... your bonsai hours

namnhi

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Looks like there are quite a few nutters here that has little kids that aren't quite independent on themselves. I know Wee Mac and little sorce. I have two little ones as well. One is almost 6 and another one just turning 9 months old today. Since I have them, there is much else going on. My bonsai hours are from 6 to 8 am and occasionally an hour here and there on the weekends. I don't have a lot of time to do anything correctly. No time to sift the soil. No time to sit there a few hours to wire one tree. I am glad that I still don't have a more than a few trees that in bonsai pot. You should have seen my repotting more than 20 Japanese maple seedlings in the 2 hours time span.
I wondering what is your bonsai hours and why?
 
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chicago1980

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Looks like there are quite a few nutters here that has little kids that aren't quite independent on themselves. I know Wee Mac and little sorce. I have two little ones as well. One is almost 6 and another one just turning 9 months old today. Since I have them, there is much else going on. My bonsai hours are from 6 to 8 am and occasionally an hour here and there on the weekends. I don't have a lot of time to do anything correctly. No time to sift the soil. No time to sit there a few hours to wire one tree. I am glad that I still don't have a more than a few trees that in bonsai pot. You should have seen my repotting more than 20 Japanese maple seedlings in the 2 hours time span.
I wondering what is your bonsai hours and why?
Two hours a morning is amazing considering you a suck small children..
 

Guy Vitale

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Similar situation here, a 6 and 4 year old. I've been into bonsai for 16 years so I've amassed a number of trees. I tend to get out early in the morning and weekends, my kids will play outside together fairly well, that allows me some spare time to work on trees as well, but my collection is woefully under worked these days. I try to focus on the few nicer ones to keep them in check and I'll try to add a more raw stock tree that has been neglected for a while. I keep them all feed and might clip a tree hear and there, but it's a challenge for sure. It helps to have an understanding misses as well, my hobby predates our relationship so she came into it knowing how much I like working on my trees.
 

abqjoe

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First watering @ 5am, second watering 5pm, wiring, repotting etc. on the weekends. The wife mists all of the tree's mid day once temps go beyond 90F.
 

namnhi

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Saturday 9-5pm

M-F 5:30-6:45 am, 6:30-7:30 pm spring to fall hours

I have about a dozen trees.

Why:
It keeps me happy/sane
Keep my wife happy
Bills need to be paid
Chicago,
That is a lot of hours. I figured you don't have toddlers/kids running around? I need to make a correction on my post. My 6 - 8 is on the weekend only. I have full time job on weekdays. :)
 

chicago1980

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Chicago,
That is a lot of hours. I figured you don't have toddlers/kids running around? I need to make a correction on my post. My 6 - 8 is on the weekend only. I have full time job on weekdays. :)

Correct no children of my own.
Life would definitely be different with little ones.
 

sorce

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I don't work much...

When I do...

I am more looking for trees, fossils, or stuff I can use to make something for Bonsai !

Baseball games are spent studying trees and looking for stuff every time my kid ain't doing something awesome on the field. Which is rare!

I don't look for pests in the morning when I water, cuz I might end up late for work.

But upon arrival home...
Everything gets a good inspection.

I have paths laid out for most of my trees, besides PPB, and the occasional, "screw it I'm bored" wiring something...
I don't have much daily active time.

But I'll sit and stare at a tree every minute possible. And dinner is occasionally spent with a tree on the turntable close.
Usually put aside shortly after a ....
"Can you clean this shit up?"

Of course, think time is like always on.

So when work time comes....
It's pretty straight forward.

Sorce
 

Anthony

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General Response.

We normally advise folk starting families or with children up to 14 [ depends on how mature ] to not start Bonsai.
Education comes first [ Wu Yee Sun ] and everyone is a scholar.
However, we do promise to be around when they are ready and because we can ground grow, it's no big thing to
start at 40 ish to 60 ish or even 70 ish [ if your family dies at around 90 to 100s ]

We can also start you off with older pre-bonsai.

So enjoy your children, and luv em, you will be rewarded.

We keep the cost factor down or just low, and encourage outings. The act of being with friends who share
similar interests does wonders for health and mental quietude.

