Have your tried Bonsai successfully?
By kalyani1234
@kalyani1234 (637)
India
April 13, 2011 7:06am CST
Hello friends, has anyone of you ever tried cultivating a bonsai tree all on your own? I know that it takes a lot of patience, time and money as well, nevertheless I often think of trying my hand at it. I really cannot say now that I will be successful at it but I do have a green thumb, at least until now whatever I have planted has done well.
Have any of you ever tried to do this and become successful or had to just give it up because it would work out well?
3 people like this
8 responses
@cheravs (619)
• Philippines
13 Apr 11
My brother once cultivated a bonsai but he gave it away after it was grown well. I think it is just easy, a friend gave him a small bonsai that got from a mountain trip. He just tied the bonsai, put rocks on its roots (pot), seldom water it and let it see sunshine, from there it grows well.
No money involve just a little time and effort I guess. Maybe you are just trying so hard. Try to talk to the plants it might help despite of your green thumb.
1 person likes this
@kalyani1234 (637)
• India
14 Apr 11
Thanks for responding cheravs! You make it sound like its just touch and go growing a bonsai! :) wow! and I always thought that cultivating bonsai was a lot of patience, time, expensive fertilisers, soil mixes etc. etc. :) :) :)
Yes and I do talk to my plants often and now my 2-year-old son has motivated me to sing to my plants too! I bet my neighbours think that I am crazy but I do that quite often! Thanks for your encouragement, I am really goingto do it now!
@allknowing (130066)
• India
29 Apr 11
I did attend a few bonsai classes but when I saw the process I gave up. It is all to do with twisting, tying, cutting and stunting. I felt this was cruelty to plants and for a garden lover who simply loves natural growth that would be quite an unhappy experience.
@aimeedia2x (374)
• India
10 Jun 11
great thinking allknowing. I admire you. Actually i also do not like it. But deadly love bonsai. So what i am doing is to develop my own bonsai only through cutting it, which is called pruning. And it is the normal task for all plants. Try it.
@kalyani1234 (637)
• India
13 Jun 11
@allknowing, I too thought it cruel to the plants...all that twisting and bending using wires..but really cannot resist the beauty of the lovely bonsais that I have seen!
@aimeedia2x, I think that's a great way of having something equivalent to a bonai plant! I am using this method to keep my Murraya panniculata really short and never thought it this way!
@kalyani1234 (637)
• India
14 Apr 11
Congratulations mansha! I would be proud to have a nice little tree with tiny fruits on it! I hope I am as succcessful as you are! If you have finally got at least one tree flourishing then its okay, don't worry about the others that are gone! Darwin would have probably said that they weren't fit to survive anyway! LOL!
@aimeedia2x (374)
• India
10 Jun 11
thats what i like most. I have been searching for bonsai on internet from last two years.and i am also working on two plants.its really interesting. But i know i have to learn more as i do not join any bonsai classes. I agree with your all statements except one that it is am expensive hobby. I do not think so. I am giving slightly more time to my bonsai than other plants, and its enough for it.
@kalyani1234 (637)
• India
13 Jun 11
Oh that's really great! Do share with me some of the tips, especially the initial stages, I would really like to know more about it! The reason I said it was expensive because I checked through our local garden stores and found the special shallow trays and containers to be really expensive! :) Also do let me know what plants are you creating bonsai of!
@kalyani1234 (637)
• India
26 Apr 12
Wow! That's really nice. What kind of bonsai have you bought for her?
@chinchoy (191)
• Hong Kong
13 Apr 11
I have read that Bonsai is not only about the cultivating of the plants itself. It is about the art of trying to capture a miniature verion of a scenery of nature and about the form of the tree. I have tried it before but I find myself lack of the artistic touch. I can keep the tree growing well but the whole thing just doesn't look beautiful as all :(
@kalyani1234 (637)
• India
14 Apr 11
Yes chinchoy, you are right in saying that bonsai is also creating a miniature version of the nature, but nature in every form and bit is beautiful and if you are unable create something using wires and dframes etc, a well growing miniature would be just as beautiful too. :)
@pergammano (7682)
• Canada
13 Apr 11
Go for it...kalyani..but you must be blessed with the patience of Job! Being a person of impetuosity..I truly thought that attempting to Bonsai would teach me better patience....I catapulted and "gave up the journey!" Bespeaks of my personality...LOL! I like to see results, so am much happier growing things that I see progress often...it even pains me to have to prune things, so, you can see, Bonsai is NOT for me, as it requires lots of patience and pruning! NO...I was not successful!
@kalyani1234 (637)
• India
14 Apr 11
Thanks pergammano! Actually I too am a very impetuous person in many ways, but where it comes to plants, unbelievably I have a lot of patience. So I will definitely try this!
LOL maybe you should start growing trees in a really enormous lot and then you do not have to prune them! Then you can say you are increasing the green cover to help repair the holes in the Ozone layer! HYUK HYUK HYUK! LOL
@sswallace21 (1824)
• United States
14 Apr 11
I have never had a Bonsai tree. I heard they do require a lot of attention. I have always want one, though. I think they look cool. Good Luck with your tree, if you get one. Best Wishes!
