, by at least 10 years, maybe even 20. I don't do demo's or workshops yet because I realize a lot of old-timers "have been doing bonsai longer than I have been alive." I've literally been told this more than a dozen times. With my introvert personality, and low self-confidence (I've mastered the art of self-degradation over the years), I have turned down the opportunity to demo 3 times in the last 9 months because I don't think I'll do a good job or be taken seriously. Beyond curating and displaying, getting past this is my next step in bonsai.

2] I bought a house because I needed something stable in my life. I needed somewhere I could sleep for more than 2 weeks or a yearly lease. First time I ran away from home was in 7th grade, slept outside. Then in 8th grade, same thing, over night. 10th grade my parent's kicked me out for a week. 11th grade 2 weeks. Then 2011 they told me to find somewhere else to live and I left with 3 garbage bags full of things I owned. Then I moved into a friend's, slept in a sleeping bag on the floor in a spare bedroom, then moved into my ex's parent's house, then got an apartment, then a rental house, then got kicked out, dumped, separated from the bonsai I owned at the time, and moved back into my parent's. That last bit, I lost 20 trees before I bought this house. Though the bank owns it, if I don't stop paying my mortgage, no one can kick me out. This is mine. It's nice to have something like that in your life.

3 & 4] One word. Erlebnisse.

------------------------------------

Do whatever the hell you want to do, because when you realize what that is and dedicate yourself to it; you've set yourself up for success. My parent's wanted me to be a teacher, and I was attending UCF as a Communications major btw. Neither of those things I wanted to do. That's one of the major factors as to why I dropped out, also drugs and a continually falling GPA.
I'm sure one day you'll get your fifteen minutes of fame on the eleven o'clock news after you shoot up a movie theater. Cheer up, it can only get worse....
 
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