36year old American Sweetgum --whats it worth ?

[Corrado]

I am thinking of moving and the thought of all the trees getting damaged wears heavy on my mind. Maybe its time to let someone else care and enjoy this beauty .It has a nice story to go. NOt knowing pirces for these trees what kind of a range should I be looking at? It is ver y healthy hardy (NY) and disease free.Been in my care of 36 years from a twig.

 

[parhamr]

I could see this going for somewhere between $100 to $200. The upper range would be more likely with documentation, development photos, and a backstory.

If the pot is from a known artist then that could further push up the price.

 

[rockm]

I am thinking of moving and the thought of all the trees getting damaged wears heavy on my mind. Maybe its time to let someone else care and enjoy this beauty .It has a nice story to go. NOt knowing pirces for these trees what kind of a range should I be looking at? It is ver y healthy hardy (NY) and disease free.Been in my care of 36 years from a twig.

Nice tree, especially for a sweetgum. Price always depends on who's doing the paying. Given the species and especially one that well developed, I'd expect you could do vastly better than $100-$200 bucks. Adding your location to your basic info would help determine what to expect. People unfamiliar with the difficulties with this species aren't your market.

 

[Gsquared]

If you are wanting to sell trees, you might want to check out the for sale section of the forum. I hear a lot of people use the Facebook sale pages too. I’ve looked and some of the prices people get are astoundingly high. Wish I’d known about it when I sold off half of my collection last year. Would have easily tripled my sales prices! Of course the disadvantage is having to figure out shipping and slowly watching your collection dwindle tree by tree. I sold mine as a group to a fellow San Diego club member who was wanting trees for his new bonsai shop. Made for an easy transaction and fairly painless since I got handed cash and the trees just got loaded in his van. I didn’t have to stress about saying goodbye for more than an afternoon.

If you are wanting to keep your collection, and you think the trees will survive in your new location, take them with you. I’ve successfully moved my trees 3x and always rented a truck and driven them myself. Last move was 1100 miles in August and everything went great. It was three days of 90-100 temps, so would just try to air out the truck every couple of hours when I could.

You are smart for trying to get market info in advance, but watching what thing are actually selling for might give you a better gauge. Region and time of year can make a big difference in prices.

 

[GrimLore]

It is ver y healthy hardy (NY) and disease free.

What area/region and zone? Reason I ask is I have spent years in many parts of the State and I can give you a fairly good idea based on that info

Grimmy

 

[discusmike]

Facebook auction would be a good place if you cannot find a buyer here

 

[rockm]

If you are wanting to sell trees, you might want to check out the for sale section of the forum. I hear a lot of people use the Facebook sale pages too. I’ve looked and some of the prices people get are astoundingly high. Wish I’d known about it when I sold off half of my collection last year. Would have easily tripled my sales prices! Of course the disadvantage is having to figure out shipping and slowly watching your collection dwindle tree by tree. I sold mine as a group to a fellow San Diego club member who was wanting trees for his new bonsai shop. Made for an easy transaction and fairly painless since I got handed cash and the trees just got loaded in his van. I didn’t have to stress about saying goodbye for more than an afternoon.

If you are wanting to keep your collection, and you think the trees will survive in your new location, take them with you. I’ve successfully moved my trees 3x and always rented a truck and driven them myself. Last move was 1100 miles in August and everything went great. It was three days of 90-100 temps, so would just try to air out the truck every couple of hours when I could.

You are smart for trying to get market info in advance, but watching what thing are actually selling for might give you a better gauge. Region and time of year can make a big difference in prices.

I'd second this. If your worried about damage, selling online is probably a no-go. Shipping can mean breakage or even destruction if you pack the tree inadequately. Local sales, through a club, for instance, might offer a better home for the tree, but may not bring the highest price as might be realized online.

 

[namnhi]

I'll pay 400.00 if you want to ship it to me. Nice sweetgum.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

That is the nicest sweet gum I've seen. The top could use a little rework, but fantastic tree. Thanks for sharing.

Something is only worth what someone would would pay for it is what my dad always said, but the "for sale" section of this forum would be a great place to find out.

