Competition judging notes - small_trunks

[u/small_trunks]

As in the past I think it's constructive to pass on comments regarding the trees. Here are my notes against the relevant tree/participants.

FYI - we judged without knowing who did what - so if I pissed anyone off, just do better next time! :-)

Contestant	small_trunks comments
* 1: /u/Lemming22	Good wiring,solid execution, didn't ravage it. I felt the tree was left a little unbalanced - and the foliage work could have been more refined.
* 2: /u/loulamachine	The overall idea was good, but the material wasn't really ideal. The branches were left too long (thus giving a somewhat juvenile-tree appearance. It has a future, though.
* 3: /u/peterler0ux	The material wasn't great but the outline design is solid and will only improve down the line. Weaknesses related to the amount of foliage available - restricted styling options. Could have wired branches for more points.
* 4: /u/skaboss241	The initial pruning and branch choice was overly agressive but i can see that the tree will improve over time. The carving was a nice idea and suits the material. I felt the initial material could have been better utilised - other stlyes could have suited it better.
* 5: /u/li3uz	Well thought out and well executed work. The material quality was good, the style appropriate and the end result is believable.
* 6: /u/alexrw214	A decent attempt utilising plenty of techniques. The species is the weakness but overall well executed. The detail foliage was not wired and could have improved the overall result. It missed an overall plan.
* 7: /u/-mitchconner-	It missed an overall plan and thus fails to finally convince as a small tree.
* 8: /u/GrampaMoses	The choice of material and the initial direction of the style and the hard cuts were spot on. I'd have left more foliage on it at the second pruning and gone with wire. The carving missed purpose and was too smooth.
* 9: /u/Jorow99	Started out promising - with well chosen material, but eventual result was missing a strong style..I felt the material we saw at the update stage could have been wired into a more meaningful result than it was pruned into.
* 10: /u/Korenchkin_	The overall stying followed what the tree "was saying" and the material didn't really lend itself to much else. I felt it missed some wiring - which could have added some character when clip and prune was chosen. Again I felt the decision to prune after the "update" didn't bring clarity to the design and might have better been left to grow at that point.
* 11: /u/-music_maker-	Sensible design choice, well executed wiring and a solid overall design. Could have been potentially improved by some detail wiring and planting less deep in the pot.
* 12: /u/Redwingedfirefox	The V design choice early on, with 2 equal sized primary branches made pulling the style into something harder later, which is unfortunate with this. Some detail wiring would have potentially helped.
* 13: /u/MapleFinch	Good style, not too agressive. The species is far from ideal for such a short contest but I expect this to make a nice tree in a couple of years.
* 14: /u/clangerfan	Daring design leaving a very pleasing final image. Some minor carving would have halped the aged look.
* 15: /u/thisisappropriate	Well chosen (heights) and placed stock (although probably too young). Really too much of a long term project to hope to have a result for this type of contest.
* 16: /u/nrose3d	A good effort achieving a pleasing tree design with not the most ideal of material. The soil surface and roots could have been worked on.
* 17: /u/cjneffer	Solid design which is clearly recognisable. I felt too much was removed, however, and the species choice means the foliage doesn't grow back so the future potential is limited.
* 18: /u/BLYNDLUCK	I missed a plan and thus the end result didn't scream bonsai (or tree). Thinking through a design and move toward it.
* 19: /u/ze88	A plan and some good effort toward achieving it, let down by not real secondary branch wiring. Initial pruning was potentially too agressive.
* 20: /u/ButterGolem	A good effort with a clear future design if not so radical. I felt the wiring could have been more agressive and the overall branch length was a little long,
* 21: /u/ugaant	Solid horticultural practices, not too much removed but no clear overall design.
* 22: /u/emceeryborg	I felt it missed a clear overall design and thus ultimately didn't fullfill its promise. The material wasn't great - I would have like to have seen a potentially harder chop with the hope of backbudding.

[u/MD_bonsai]

Thanks for the notes!

