Contest for 2023?

[Fonz]

ROR has my vote too.

btw. a good kusamono does take years to come to it's full potential, sure you can put one together in minutes but just like bonsai it does have to age.

 

[Underdog]

ROR has my vote too.

btw. a good kusamono does take years to come to it's full potential, sure you can put one together in minutes but just like bonsai it does have to age.

You are right. We should just do a thread like the Trees thread pic required or the yearly flowers thread for:
Kusamono (literally "grass thing") and shitakusa (literally "undergrass") are a potted collection of plants designed to be viewed either in accompaniment with bonsai or alone

I just started a ROR last summer... I got a couple brooms started... I had fun doing the red pots and nursery stock contests but, swore off buying more junk trees. I have too many of those and want to up my game.

What about a most improved thing? or a way to use something you already have and improve it? yearly most improved? show pics from Jan to Dec yearly? could be nursery stock or a refined specimen just the most improved yearly.

Or a collected tree contest as this is the season in the northern Hem anyway. What can you dig and keep alive for a year or three?

Just spitballing ideas. I've been in most contests over the years and will probably join whatever you all decide.

 

[ZombieNick]

I had fun doing the red pots and nursery stock contests but, swore off buying more junk trees. I have too many of those and want to up my game.

What about a most improved thing?

I am in the same boat, I am not as interested in the nursery stock or seedling contests, space is a bit of a concern for me. I like your suggestions, what about a contest where we take difficult or less desirable material and try to create something out of nothing. Judging would consider both the finished product and the starting material, so said material could come from anywhere, new or old.

 

[Gabler]

I am in the same boat, I am not as interested in the nursery stock or seedling contests, space is a bit of a concern for me. I like your suggestions, what about a contest where we take difficult or less desirable material and try to create something out of nothing. Judging would consider both the finished product and the starting material, so said material could come from anywhere, new or old.

How about a “Sweep up the Trash” challenge, where we find garbage material and turn it into a broom?

 

[Gabler]

By the way…

Gabler’s 27-Year Nebari Challenge

https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/contest-for-2023.58740/post-1017274 You may have posted it as a joke, but I’m doing it. Twenty-seven years. In case you’re wondering, I’ll be fifty-four years old twenty-seven years from today, assuming I don’t die in a car wreck or something. I collected...

www.bonsainut.com

 

[August]

My 2 cents in as the original poster of the thread;

I was pretty stoked on succulent from seed but nobody else seems interested, I also like kusamono but some good points have been brought up about that as well.

I'm all for ROR or Neagari. But it seems there's a lot of folks interested in ROR specifically!

Edit for @Gabler: also stoked for broom contest. Frankly, if all three were made, I would join them each

 

[Eckhoffw]

I exclude @Hartinez by default because that guy is rocking the nursery stock stylings way too hard.

Haha! He came to mind when I was typing.

 

[ShadyStump]

Kusamono sounded fun, but I'm down with ROR too. Just remembered I have a stone that's not interesting enough for suiseki, but was interesting enough to carry down a mountain, is just flat enough for a slab, but not wide enough enough unless it's a shohin, but also is too thick for a shohin slab.
So, yeah, I got a pretty worthless rock I brought home once. Totally good enough for ROR.

Seems like it'd be a 5+ year challenge though.

 

[August]

So, yeah, I got a pretty worthless rock I brought home once. Totally good enough for ROR.

Seems like it'd be a 5+ year challenge though.

I have a pretty big chunk of black lava that I'm excited to whip out for this should it happen. I've also been experimenting with pumice for ROR so might throw a few in there

 

[leatherback]

So @August I guess it is up to you to decide upon the boundary conditions, such as what can be used, when people should enter by (Or leave open) what updates should be made and when we the final judgement day shall be. If you check old threads on new contest I am sure you can find the route that most of them take; The bearer of thoughts posts a first draft, people shoot holes in them. Another version is presented and at one point the bearer of thoughts gets tired of the discussion, contacts the Lord and Master of Control, [Hail Lord Nut!] who creates the contest section and you can post the starting rules & regulations.

I would start SOON, as repotting season has started in some placed in the world, sourcing material takes time and these contests usually work best if you have the timing right.

 

[James W.]

I don't mind starting a thread to discuss parameters for a ROR contest, if @August doesn't want to do it.
My opinion is that a kusamono contest could also be started, they are enough different some people will do one and not the other.

 

[August]

I don't mind starting a thread to discuss parameters for a ROR contest, if @August doesn't want to do it.
My opinion is that a kusamono contest could also be started, they are enough different some people will do one and not the other.

I'm still very much a beginner so I would appreciate that! I figure an experienced person should set the parameters frankly. After all I started this thread looking for a contest to join

 

[HorseloverFat]

I'm very please with the progress, here.

 

[Eckhoffw]

Got inspired by y’all and made this thing. It was a nice winter project to do when not much to be done on the little trees

 

[Underdog]

I wasn't aware of this thread. I just threw a couple pics up to bring it back.

The Accent (Companion) Plant Thread

Same rules as the "Tree Tree Thread," except post your accent plants. If this gets half the participation of the tree thread, I'll be happy.

www.bonsainut.com

 

[dmwphoto]

How’s about a warp speed styling contest?

like get a new nursery stock juniper under 25$ and we see where you get it in 1 year!

I guess this is something I’d like to do.. like, every year!

as a recent newcomer, this is something I plan to do just for basic experience. Maybe over simplistic but I feel it is a good starting point for a beginner.

 

[Gabler]

as a recent newcomer, this is something I plan to do just for basic experience. Maybe over simplistic but I feel it is a good starting point for a beginner.

The most important skill you need as a beginner is to learn to take things slow. When beginners kill trees, about half those trees die from a mismatch between soil type and watering frequency, and the other half die from eager beginners doing too much too soon.

If you go into it expecting the tree to die, and you just want some wiring practice for the cost of a nursery plant, then I suppose there's no harm, but if you want to keep trees alive, then a warp speed styling contest is possibly the worst idea for a beginner. I certainly wouldn't try it myself. In hindsight, it was a mistake when I entered several beech trees in the Five Year Native Tree Challenge. That's not nearly enough time.

 

[BrianBay9]

Agreed. Plus the 2022 one is basically barred for entry now; you had to buy the tree by December 22. That's okay, I'm sure one will pop up, though with seed season around the corner, I'm feeling antsy

You can join the acorns contest. Collect some. Grow some. But, 10 yrs for the end of the contest.

 

[August]

You can join the acorns contest. Collect some. Grow some. But, 10 yrs for the end of the contest.

Since this thread was posted we've started a few! RoR contest, Acorn to Oak, and Christmas Tree '23! I sure got what I wished for!