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Most who want simple ‘bonsai’ trees are ill-served by traditional bonsai methods
- errcorrectcode 5y agoInteresting. I have a bonsai Jaboticaba tree. It keeps forming new leaves, so it's still alive. One issue is it gets leaf burn/browning on the outside edges. Soaking with tap water every few days for about a year. No fertilizer added. My grandmother had cypress and juniper bonsai that were roughly 80 years old.
- falcolas 5y agoOnline sources indicate they should probably get daily watering and occasional fertilizer. ref. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=masZFcGq8tg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=masZFcGq8tg
- errcorrectcode 5y agoThank you, internets :)
- soared 5y agoIm only familiar with houseplants and not trees, but for houseplants the tap water may contain chemicals/metals that brown the edges of leaves. People say to filter tap water, or supposedly leaving it out overnight works somehow.
- errcorrectcode 5y agoSounds like reducing chloramines (the smell of chlorine isn't from chlorine). I may do like I do for hydroponics: mix half tap and half RO water.
- ragnot 5y agoI can appreciate bonsai trees. But I always find that they always put my mind in a similar state to thinking about writing my own novel: something that I want to do when I think about it, but realize that I don't actually want to put in the work for it.
- richardatlarge 5y agoYes, as the article suggests, a lot of people stay away from bonsai because it smacks of effort, but it can be done simply and easily if you disregard the bonsai love of complexity, age, and perfection
- genewitch 5y agoNot really bonsai then, though. Burritos are not egg rolls. Bonsai inspired teacup trees or something.
- throwaway984393 5y agoThey're both just a form of calzone
- richardatlarge 5y agoWhat’s a bonsai is the question you’re headed towards. But when people buy a small simply styled tree in a pot, what are they to call it if not a bonsai. It’s a muddle because 99% of what’s sold as a bonsai is bought by people who do not want to become “bonsai” hobbyists
- makeitdouble 5y agoI smell a "Robot or not" episode coming in. I would assume Japanese people would call bonsai any plant in a recipient that has enough art to be enjoyable to watch. For instance I think moss is accepted, as long as it's artful and well groomed.
- kaybe 5y agoThat would be Kusamono. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kusamono_and_shitakusa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kusamono_and_shitakusa
- Nition 5y agoThe article has already played out both sides of this argument in detail for us - do we really need to repeat it here?
- hirundo 5y agoPerson who sells bonsai trees says bonsai is a fun and easy hobby. And makes a good case. Yes, they made trees in pots sound cool and whimsical. A Don Draper of shrubbery.
- mbg721 5y ago"Fun and easy" is almost the exact opposite of my perception of bonsai--when I think of it, I think "I can't even keep mint alive in my backyard. This is a meticulous science and if anyone makes the mistake of letting me touch a bonsai tree, I'm inadvertently going to kill something that's older than my grandparents." The article doesn't quite have me convinced, but it does sound like they're having fun.
- sp332 5y agoWhat on earth did you do to the mint?
- mbg721 5y agoI think I let the other variegated indigenous vegetation overtake it for a little too long. Whatever spiky leafy things we get here are even more aggressive than mint, apparently.
- Agentlien 5y agoWhat kind of climate do you live in? I live in Sweden, I have several types of mint in the garden and it's a constant hassle because they overtake and smother absolutely everything else.
- mbg721 5y agoMidwest US, so I guess that's some sort of continental temperate? I'm admittedly not the most diligent gardener, I just bought it to cook with and it came with the dirt attached to plant it.
- teruakohatu 5y agoLast year the author of this article had a problem with an e-scooter bandit stealing his bonsai trees! https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/122291004/bonsai-bandit-repeatedly-stole-plants-and-fled-on-scooter-owner-claims https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/122291004/bonsai-band...
- lmm 5y agoMany hobbies have a tension between catering to high-effort purists and to more casual people. (And while I think a lot of the Japanophilia in the post is beside the point, Japanese hobby culture does seem to tilt towards pursuing a single hobby to perfection over dabbling in several hobbies). The author mentions polishing an engine past the point that it actually makes a car go faster; I've seen similar things in some cycling cultures where people focus on getting the right bike parts to the point where it overwhelms the original intention of actually going for rides. Or gaming cultures, where serious players want everyone to play optimally so that they can practice their high-level skills, versus casual players who might enjoy it more if they roleplay or goof around a bit.
- darkerside 5y agoI think the gaming example is qualitatively different from the cycling example. In cycling, you've lost sight of the goal, which can be best served by cycling. Unless your hobby is actually building bikes, which I'd say is a different but valid hobby. In gaming, including sports, this tension is common, and it's satisfied by competing at an appropriate level.
- dmos62 5y agoThere's no goal in hobbies. To occupy self with a hobby is to be engaged in something for the sake of it.
- darkerside 5y agoThat's just one approach to hobbies. Some people lose themselves best in pursuit of a goal.
- dmos62 5y agoThat's true. I was thinking that hobby goals aren't real goals, because their real purpose is to entertain you, but then realised that all goals are like that at the end of the day.
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- EricE 5y agowow - that entry could really use an editor!
- RcouF1uZ4gsC 5y agoThis article that talks about the obsession with technique kind of reminds me about when developers talk. If someone mentions they made a web app, likely I will spend far more time asking them about the programming language, the architecture, the framework, etc than actually about what it does.
