I feel their pain too, though thank god for pre-made trees now

^5!

and then you get cactus :)

I used to build dioramas.
I 1,000% relate to this!

Yeah, the struggle is real.

Just use the green frilly toothpicks. No one will notice.

I only buy pre-made trees.

I so know that feeling

BUT

I learned a good way to make trees.

Hemp rope cut to length of a pan, boil rope in water till it comes apart and straightens.
Cut to width of the tree
Baling wire cut to twice as tall as the tree + 1/2" for mounting.
Bend wire in half. Put hemp rope in between wires leaving 3/4 of the open clear.
Put open ends in drill chuck, put looped end in vise. Twist wire.
Spray paint and/or flock to liking.

Made hundreds of trees like this

The first one always takes a while.
The 20th not so long
the 2000th is mine numbing

Bottle brush tree methods are usable and make good trees, but they take time to do so. I have a jig I made to loop the bent end of the wire with a hand crank, no drill needed. Quick, snip off the ends, trim to size, paint, add ground foam, seal with hair spray, dust with second color of ground foam for highlighted edges. Takes time.

That is what we had back in the early 80s and as a 10year old figuring this out from an arctial in Model Railroader. or was if from Craftsman Model Railroad.

3277, ok - we will remember you :)

At least it makes the hobby last a while. If everything could be fished quickly, you'd constantly need to find something else to do. ;)