Illustrated Basics of Bonsai Tree Creation

Tree bonsai is commonly known as stump bonsai because old tree stumps are mostly used as the main material and focal feature. For the convenience of international exchange and unified systematic classification, we collectively refer to it as tree bonsai. The sources of bonsai stumps mainly fall into three aspects: field collection, artificial cultivation, and the use of other types of stump sources.

In the past, bonsai stumps were mainly dug from the mountains and wilds, and in some mountainous areas, even specialized households or markets devoted to digging and selling wild tree stumps came into being. Although stumps dug from the wild have been used to create some top-grade and fine bonsai works, and this has also played a certain role in the development of regional economies, digging stumps from the wild has caused damage to wild resources, and even deforestation for stump collection, resulting in soil erosion and environmental destruction. Therefore, it is clearly inadvisable and is a form of stump acquisition that should be avoided in the development of bonsai.