Jay

Here are my thoughts. Up till this fall, I had only purchased trees. I purchased them from two different types of places. Bonsai sources....and General Nurseries. This fall I started to hunt out my own in the wild. This is my opinion on the three!

1- General Nurseries..... largest selection and variety. less pricey than Bonsai nurseries... Trees need alot of work ...in many cases many many years! Got to be careful, some just have too many problems and will never be good Bonsai.

2- Bonsai Nurseries.... excellent selection of trees suited for Bonsai. Usually helpful staff. Trees started with Bonsai in mind... a thought not to be discounted. The ability to buy a tree from a simple seedling to a near finished specimen. Pricey as you would expect, from slightly higher than a general nursery to sky high.

3-From the wild...The gratest challenge. You need to really see the tree within! Most are tall trees needing to be cut down and trained. The price is right (well don't forget the possibility of PI).
Big, really big, trunks can be had for a few hours labor (OK maybe many hours labor). The trees need years to develop and are not guaranteed to live.

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A Bonsai student living with his trees at N 44.37 W 77.49...
Think before you act... then think again... no good comes from rushing