Bonsai Nut
Nuttier than your average Nut
After reading a lot of beginner threads on this site over the years, I am going to create a thread of advice about how to get the best start on your bonsai journey.
Simply put - take advantage of all of the people who have gone before you!
At some level there is a bit of skeptic in all of us, and we need to fight the urge to dive in and just start doing stuff because we are excited and we want to start growing trees NOW! And plus we are pretty smart, and self-confident and think "how hard can it be?" And so we fail. A lot. Meanwhile we are surrounded by people with a lot of experience who can look at what we just did and say "well I could have told you that wasn't going to work, because I made the same mistake 30 years ago!"
So focus on repeating other peoples' successes, instead of other peoples' failures.
Find someone with experience, and use their experience as your starting point. Try to learn everything they know - and master it, even if it takes you five or ten years. Don't be the person who spends 25 years learning what other people already know doesn't work - repeating all the mistakes they have already made. Once you become experienced, you can always try to improve upon processes, or techniques, or designs. But you are starting from a position of knowledge, instead of a position of ignorance.
This site can be an amazing resource. There are people here with decades of experience, including professionals who make a living in bonsai who come here to interact with people without asking for anything in return (except perhaps a little respect). Many members here have participated in national shows and won significant recognition for their work. Wouldn't it be better to start by trying to replicate their success, instead of striking out on your own?
Listen. Ask questions. Listen some more. And then try to do what they tell you... exactly. Only when you can replicate their success should you try to improve upon it. Don't try to run before you can walk. You waste years and years of time... and get frustrated along the way.
Simply put - take advantage of all of the people who have gone before you!
At some level there is a bit of skeptic in all of us, and we need to fight the urge to dive in and just start doing stuff because we are excited and we want to start growing trees NOW! And plus we are pretty smart, and self-confident and think "how hard can it be?" And so we fail. A lot. Meanwhile we are surrounded by people with a lot of experience who can look at what we just did and say "well I could have told you that wasn't going to work, because I made the same mistake 30 years ago!"
So focus on repeating other peoples' successes, instead of other peoples' failures.
Find someone with experience, and use their experience as your starting point. Try to learn everything they know - and master it, even if it takes you five or ten years. Don't be the person who spends 25 years learning what other people already know doesn't work - repeating all the mistakes they have already made. Once you become experienced, you can always try to improve upon processes, or techniques, or designs. But you are starting from a position of knowledge, instead of a position of ignorance.
This site can be an amazing resource. There are people here with decades of experience, including professionals who make a living in bonsai who come here to interact with people without asking for anything in return (except perhaps a little respect). Many members here have participated in national shows and won significant recognition for their work. Wouldn't it be better to start by trying to replicate their success, instead of striking out on your own?
Listen. Ask questions. Listen some more. And then try to do what they tell you... exactly. Only when you can replicate their success should you try to improve upon it. Don't try to run before you can walk. You waste years and years of time... and get frustrated along the way.
Last edited:
Forsoothe has far more knowledge than I, but happy to chat if you want to reach out.
