| Steve Pilacik - USA * |
Steve PilacikUSA
Steve Pilacik- has been studying the art of bonsai for 33 years. During this time Steve has served as President of many Bonsai Clubs, the Mid-Atlantic Bonsai Society organized and initiated one new Bonsai Club. Written numerous articles for all major bonsai publications. Wrote Japanese Black Pine, originally, in 1988, and revised and published today’s book in 1992. Steve’s newest endeavors include a series of Madness DVD’s. Today Steve is devoting much of his time in improving the trees in his collection. His techniques used to style trees have set his tree apart as Art. The tree I chose to display in this book is a tree I have had in my collection since 1987. This tree is first pictured in my book, Japanese Black Pine on page ix. The tree was originally from Japan and was classified as advanced bonsai stock. The tree followed all of my moves. The tree flourished in Philadelphia, was very neglected in West Virginia, and made the last journey to Fuquay Varina, NC. The tree was recovering from lack of sun and an infestation of shoot tip moth. You could see the tree smiling in the sun. Then due to a very dumb move on my part the tree reached the edge of death. The fall of the past year I sprayed herbicide in my fields. I thought, I cleaned the applicator thoroughly, but when I sprayed my trees for insects and fungus the following spring, I found out the truth. There was herbicide residue left in the applicator. This tree lost 60-70% of its growth. The tree went into shock and lost its vigor. Over a five-year period the vigor and health was restored. The main picture of the tree shows the tree after grooming, which included wiring and pruning. The second picture (me by the tree) shows the tree ready for next spring, after needle plucking. I use this tree to show students and bonsai artists how a with little patience and knowledge one can not only restore a good tree but also make it even better. In fact due to the traumatic history of the tree we have named it “Will To Survive”. The future of the tree will be defined through refining the branches and developing more ramifications of the secondary branches.
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