You thought Ebay was bad...I keep looking at this straight stick in the pot.

Etsy is a great site for handcrafted items. I was curious if any bonsai was listed. One seller...must have bought out an entire box store bonsai batch. I hope they unglued those rocks in the pots. Still have the plastic tags that come with generic info calling them all house plants no doubt. As my juniper was one that I picked up thinking...I can't believe I am buying this...I never thought I liked this style of bonsai...and yet. Add a sentiment rock under it and I am a sucker. (Rolling eyes) a friend was kind enough to say...get that glue off that tree or it will die! And I found this site to learn more.
 
Bonsai Nut said:
Not for $75!

Darlene you can do MUCH better. Send an email to Brent and say "here's $75 send me a nice shimpaku juniper for someone starting out" and see what you get. It will be 10x better.
Click to expand...

Your sweet...no not interested in purchasing. Looking for a trailing rosemary bonsai...ABCarver has me in awe of his...I have a juniper mame I guess...so several years before I decide if it will go into a cascade or do something unusual with it.

I thought the price with the pot was decent...guess I am still new to the game. If $75 isn't a good buy. Thanks for the heads up!

The stick in the pot for $30...ludicrous. That I did know though. :o
 
The reason why I said what I did is that is a nursery plant that someone bought from Home Depot for $10, trimmed a few branches, stuck in in a $5 Chinese pot, and is now selling it for $75.

Now SOMETIMES you can find decent bonsai material in nurseries... particularly if they are old private nurseries with a bunch of trees that have been "sitting in the back" for 20+ years. But generally you are better off starting with pre-bonsai material that has been grown for the sole purpose of turning into bonsai.

My first bonsai tree looked a lot like this tree :) It's because I bought it at a garden center :)
 
I think the Baobab tree is priced that high because of the inferred rarity/novelty of that species. The Juniper is just exploiting the word 'bonsai' for a quick profit - 'etsy-sai'?

---edited after re-reading the description....
 
Last edited:
Bonsai Nut said:
The reason why I said what I did is that is a nursery plant that someone bought from Home Depot for $10, trimmed a few branches, stuck in in a $5 Chinese pot, and is now selling it for $75.

Now SOMETIMES you can find decent bonsai material in nurseries... particularly if they are old private nurseries with a bunch of trees that have been "sitting in the back" for 20+ years. But generally you are better off starting with pre-bonsai material that has been grown for the sole purpose of turning into bonsai.

My first bonsai tree looked a lot like this tree :) It's because I bought it at a garden center :)
Click to expand...

Going back to the juniper...I noticed it does not have the secondary branches I guess you would call them...trained. Just pruned to resemble the shape of a cascade. If you really do look at it. At a quick glance...It gives the appearance of a put together bonsai.

I think I get the pre-bonsai part now...and how it can be significant. Not that ones haven't done well with nursery stock or collected pieces. But to pay for one of better quality and have better results for the same amount.
 
Cadillactaste said:
I think I get the pre-bonsai part now...and how it can be significant. Not that ones haven't done well with nursery stock or collected pieces. But to pay for one of better quality and have better results for the same amount.
Click to expand...

You're absolutely right:

The branches have never been wired. You can see how they are straight lines from the trunk.

The foliage has never been pinched or reduced. You can see how the foliage is straggly and only occurs at the ends of the branches.

Things not so obvious that can be real problems:

The roots and nebari were never developed for bonsai. This plant may have one long tap root with very little surface rootage. It appears to go straight into the soil without a flare at the soil line - which is often the sign of no surface roots. This is very hard to "fix".

The trunk was never developed for bonsai. Not only does it not taper, but it is straight and has no character. The "weeping" aspect that is initially appealing is the natural growth habit of this tree - it is a groundcover shrub. Having a weeping trunk is very different from having a trunk that appears to WANT to grow upright, but has been beaten down by time and the elements.

The golden rule of bonsai evaluation - always start at the roots and work your way up. The roots are the most important, take the longest time to develop, and are the hardest to fix. Next is the trunk - taper and line. Then the primary branches and their location - leading up to the apex and its location. The smaller branches - the ends of branches - the foliage - these things can easily distract you but they are the easiest to develop and therefore the least important.

Most nursery trees are developed with no attention to the root systems (they are typically slip-potted from early age), and emphasis is placed on fast growth, straight lines, and symmetry - all the things you don't want in a bonsai. At the same time, people growing pre-bonsai stock end up with things that look like the LAST thing you would ever want to put in your landscaped yard. Take a landscape juniper, plant it in a greenstrip at the local gas station, and let cars drive over it for 20 years. THEN you might have a nice pre-bonsai :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

bonsaiDerek
yamadori aftercare thought
Replies
5
Views
465
BrianBay9
BrianBay9
Norsemen24
New here, Thought I'd share some pics.
Replies
2
Views
244
Norsemen24
Norsemen24
ShadyStump
I *THOUGHT* I had them under control...
Replies
14
Views
742
Melospiza
Melospiza
Dabbler
Made some training flats - Thought I'd share
Replies
10
Views
2K
Dabbler
Dabbler
brentwood
Ongoing progress JH elm and crazy thought
Replies
4
Views
699
Séan Warnick
Séan Warnick
Back
Top Bottom