- Waterluvian 5y ago“ Bonsai is a serious craft, full of rituals and rules, and largely irrelevant for everyday plant lovers who like small trees and a bit of fun” This is basically true for every hobby and I always struggle the most to cut through all the unnecessary stuff when embarking on a new journey. I’m just wonderfully delighted and surprised when I come across a community of experts who “get it” and offer helpful, pragmatic advice.
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- bibabaloo 5y agoI think it's often hard to cut through the unnecessary stuff when researching a new hobby because the people talking about it the most are the ones that are deeply invested in it. I long for a collection of "good enough" guides to get started in hobbies.
- porknubbins 5y agoI thought of bonsai as a fun hobby and chic, slightly exotic decor element. When I went to Japan I was dissappointed that bonsai and ornamental horticulture in general is super serious and regarded as a boring, stuffy hobby by anyone under 60. In retrospect it makes total sense that bonsai is not as special there and the casual import version is actually more fun than the real thing. I think a lot of things are like this cross culturally.
- Cthulhu_ 5y agoI think it ties in with the "Cool Japan" strategy / perception (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cool_Japan); https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cool_Japan); the Japanese tourism industry and the western Japanese fetishists really want to push and believe in a certain aspect of Japan, involving meticulous craftsmanship, ancient traditions, etc. And I respect that. But the 'real' Japan is a lot less idyllic; from what I've heard, people are overworked, single, depressed, addicted, etc. But that too is probably lacking in nuance, because it's all second / third hand knowledge.
- porknubbins 5y agoI would say all the messages about meticulous craftsmanship etc are not wrong and that is the difficulty in some sense. When you encounter a foreign culture in its real full scale version its very from the safe toy imaginary version and not friendly to casual hobbyists.
- afarviral 5y agoAlternative: Make nice 3D Models of Bonsai instead
- tdrdt 5y agoTutorial for Blender: https://youtu.be/NNJiVmC1-kA https://youtu.be/NNJiVmC1-kA
- bodge5000 5y agoIronically thats not a bad idea, you can work on it over a long period of time (making small incremental improvements) like a bonsai tree, without the disadvantage of it keeling over if you don't. Of course you lack the physical touch (I assumed you meant digital 3D models, I guess 3D printing multiple iterations could work too), but you can win em all
- voiper1 5y agoOr buy a lego bonsai
- stonemetal12 5y agoThere is a Lego cherry blossom bonsai. instead of making a custom part for the flowers, they use pink frogs.
- cube00 5y agoI used to think bonsai was cute but when I learnt it's done by cutting off the young roots of the tree to stunt them and binding the branches with wire, I can't help but feel sad looking at them now. There's an argument that these trees get better care which I don't doubt but I look at the folded over fins of whales in captivity who are also getting the same "better care" and just wonder if humans should let nature do it's thing without getting in the way.
- hellbannedguy 5y agoI think plant are more intelligent than we think. I think just spending time with a plant might make it more healthy, even doing the bonsai thing which always kinda bothered me too. Yea--there are no citations. Just a wacky thought I have had for awhile.
- RC_ITR 5y agoI mean, if from an ethics/empathy standpoint, we can’t even exert our will over PLANTS, we are going to have trouble surviving as a species. We have to eat. You can argue that it’s better and more efficient to let other animals be, but you can’t really do the same with plants. What’s left then?
- pjc50 5y agoGiven this is HN I was expecting this to turn into "... and that's why we founded bons.ai, the on-demand bonsai service for the busy person using our unique TaaS technology". (boringly, bons.ai redirects to some desperately enterprise-looking Microsoft AI thing)
- Cthulhu_ 5y agoI dunno, I can imagine there would be a market for renting out bonsai trees to either offices (remember offices? Those were the days!) or homes. I mean it'd be a premium service, and you'd have to set up warranties and deposits and the like, but if you can have someone come over once a week or month or however often it needs maintenance (probably less frequently with an automatic watering system), it could be interesting. Note: This isn't a new concept per se, rental plants are a staple of many offices in the Netherlands. They're usually low maintenance, with someone passing by once a month for watering and other maintenance at the most.
- tdrdt 5y agoWhy should a hobby be a competition?
- soneca 5y agoI practice an extremely casual version of the hobby to the point it is not even a hobby. I did a bonsai course more than 20 years ago. I practiced in the course on my first tree that died weeks later. Then I bought another plant, created the bonsai using what I remembered from the course and I care to it to this day. It is not a pretty bonsai, most guests don’t even see it as bonsai I think, but it occupies a central place in my living room and I am proud of it. In a daily basis, I take care of it like any other plant. I trim it like once a year and I wired it only three times in those 20 years. To little dedication to call it a hobby, but it is a part of my life that I care.
- h2odragon 5y agoBonsai annuals are fun, easy, and not much investment to lose of you mess up. By July the garden shops' starter plants are often already started miniaturizing their leaves, you can often pickup a bunch of "damaged" plants for free. Leave them in the nursery pots and keep 'em alive and you can get awesome results. Peppers, tomatoes, and hemp all work well that way. Tomatoes can make fruits bigger than the plant, if you torture them right. Cucumbers are lovely as minis but are much harder to keep contained and harder to get to fruit. They grow their fruit too fast and its hard to get enough water into the plant without drowning it. Tobacco was entertaining to grow in a small pot, i got a 6ft plant that flowered in a 1L pot. it never had great leaves and it scavenged nutrients out of lower leaves to grow higher ones so it was all spindly. Never "miniaturized" the way other plants do. I suspect pumpkins and some other families would behave the same way.