I hate that we still have these talks with really no speak of tree species and it's affect on the technique.
Surely some trees are easier to maintain using hedging than others.
Hell, I have 2 Benjamin Ficus, one would cause too much work and bulging with hedging, one would work better.
There is also a different length of time, that any tree can be left hedged, before the detail pruning.
Until people start talking in real actual terms.....
It just sounds like bitch ass complaining about humans due to feelings.
I can't bring myself to make the extra work I feel hedging causes, so I don't use the technique.
Clearly people still also don't fully understand the difference between "hedging", "hedging", and "making topiaries".
Yes 2 hedges.
Sorce
Actually, it comes down to “attention to detail”. Whether or not you care about the details. Oh, skip a step here, miss a step there, it might not matter too much. But, neglect too much might cause you to have to rework the entire tree!
That what was causing Boon so much distress on the root over rock trident. He had spent a decade getting the structure right, all the primaries and secondaries in place with taper, larger branches on the bottom and smaller branches up top, twigginess everywhere...
And suddenly, it’s getting ruined!
I’ll also go back to the famous horse trainer, Clinton Anderson. He had a 30 step program to train a horse to be very well trained, very responsive, and respectful. The system built up. Start at step 1, practice that until the horse (and the trainer!) were comfortable with it, then go to Step 2. An example of an exercise would be to teach the horse it’s ok if the trainer throws his lead rope over his back. The first time you do this, the horse might shy away. Just ignore that, when the horse settles down just do it again. And again. Eventually, the horse will figure out that it doesn’t hurt, and he’ll learn to just stand there. The next step might be to throw the lead rope around his legs. Step 3 might be yo wave it over his head like a lasso. You get it. Each step introduces sometime that the horse initially finds scary, but doesn’t harm him. So, Maybe try to master two Steps a day. Next day, do some Step 1 and 2 before going on to Step 3. You get it.
So, he held a 3 day clinic where participants were going to go thru all 30 steps in 3 days. An Intensive, if you will. I was an observer. In the clinic, it took them maybe 30 minutes to master each step. So, they took a break at lunch, and someone asked Clinton, “Gee, this is taking a long time. Which are the most important Steps, so I’ll do those and not have to do them all”.
Clinton: “Do you want to have a horse as soft and as easy to ride as my horse?”
Person: “Of course I do! That’s why I’m here!”
Clinton: “Then do every step. If there were a faster way, I’d teach it. I, too, want to train the horse the fastest way possible. But every Step introduces something new to the horse that’s important. Skipping steps won’t yield equivalent results”
I feel bonsai is similar. Sure It can be tedious at times. But it’s the sum total of all the little details that combine to have the effect we’re looking for.
is everything. Bjorn says, "zoom in on those pictures". This is the place folks stand outside the door of and argue.
