My bonsai failures

Why write about my bonsai failures?  So you can learn through my mistakes.   My one piece of advice on creating and maintaining your bonsai is patience.  I can track every single cause of failure back to being in a hurry or trying to take shortcuts.  The success and the beauty of bonsai is in the time spent learning the art not simply making a display.

I have learned that by following the guidelines and philosophy of the masters does not guarantee success but by not following them does guarantee failure.

So here's what not to do:

Don't collect specimens from the wild, change their soil, lighting, altitude and temperature, move them to your garden and expect them to thrive....they won't.  If you put them directly in bonsai pots they will most certainly perish.  Collecting species from the wild is one of most challenging of all bonsai skills and should be undertaken only after much research and thought has been done.  If you harvest young trees or plants, keep them in their native conditions and plan well or your subject will die.

Although you can bonsai almost any plant or tree, learn as much as you possibly can about that specie before you attempt the transformation.  I had a hardy three year old camellia living happily in a standard five gallon pot that died after being moved to a choukaku.  It would have survived had I not over fertilized it with a strong iron mix that I normally used when it had been in the five gallon container.  Not only does the plant become a miniature, so does its environment, so treat it that way.  I should have removed it from the choukaku and replanted it in the larger pot or the ground, but didn't and it died.  Now I have neither a bonsai tree nor a potted camellia.

My beautiful Japanese maple was strong and thriving but I thought it was too tall.  I read about air layering and creating a more pleasing nebari.  The process seemed simple enough after all I had successfully grafted trees in the past.  I should have left the maple alone and admired it as it was, the air layering failed, so did the tree and now I have nothing.  This technique is one that should be learned on trees that are field grown before they are ever attempted on young bonsai trees.  Move the tree to the ground or at least a large container, let it re-establish and it will be more willing to accept air layering.

Some plants and trees will not grow as bonsai right away.  Don't try to force them or they will surely die.  If they become sick or weak, move them back to the ground or a large pot and nurture them back to health.  Bonsai tree care is integral to the art.  When they are strong again, you can try again.

Use the proper tools, soils, pots, and supplies.  You may be able to make do for awhile but in the long run you will fail.  I tried electrical wire and coat hangers, they are not substitutes for the wire specifically designed for bonsai.

Read....read.....read.   Spend  time learning how, what and why before you put a plant in a pot and call it a bonsai.  Even if you're lucky and they survive you won't know what you did to succeed.