Thoughts on Peter Chan? (Herons Bonsai)

Clicio · Jul 8, 2020

Peter Chan...
I just LOVE the way he snips his red pruners around any and every tree, without even looking at them! Amusing and interesting, and some good trees also.

sorce · Jul 8, 2020

A lotta people don't realize they wouldn't even have this in their life of it wasn't for these folks.

Sorce

Clicio · Jul 8, 2020

sorce said:
A lotta people don't realize they wouldn't even have this in their life if it wasn't for these folks.

Sorce

Sooooo true!

amcoffeegirl · Jul 8, 2020

Adair M said:
Here’s a thread opened by someone with a purchase from Heron’s:

Should I take the wire off newly bought brush cherry?

Hi I got this today, After all I’ve read im very concerned for the health of the trunk as the wire looks like it’s been cutting in for a while. Should I get it off right away as careful as possible? After that anything else? Any help very much appreciated, I have emailed the nursery to ask...

www.bonsainut.com

Tropicals grow fast in a tropical climate. Wire marks don’t last more than a few seasons. If you don’t let the wires bite in then the trees will not stay in place. Totally different process with tropicals.
this is just my experience- there are tropical growers who also hate wire scars.

Adair M · Jul 8, 2020

amcoffeegirl said:
Tropicals grow fast in a tropical climate. Wire marks don’t last more than a few seasons. If you don’t let the wires bite in then the trees will not stay in place. Totally different process with tropicals.
this is just my experience- there are tropical growers who also hate wire scars.

Well... yes and no. It’s true on a lot of trees that one wiring won’t fully set the branches. But once the wire starts cutting in, it should be removed, and rewired with the wire at a slightly different position. I know, some wire scars are unavoidable, but we should still try to minimize them.

BobbyLane · Jul 29, 2020

gotta love Peter's root over rock technique, what a legend

BonjourBonsai · Jul 29, 2020

BobbyLane said:
gotta love Peter's root over rock technique, what a legend

"So that's the tree done" I love it.

Rivian · Jul 30, 2020

I have much of my knowledge on bonsai from Herons youtube channel (though also from many others). However I shifted to prefer a bit more naturalistic bonsai now. Im not sure what to think of some of his trees, but I dont feel strongly about it either way. He has thousands of trees, and some of them I really like a lot.

Maybe you could use pictures of some of his trees to torture Walter Pall

eryk2kartman · Jul 30, 2020

Im only wondering how much he charges for that tree?
Looking at the root base of it, i would probably only walk by.

R0b · Jul 30, 2020

I greatly appreciate his enthusiastic way of communication but he is a bit chaotic in some of his videos. Personally I think from a didactic perspective Bjorn Bjorholm is the best video guide maker around.

sorce · Jul 30, 2020

R0b said:
Bjorn Bjorholm is the best video guide maker around.

So good you might wonder if he is a YouTuber that is into Bonsai!

I started from the beginning again. Early BAoJ vids.
He has definitely come a long way.

Sorce

Harunobu · Aug 14, 2020

I think he is an odd guy. I saw a video about his satsuki bonsai trees recently and many of them had tons and tons of weeds in them, or dead branches. There there were even some trees that might be dead. He said he wasn't selling any of them and that he had had most of them for several decades. He seems as someone who does have a lot of experience, but isn't a very careful student of reality. Like in a chaotic laid-back person way.

So he is a really really good businessman? He has so many trees, many of them look very nice and properly designed, and they are his private collection and he bought them in Japan. But it doesn't seem like he has the time or interest to take really good care of them. I find it a bit strange. Maybe it is that he is getting older as well but his collection is the same size?

It is in the same way with his video. I think like halfway he says 'this will be the end of the video' but then he keeps going for 10 more minutes.

win320 · Nov 3, 2020

Joe Dupre' said:
number he said puts his habits in perspective........"20,000 tre

Vance Wood said:
If I had done a bonsai like this I would have been banned from the site. Is this OK? Yeah I suppose so but this is not the direction I would have sent a beginner down.

