How to improve your collection

From BonsaiWIKI

Some miscellaneous tips for improving your bonsai collection

1. Get rid of inferior material. This will immediately raise the quality of your collection and allow you to spend more time refining your best trees instead of maintaining the rubbish. Be objective - if a tree doesn't have a future, there's little sense in maintaining it.

2. Work smart. Get in tuned with the seasonal clock to perform activities when they'll do the most good. Pinching and pruning on time is much more effective when done at the proper point in the tree's development.

3. Make your money work for you. You're best off spending your time on trees that are worth the effort. If you intend to spend 50 hours a year on a tree you're justified in having good material to begin with. Spend money on a few pieces of excellent stock rather than many inferior pieces.

3. Learn to graft. Grafting is a great way to raise the quality of your material.

4. Pay attention to the roots and pruning scars. Good bonsai are built on a good foundation. Defects in the root system are among the most time consuming to correct.

5. Defoliation is a useful tool in regulating growth and improving ramification