 

[Corrado]

OK, Had to do some errands. YEah I'm located on Long Island, New York which is zone 7. Up north Sweetgums naturally grow to about the very lower hudon valley possibly lower CT at its extreme range. Ive seen them down in Florida . It is a very hardy tree and I just put the whole theing in the ground pot and all when Dec arrives just before our freeze. Come march when the buds start greening I lift it out rinse off the mulch and dirt and enjoy or repot when needed. Ive never lost a tree this way. We get down to zero and once in a while minus a few degrees for a night or two. It autumn colors beautifully. I will check out the forum classified prices but I don't see much on American Sweetgum. Thanks for that offer namnhi, but I'm hoping there may be someone near my location that could safely pick it up.

 

[GrimLore]

OK, Had to do some errands. YEah I'm located on Long Island, New York which is zone 7. Up north Sweetgums naturally grow to about the very lower hudon valley possibly lower CT at its extreme range. Ive seen them down in Florida . It is a very hardy tree and I just put the whole theing in the ground pot and all when Dec arrives just before our freeze. Come march when the buds start greening I lift it out rinse off the mulch and dirt and enjoy or repot when needed. Ive never lost a tree this way. We get down to zero and once in a while minus a few degrees for a night or two. It autumn colors beautifully. I will check out the forum classified prices but I don't see much on American Sweetgum. Thanks for that offer namnhi, but I'm hoping there may be someone near my location that could safely pick it up.

Having that information coupled with the stated history and age of that Plant along with it being an UNUSALLY well developed tree I would go this route as your location is very easy to get to for MANY -

1) Offer it potted as pictured for 500.00USD client pickup.
2) Go no lower then 400.00USD if the client has to travel 4 hours plus.

Serious that is a unique tree as is. Yes it needs more work and such but has huge potential for what it is.

If you don't get a bite, move it with you until you do or you will be throwing away all of those years.

Grimmy

 

[Corrado]

Thankyou for summing it up for me. I was thinking pretty close to those lines. I have to tell you that to see it in person is much more impressive than these pictures. Its fully barked. I had just gotten married back in 1980 when I bit the bug for bonsai. So I bought this less than pencil sized seedling probably for about $10-15 .It was straight with a few side shoots. I remember looking at it thinking how it was going to become some great tree one day.(dreaming) About 3 years into it a hurricane hit oh about 1984 and my father in law who owned a Deli had a shed which housed recycleable aluminum cans and bottles for the 5 cent return blew down over the table which my bonsai were sitting. The trunk was snapped right off leaving stump about 3-4 inches tall. Rather than throw it away I figured I'm watering everything else ,why not continue and see what happens. It would make a good practice tree too. 3 buds formed almost 120 degrees around the cutoff. They became long shoots of which after many years became subtrunks.I was envisioning some sort of broom style at that point--LOL. The 3 subtrunks naturally got well branched . Then about 12 years ago one of them died back. I was perplexed about it because the rest of the tree was healthy. I later found out for sweetgums you don't prune these in the fall before dormancy, you prune in spring when theres life flowing or you can get dieback. OK. So I cut that off and it became a twin trunk broom style for a while. Then one day as I was staring at it walking around and around I spotted just what I had envisioned to make a gnarly twisted looking trunk. By taking off the last of the subtrunks it left this informal upright shape ! I was elated!! All the branches are in much better scale to the trunk as well. My dream was to do the American Red Maple (Acer Rubrum) which has outrageous fall color,but Ive failed at several attempts. I actually have one right now that flowers for me. Its a practice tree but theres a little potential hope of air rooting the upper structure from the bottom. My other small maple is coming along nicely but I'm not sure yet if it is in fact a red maple. Its amazing as the years go by and your caring and observations over these living trees give you a lot of wisdom. Now I'm off in another direction growing figs. At least with those you can eat. LOL. ps- I'm still alive with the Ume Mutsabara which is flowering each spring for me. The guy that sold it to me gave me the ugliest workable tree you could imagine so I'm waiting to see if I get any air roots right under the clump of shoots where it flowers from. IF I'm successful this will be some awesome bonsai. below is the ume and a crabapple Indian Magic . The crab has over 100 flowers almost ready to open. Ibe worked with that one for over 15 years. The Chojubai is a weird one but its now flowering alittle .

