Anything worth collecting here?

[Dav4]

@Bonsai Nut isn't the “red” in ERC a reference to the wood color?
I agree on the naming…we should start a campaign to rename these trash trees.

The name 'ERC' is referring to the color of the wood, from what I understand as well. I have to say a full grown ERC makes a pretty decent landscape tree (saw many down south and all the way up on Cape Cod) but they're absolute trash bonsai material.

 

[The Barber]

On the other hand, you can graft Itoigawa to ERC. If you had an old gnarly collected ERC worthy of that effort, that would be pretty awesome.

 

[BrianBay9]

I've found several potential candidates in my complex and have taken some pictures because I'd like to know, beforehand, if they'd be worth pulling out of the ground. So please take a look and let me know what you think.

This first one is by far the most interesting. Found the original tag for this one saying it's a Blue Girl Holly Tree. One of the branches accidentally rooted itself to the ground, meaning I could just take it and not worry about trying to root cuttings.

Next is a Yew.

Now come a couple ERC... which I know aren't hugely popular, but a couple cool trunks.

None of these trees are big enough to bother with at this point. You could just as easily buy one gallon nursery material. Collected material should have something special - trunk girth, trunk movement, interesting deadwood - some character to make it worth it. Unless the place is going to be cleared and you just want to save the plants.

 

[Attmos]

I normally bow to your knowledge... but that's western juniper. Our eastern juniper is Juniperus virginiana. It is the tallest juniper east of the Mississippi, growing to 65' in rare cases. I have one that is 60'+ in my yard.

I literally have hundreds of these in my landscape - from seedling all the way up to large tree. They are the strongest growing thing in my property, and will grow in full sun to almost complete shade. I have not had any health issues with rust - but perhaps I am just lucky or isolated. Despite all of these praises, I can't really recommend them for bonsai in the same way that I don't recommend California juniper for bonsai - sparse scale foliage. Amazing at a distance... but hard to work with close up.

If some intrepid nurseryman ever comes up with a dwarf... I'll be first in line.

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Whoever came up with the name "red cedar" needs to be slapped. There is nothing "red" about the tree, and in fact, most of the time (with mature trees) has a steel blue tint due to massive amounts of juniper berries.
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This is how much growth you get from seedling in five years. Five years ago this was all grass and I saw this seedling popping up so I put down bark to protect it.
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I don't know about you but I think that's pretty impressive for five years... unless I'm mistaken it's like 4 or 5 feet tall. But yeah, I guess I'll take everyone's advice and put my energy into something worthwhile.

 

[Attmos]

None of these trees are big enough to bother with at this point. You could just as easily buy one gallon nursery material. Collected material should have something special - trunk girth, trunk movement, interesting deadwood - some character to make it worth it. Unless the place is going to be cleared and you just want to save the plants.

Got caught up in the romantic idea of starting one from Yamadori. Sadly, I don't like in the rocky mountains anymore and Ohio doesn't seem to have many natural candidates. Oh well. lol

 

[Bonsai Nut]

I don't know about you but I think that's pretty impressive for five years... unless I'm mistaken it's like 4 or 5 feet tall.

It's actually about 9'. Love them in the landscape!

 

[The Barber]

Got caught up in the romantic idea of starting one from Yamadori. Sadly, I don't like in the rocky mountains anymore and Ohio doesn't seem to have many natural candidates. Oh well. lol

I think you'll be surprised. The issue in Ohio I would be that most of the forests were replaced with corn and soybeans. If you can find creek beds to search you might luck into some American hornbeam up there, they make great native deciduous bonsai. Ask some farmers if you can search the patches of woods they use to control wind erosion at the backs of their farms, those might be good options as well.

 

[Attmos]

Honestly, if you can get about 8" of soil around that holly youll get most of the roots. Id collect now and keep in a shaded spot since someone might forget they gave you permission.

Before I take the Holly, I will get specific permission.. But it's really the only one I'm serious about. I've given up the ERC dream. lol

 

[Attmos]

I think you'll be surprised. The issue in Ohio I would be that most of the forests were replaced with corn and soybeans. If you can find creek beds to search you might luck into some American hornbeam up there, they make great native deciduous bonsai. Ask some farmers if you can search the patches of woods they use to control wind erosion at the backs of their farms, those might be good options as well.

Yeah I used to see Hornbeam as a kid, I called it Ironwood. I moved out of Ohio when I was 19 and just came back about ten years ago. I know some places I can look but I mean, most of what I see these days are Cottonwood, Silver and Sugar maple, Swamp White Oak, Honeysuckle, ERC, lol, the list goes on and on.

I don't think I'm gonna stop looking, I just need to familiarize myself with what to look for.

 

[The Barber]

Yeah I used to see Hornbeam as a kid, I called it Ironwood. I moved out of Ohio when I was 19 and just came back about ten years ago. I know some places I can look but I mean, most of what I see these days are Cottonwood, Silver and Sugar maple, Swamp White Oak, Honeysuckle, ERC, lol, the list goes on and on.

I don't think I'm gonna stop looking, I just need to familiarize myself with what to look for.

Honestly, the best advice I can give is this. Look at every highly developed bonsai you can get your eyes on and study them in depth. Eventually you'll figure out what you want from a tree, and what styles you love. Find trees that speak to you. It isn't a bad idea to collect less interesting material and learn how to keep it alive with the right aftercare. When you kill a majorly nice piece of material it hurts. The big reason behind collecting "yamadori" is to find material that has some age and can save you years of grow out. Look for trees with a nice base, nebari, and trunk, visualize where you can go from there. It is all about potential. If you, or anyone else from the forum for that matter want to make plans and drive to central Kentucky in the winter, or spring, I have 100+ acres we can collect from, and you can tag along and dig a few trees.

 

[Attmos]

Honestly, the best advice I can give is this. Look at every highly developed bonsai you can get your eyes on and study them in depth. Eventually you'll figure out what you want from a tree, and what styles you love. Find trees that speak to you. It isn't a bad idea to collect less interesting material and learn how to keep it alive with the right aftercare. When you kill a majorly nice piece of material it hurts. The big reason behind collecting "yamadori" is to find material that has some age and can save you years of grow out. Look for trees with a nice base, nebari, and trunk, visualize where you can go from there. It is all about potential. If you, or anyone else from the forum for that matter want to make plans and drive to central Kentucky in the winter, or spring, I have 100+ acres we can collect from, and you can tag along and dig a few trees.

Wow... That's a very nice offer to make.
I I'll keep your advice in mind as I look. Thank you.