When a person decides to create a bonsai, their ultimate goal should not be to maintain the tree's miniature size. To prevent the tree from growing and staying small, there is not much to do. Simply put, you can plant a small plant in a pot, trim all the overgrown branches, and you'll have a "dwarf" tree. But bonsai is much more than just a small tree planted in a pot.
To achieve the desired effect on the size and shape of the plant, it is necessary to know the special techniques of formation that have been used for quite some time to create bonsai, and without this knowledge, it is practically impossible to create a true bonsai. Therefore, formation is the most responsible process when working with bonsai. Understanding the principles of formation can be quite difficult for a beginner. First and foremost, you need to "train your eye." Carefully observe photos and drawings of bonsai, which can be found in many books and websites about bonsai. It is also essential to pay close attention to trees that grow in nature. This will help you understand why a particular specimen is beautiful, how the trunk is formed, what the proportions of the branches are, how the surface roots are spread, and many other nuances that are necessary for creating a bonsai. It would be good if you take pictures of trees you like and create a small catalog from these materials. Comparing your bonsai during the formation process with your desired model will significantly ease your work.
Next, we need to learn the techniques and laws of formation. Of course, it is not necessary to strictly follow these laws in order to create bonsai, and we can even break them. But at the beginning, we must first understand the basic parameters that are necessary to know. After gaining some experience, a person no longer thinks about rules and laws and independently makes decisions to achieve the desired result.
The key principle that must be known:
- The bonsai must have a clear front side, from which it should be viewed. It is impossible to make a bonsai that looks equally beautiful from all sides. Therefore, before starting the formation, it is necessary to select the future bonsai's "front facade". From this side, the plant should look the most effective.
- The lower part of the tree trunk, near the roots, should be the thickest, and then it should gradually taper towards the crown. It is not allowed for the middle part of the tree to be wider than the bottom.
- The bonsai's canopy should have an asymmetrical triangular shape.
- The lower third of the entire height of the tree should not have branches growing.
- The shape should be as natural as possible, and unreasonable deviations and bends are not allowed.
- It is preferable that large surface roots develop in all directions and are visible.
- During formation, one should avoid all symmetry and straight geometric shapes.
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