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Nice sweet gum. It should fetch more than $500 if you get it in front of the right bidders...then again, if you only want $300 for it, I’ll send you the money right now.?
@Bonsai Nut took me to the San Gabriel nursery a few months ago, and their sweet gums were on up there in price.

 

[Corrado]

San Gabriel Nursery--wow, they are still in business!! I have them listed in several of my magazines from years ago. ID be drooling over their Atlas Cedars I bet. One thing on these sweetgums. I also have a nicely developed Oriental sweetgum. So far though the fall color is disappointing . I will be watching for this down the road. It buds very tightly and easily but for me its all about the fall color.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

I think the OP's tree has a lot going for it. It has a nice natural line and taper without big flaws. It needs refinement and ramification, but that is just icing on the cake.

I personally would jump on it for $300... which means it is worth more than that Put it in a show pot with two years of finish ramification work and I personally think it would fetch over 1k.

 

[namnhi]

This thread make me thinking about the price of my trees. I haven't been in bonsai for that long but I think most of my trees are worth much more than what some of the buyers willing to pay. For that reason, I have a hard time selling any of them. Because of that thinking, I often have a thought in the back of my mind about I rather give it to someone that will take care of the tree than sell it to someone for less. Am not sure how much the OP think this tree worth but to me it worth a lot more than 500. There is a lot of history and sentimental value in this tree to the OP.
I hope he can take it with him.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

I haven't been in bonsai for that long but I think most of my trees are worth much more than what some of the buyers willing to pay.

I think you meant to say "most of my trees are worth much more TO ME than what some of the buyers are willing to pay". And I'm not trying to argue the point, because I agree with you. Many of my trees are worth more to me than someone would be willing to pay. To me they have a story, a journey, years of a relationship, dreams dashed or realized. To have someone look at a tree that I have doted on for ten years, and critically say "not worth $100" is crushing. But they may be right

 

[leatherback]

most of my trees are worth much more TO ME than what some of the buyers are willing to pay". [...] To have someone look at a tree that I have doted on for ten years, and critically say "not worth $100" is crushing. But they may be right

This is really important to keep in mind, always.

I am considering getting rid of 10-20 trees, as I am growing trees in pots stacked on the ground around the lawn now; I just have too many. I am seriously considering asking the person running our working group to come by, and select the 20 trees with least long-term potential, and the 10 best "Must keep or sell expensive" trees for me. Then I get some independent assistence in improving what I keep, while thinning the 'emotional uglies' out.

Trees are worth what people are willing to pay for it, I suppose. I do not know the species so cannot tell what this one should fetch

 

[namnhi]

I think you meant to say "most of my trees are worth much more TO ME than what some of the buyers are willing to pay". And I'm not trying to argue the point, because I agree with you. Many of my trees are worth more to me than someone would be willing to pay. To me they have a story, a journey, years of a relationship, dreams dashed or realized. To have someone look at a tree that I have doted on for ten years, and critically say "not worth $100" is crushing. But they may be right

Precisely Mr. Nut. Well put.

 

[rockm]

I think you meant to say "most of my trees are worth much more TO ME than what some of the buyers are willing to pay". And I'm not trying to argue the point, because I agree with you. Many of my trees are worth more to me than someone would be willing to pay. To me they have a story, a journey, years of a relationship, dreams dashed or realized. To have someone look at a tree that I have doted on for ten years, and critically say "not worth $100" is crushing. But they may be right

That is one of the mottos for selling bonsai. A tree you have worked on for 25 years becomes mostly a commodity when put on the market. The vast majority will bring a fraction of what YOU think they're worth.

BTW, this tree apparently is a North American sweetgum and isn't as common as the Asian sweetgums sold out in California at the bonsai nurseries. For comparison, here's Vaughn Bantings' liquidamber styraciflua (American Sweetgum) in the National Arb's collection. It is about twice the size of this one for reference.