Natural Bonsai

Bonsai which are not trimmed or shaped but which are otherwise maintained are hereby termed natural bonsai. This means that the normal periodic root ball trimming and the systematic watering of a natural bonsai plant continue but the foilage is left unaltered.

The purpose of creating and maintaining natural bonsai over the long term (10K-100K years) is to preserve in miniture a wide variety of plants, particularly large trees and shrubs. This type of long term activity requires a succession of individuals, curators, who maintain the collections routinely. It is a safeguard against the loss of these species from catastrophic events.

Most multi-storied buildings have stairwells. It is suggested that the stairwell landings can be modified or can be originally designed to have secure extended landings (300 sq ft) in which both lighting and humidity can be independently controlled. While making such alcoves may slightly increase the cost of a building, it provides an excellent means to safely house natural bonsai. Such a landing should be able to effectively house at least 400 plants. Housing duplicate collections at different sites would be a reasonable precaution. Such a collection can be termed a "qualified collection."

The Japanese have a saying, "It takes 3 years to learn how to water bonsai." Since many of the plants in a qualified collection may be rare, it would seem prudent to develop a programmable device for systematic watering (most bonsai need to be watered at least twice a day). This would mean that once a schedule for a given species is determined, it can be used for similar plants in other qualified collections. Also a misting capability for the device might be helpful.

The systematic creation and support of qualified collections of natural bonsai in protected alcoves is a reasonable adjunct to the implementation of the Potlach Factor.

[The Potlach Factor is a set of standards for survival over the long term

involving the stockpiling critical resources and by deriving energy from active