When you have the time, you can always come down and spend up to 6 months on the island with no visa. In a few more years
we should have quite a few small houses, and the cost is, you pay for the cooking gas, and rent your own car.
Good Day
Anthony
 

Dav4

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Back in the day when the kids required more supervision, bonsai things got done at any point when it could be done. Watering took place before they got out of bed. Wiring and repotting got done at night or with them in the backyard with me... did you know you can pile mulch or loose soil on a completely bare rooted tree's roots and leave it for a few hours while you watch your son play lacrosse? Where there's a will, there's a way. I lost a few nice trees when the kids were infants and toddlers due to inattention... nearly left the hobby but didn't and I'm glad I persisted. It's funny, children and bonsai are really so similar- they require so much work, thought, and daily attention and can be so all consuming. They also grow and change so slowly that you hardly notice... but they do. I've got a couple of A. palmatum cuttings that are about as old as my son, and neither look anything like they did almost 15 years ago. Bottom line, find the time to do what's right for both the kiddos and your trees and you'll be rewarded in so many ways as the years roll by... enjoy!!
 

Bonsai Nut

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I lost a few nice trees when the kids were infants and toddlers due to inattention...

I am in the same situation. I had a fair number of trees I brought with me from Chicago 20 years ago, but then we started having kids. Between the kids and the hot, dry summers, I lost quite a number of trees. Then I installed an automatic sprinkler, and my tree loss plummeted.

My bonsai hours tend to be seasonal. I tend to do a lot of work in the Fall... and very little in the Winter. Then things pick up again in the Spring when I am busiest... and then they taper off in the Summer. So I guess my hours are controlled by what work my trees need. I have spent some days doing nothing but thinning black pines - all day. Then some days I just look at my trees with a beer in my hand :)
 

namnhi

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General Response.

We normally advise folk starting families or with children up to 14 [ depends on how mature ] to not start Bonsai.
Education comes first [ Wu Yee Sun ] and everyone is a scholar.
However, we do promise to be around when they are ready and because we can ground grow, it's no big thing to
start at 40 ish to 60 ish or even 70 ish [ if your family dies at around 90 to 100s ]

We can also start you off with older pre-bonsai.

So enjoy your children, and luv em, you will be rewarded.

We keep the cost factor down or just low, and encourage outings. The act of being with friends who share
similar interests does wonders for health and mental quietude.

When you have the time, you can always come down and spend up to 6 months on the island with no visa. In a few more years
we should have quite a few small houses, and the cost is, you pay for the cooking gas, and rent your own car.
Good Day
Anthony
Yes, I enjoy my kids a lot knowing that my trees will not be anything for a while. I just try to keep them alive with the time that I have. Thanks for a reminder.
 

Starfox

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Since the kids started school, or rightly the second one started as well I have a bit more day time for it but don't find myself doing much as I don't have a great amount of trees. I normally tend to their watering and do a couple of rounds of all the propagation stuff and honestly if something needs a repot or wire it's something I can do without taking much time out of anything. Still have plenty of other non bonsai normal life crap that gets in the way so it is kind of good I can take a half hour break for bonsai.

Mostly though it's headspace time, like @sorce this seems constantly on and there is always a tree or two on my relax table on the terrace thinking of ways to make life easier. A lot of it is waiting for the right time anyway so this is good to be patient and try my best to look after the trees needs and think about them.
It's good, I have now had a few trees for a while and am starting to recognise their habits and growth patterns, I now know a whole lot more about taking some of my trees forward that I didn't know a year ago.
Headspace time is where it is at for the moment.
 

Carol 83

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I repotted my Natal Plum Sunday, while Mike was watching Air Disasters, lol. I don't have small children, don't think I could have found the time, when they were growing up. Always a baseball, softball, volleyball game, or some such thing going on. A bit of advice. When you go on vacation, don't enlist your older child to take care of the watering in the summer. It does not end well.:eek:
 

barrosinc

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This question has been going around my head for a long time.
I have a daughter of 3.5 years and a boy that is 4 months.
I get back from work at 6:30-7:00 and its dinner and bed time till 9pm. Then light gone and I might get 2 minutes to water. On weekends I try to get like an hour or two... at most.
I don't wire too much, maybe building trunk or branch structure wiring but no fine detail wiring.

But I am way behind on time I need.
 

namnhi

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I repotted my Natal Plum Sunday, while Mike was watching Air Disasters, lol. I don't have small children, don't think I could have found the time, when they were growing up. Always a baseball, softball, volleyball game, or some such thing going on. A bit of advice. When you go on vacation, don't enlist your older child to take care of the watering in the summer. It does not end well.:eek:
I know... the problem is once the kids are old enough then my dear wife will want to do some traveling. A reliable watering system is a must. Thanks for the pointer.
 
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