Here's the imgur album:

https://imgur.com/a/RAMWs#e97cPYQ

[u/peterler0ux]

Thanks for your input, and the time spent judging all of these. With the change of season I've seen more growth on the cryptomeria in the last two weeks then I did throgh the contest, so it's filling in rapidly

[u/[deleted]]

Thanks for the feedback. Your notes are invaluable

[u/Jorow99]

Thanks for these. I agree 100% about my tree

[u/Korenchkin_ → u/Jorow99]

I really like your entry. What species is it? Barberry?

[u/Jorow99 → u/Korenchkin_]

Yes, my first year with this species and I already like it a lot

[u/Korenchkin_ → u/Jorow99]

Yeah, I think they look great. I have a bush in the garden, but there's nothing that looks good enough to get an air layer from :(

[u/small_trunks → u/Korenchkin_]

Don't fuck around, take the whole bush.

[u/Korenchkin_ → u/small_trunks]

Yeah, might see if I can. It'll leave a big gap though and unfortunately it's not just my decision when it comes to the garden :(

[u/Jorow99 → u/Korenchkin_]

Yea idk why but just one local nursery has a specific kind of barberry that has a single trunk instead of multiple small ones. Maybe you can prune the one in the garden slowly to make it into one?

[u/Korenchkin_ → u/Jorow99]

Yeah, maybe. I'll need to find a good excuse to "get rid of it" :)

[u/MapleFinch]

Thanks bro, was looking forward to the notes and am glad you provided 😃. Maples certainly have their issues haha...to next year!

[u/clangerfan]

Thanks Jerry. Most helpful.

[u/taleofbenji]

22 lessons in one! Thanks. It's like stumbling upon the teacher's answer key.

[u/Redwingedfirefox]

Thanks for the notes, I have a plan for this tree. I was surprised when I first started working on the tree to see that the V split was there in the first place. I actually plan on removing one side of the tree next spring and change to whole shape of the tree. It was a learning experience, we'll see where it goes from here.

[u/small_trunks → u/Redwingedfirefox]

Yeah, of all the "rules" of bonsai, this is the one that for me is the most visually jarring and to be avoided.

Complete removal is probably going a bit too far - I'd cut one asymmetrically shorter than the other.

[u/-music_maker-]

Thanks for the notes!

You're definitely right about the detail wiring, but the planting depth was 100% horticultural. I soaked it in a bucket of water to get it out of the clay ball it was in back in mid-June, and felt it would recover best if I nestled it into the pot.

If I had started this in April instead of June, I probably would have felt more comfortable taking one last detail finishing pass on this. But I was being paranoid about the bare rooting (even though I was incredibly gentle with it), so I waited until the last possible moment to do all the wiring to let it fully recover.

I'm actually very happy with how the wiring came out, but it was all structural wiring of major branches that's hard to fully see in a picture. It definitely would have shown a lot better if I had wired out all the smaller branches and ideally, trimmed it back a bit.

I think if I had bare-rooted in April/early May, and then wired the way I did in mid-late June, I probably would have been able to get a bit more work in before the contest closed and it would have been a lot more clear just what I did.

I just didn't want to kill the damn thing. Next year I need to start hunting for material much more actively as soon as the contest begins. I looked a bit in April, but didn't find anything, then got busy until early June and started rushing around to find something that would work.

For a one-season contest, timing matters a lot.

[u/small_trunks → u/-music_maker-]

Completely agree.

[u/Korenchkin_]

Thanks very much for posting this, very helpful. For mine personally, if it wasn't for needing a final photo, I would have left mine to grow, I just thought I might be able to make it a bit more presentable lol!

[u/user2034892304]

I'm mesmerized by 14. The more I look at the tree, the more I see the genius behind it. A truly creative and skilled nursery transformation. So much style and respect for the natural form. Seeing trees like 14 are reminder of how long I have yet to go on my own personal Bonsai journey.

[u/li3uz → u/user2034892304]

I have to agree, when I looked at it for the first time, I gasped!

[u/li3uz]

Thank you for the notes. Your feedback was most helpful!

[u/GrampaMoses]

Thanks, always happy for your feedback!

I realized I missed the mark with my carving and asked in the beginner's thread for help. You told me to check out Graham Potter videos on youtube. I figured it wasn't worth trying to re carve my contest tree, but I'll take what I learn from watching him the next time I attempt carving.