Bonsai : Developing Fine Roots vs. Fine Branches

Getting fine roots is easy but getting fine branches (branch ramification) takes a long time.

Pics from Bonsai Hiko's Japanese blog

 For full story, visit : English translation of the Japanese page

2 yrs ago when I got started, I desperately wanted to know this but wherever I asked questions regarding it, I only got vague answers.

I had asked various bonsai artists their time estimate to re-grow all the branches of their tree, if everything was chopped down to a vertical trunk today. Nobody gave me a straight answer. Probably bcos they did not grow all the branches themselves. 

In the above example by the Japanese bonsai nursery, the branch ramification took 3 yrs probably bcos of the tiny pot and the cold climate of Japan. Maybe that time can be compressed to 1 yr in my climate, in a big nursery pot. The fine roots can be had in 2 months via air-layering or ground layering, when used along with the air pruning technique. Surface roots take longer time but still it can be achieved faster than the time required for fine branches.

In most of the progression stories I have seen, the branch ramification took place in a small bonsai pot and hence I straight away reject the time frame needed to achieve the result.