Absolutely agree.

When people say his videos are good for beginners (full of wrong content). Then when beginners began to advance, they will have to do a lot of unlearning and relearning.. why not go in the right direction in the first place...
such a contrast after watching Bjorn, Graham Potters video, and then you see Peter Chan's content.
Thank god I can atleast differentiate what is good and what is bad... some people in the forum are still can't. But I am happy for myself

hinmo24t · Nov 3, 2020

win320 said:
Absolutely agree.

When people say his videos are good for beginners (full of wrong content). Then when beginners began to advance, they will have to do a lot of unlearning and relearning.. why not go in the right direction in the first place...
such a contrast after watching Bjorn, Graham Potters video, and then you see Peter Chan's content.
Thank god I can atleast differentiate what is good and what is bad... some people in the forum are still can't. But I am happy for myself

i bet 75% or 3/4 people on this site alone will never have the multitude of quality trees or even a single specimen 'better' than peter has or has had. hed run circles around most of us.
hes earned his behavior. he oozes experience and tenure in the game i think.

eryk2kartman · Nov 3, 2020

hinmo24t said:
i bet 75% or 3/4 people on this site alone will never have the multitude of quality trees or even a single specimen 'better' than peter has or has had. hed run circles around most of us.
hes earned his behavior. he oozes experience and tenure in the game i think.

Word!

Paulpash · Nov 3, 2020

The weeds in the pots and his choice of outdated substrate struck me when I visited Heron's. His practice of "thumbing the hose" resulted in a lot of pots with little substrate remaining.

I took a long look at the maples and many had dieback or uros that were obviously unplanned consequences of hard chops. His prices were very high too for stuff that was obviously assembled quickly, eg Beech hedging whips as groups in cheap trays for £200. I left without buying anything and have no desire to return given the much higher quality Greenwood Bonsai closer to me.

eryk2kartman · Nov 3, 2020

There is 2 different things we are talking about
1. Peter Chan
2. Herons Bonsai

1. HE knows his stuff but he wants to make it available to everyone with out putting anyone off (for example need to buy expensive chopsticks to work on the soil etc)
2. Thats the business, buy/produce cheap - sell expensive......

There is so many people to learn from - if you dont like him, dont go there or dont watch his videos.

READ HIS BOOKS!

August44 · Nov 3, 2020

I don't see any reason

eryk2kartman said:
There is 2 different things we are talking about
1. Peter Chan
2. Herons Bonsai

1. HE knows his stuff but he wants to make it available to everyone with out putting anyone off (for example need to buy expensive chopsticks to work on the soil etc)
2. Thats the business, buy/produce cheap - sell expensive......

There is so many people to learn from - if you dont like him, dont go there or dont watch his videos.

READ HIS BOOKS!

I agree and don't see any reason to waste your time and ours criticizing the man! He has nicer trees and has done more teaching for the good than most of us will ever have or do.

BobbyLane · Nov 3, 2020

win320 said:
Absolutely agree.

When people say his videos are good for beginners (full of wrong content). Then when beginners began to advance, they will have to do a lot of unlearning and relearning.. why not go in the right direction in the first place...
such a contrast after watching Bjorn, Graham Potters video, and then you see Peter Chan's content.
Thank god I can atleast differentiate what is good and what is bad... some people in the forum are still can't. But I am happy for myself

The thing with youtube, whether you start out watching Chasx or Dallas bonsai (as i did lol) you get all sorts of bonsai related content showing up in your feed to subscribe to. eventually you will get exposed to anybody who's anybody in the bonsai world. whether you want to stay static or move on up the ladder is down to you as an individual. i still watch Chan btw, i enjoyed the last one he did with the tour of the nursery in later summer, i enjoyed every bit of him tackling the big old Field maple.

LanceMac10 · Nov 3, 2020

BobbyLane said:
Chasx

Some good comedic relief....I laugh if you scratch my head....

Chasnsx on YouTube, been years.....

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