3 Year Rule

[lackhand]

I was just reading through some of Colin Lewis' articles on his site and found this one that really rung true for me. The last half, he explains his three year rule.

Read the article here.

In particular, I liked that he talked about it taking three years to learn the basics of bonsai care. Then three years to really get the feel of working with a new species.

Maybe I just like it because it makes me feel better about where I am in my bonsai journey. I'm finally getting to the point where I'm feeling a bit more comfortable working on trees. Still have a few years to learn about all my Aus natives, but that will come.



How long did it take you to get the basics down? Does three years seem about right? What about three years applied to repotting?

[bodhidharma]

How long did it take you to get the basics down? Does three years seem about right? What about three years applied to repotting?

Wow, you would have to take a lot of things in account.
(1 The interest of the person and the desire to learn.
(2 The intelligence of the person and how quickly they get "it"
(3 The finances of the person as to how much stock they can acquire.
(4 The ego of the person and their ability to take advice.
(5 The sociability of the person as to them wanting to join a club.
(6 The time constraints of a person whether they have the time to spend learning.
(7 Last but not least, the artistic nature of a person and their ability to "see" the result they are trying to achieve.
All things i have had to deal with and still dealing with to achieve the one incredible Bonsai Art piece.
Feel free to add

[Jason]

I'll let you know in a year and a half

Agree with you Bodhi, another thing you could even into account is your childhood or what you learnt prior to stepping into bonsai. My old man ran a nursery when I was young for example, where I spent a lot of time, which might just help me learn that little bit quicker

[lackhand]

Yes, but you could also say that you just started earlier on that part. There are definitely some who will have either horticultural or stylistic experience more than others, and that might kick start them in some ways. I think there are some things you can't rush though. You need to see your trees cycle through a certain number of seasons in order to get the feel for that. You need to watch a tree respond to repotting or pruning a certain number of times in order to really understand and predict the response.

Quality of trees and teacher, and quantity of time spent doing it can really help, but there really isn't any substitute for good old time in bonsai.

[Elmar]

Hi Lackhand,
Are you just asking how people feel about the rule or did you intend to discuss it a little?
I'm 2 months into the three years so can't really comment … but it would be interesting to discuss some points he raised.

[GavinG]

Still learning, 40 years on. Still learning basics, too. Damn.

Take the time you need. When you look at your first trees after five years, there are things that they will tell you. You will grow. There's no magic formula.

Have fun,

Gavin