Sango Kaku Material Worth Airlayering?

[rockm]

Well you convinced me. I found a local bonsai nursery, Gray to Green Nursery (you can check em out on instagram) that travels nearby to sell their trees on Saturdays. I'll give them a visit and see what I find! I don't mind killing raw material, I'd just feel bad killing a tree someone else put a lot of time into. I guess I just need to push past that.

Thanks for the thoughtful reply.

If your budget for an established tree is less than $100, you're not going to be killing a tree (if that's how things end up) that has had a lot of work invested in it. You will be working on a tree that has had mostly establishing work done to it, buying five or six years worth of time. If you spend $500-$1000 on an established tree then is the time to be concerned about other's work-however, since you bought the tree (and the seller sold it) it is YOUR tree. Presumably the seller hasn't any interest in it anymore or they wouldn't be selling it. In the case of bonsai sold in stores, those trees are mass produced by the thousands and sold as commodities.

I've sold a few bonsai at club auctions and privately. I sold them because I had no more room for them, or got bored with them and wanted to move them on in their development--which a new owner would do.

Working on a tree that you acquired from someone else is a big part of bonsai. No tree is the product of one owner--that's never been the case in Japan and typically isn't the case in the west either. Bonsai, good bonsai that has been around awhile is the product of many owners. Even those that don't last 100 years are products of more than one person.

FWIW, the Western impulse to "make a tree of my own" is counterproductive and a bit blind...

 

[SerSwanky]

If your budget for an established tree is less than $100, you're not going to be killing a tree (if that's how things end up) that has had a lot of work invested in it. You will be working on a tree that has had mostly establishing work done to it, buying five or six years worth of time. If you spend $500-$1000 on an established tree then is the time to be concerned about other's work-however, since you bought the tree (and the seller sold it) it is YOUR tree. Presumably the seller hasn't any interest in it anymore or they wouldn't be selling it. In the case of bonsai sold in stores, those trees are mass produced by the thousands and sold as commodities.

I've sold a few bonsai at club auctions and privately. I sold them because I had no more room for them, or got bored with them and wanted to move them on in their development--which a new owner would do.

Working on a tree that you acquired from someone else is a big part of bonsai. No tree is the product of one owner--that's never been the case in Japan and typically isn't the case in the west either. Bonsai, good bonsai that has been around awhile is the product of many owners. Even those that don't last 100 years are products of more than one person.

FWIW, the Western impulse to "make a tree of my own" is counterproductive and a bit blind...

That helps put things into perspective. I definitely have a more ignorant mindset not really based off anything rooted in bonsai culture or what would be considered bonsai community cultural norms. So this puts my mind at ease.