FredL

I saw a discussion of seeds starting on another thread, so I thought I'd give my experience on a thread devoted to that subject.

Despite some very heavy-handed advice (instruction? orders?) on another site to avoid growing from seed because to takes too long, I have alot of my material now in the form of trees I started from seed one to three seasons ago. And I'm very happy I have!

I bought a few (3) packages of seeds from E-bay. They worked out poorly. The main problems were, I think, that the seeds were not really fresh and the species or cultivars were not really very good for my climate. All of the trees I have now were collected from trees or shrubs within 10 miles of my house. I used to take 2 or 3 plastic sandwich bags with me wherever I went during September thru December and March thru May and collect seeds from whatever likely source appeared. I then planted them, just as I'd gotten them, in clay pots or on the ground in my vegetable garden.

Some failed to germinate; the majority did. I soon had so many seedlings, I couldn't possibly grow them all, all from excellent bonsai species, all well adapted to my climate.

This process of seed collection had the added advantage of helping me to become familiar with all our local fauna, exotics as well as natives. It gave me an excuse for the long rambles that I've always loved, anyway.

I no longer collect seeds, unless I see something I really like that I don't have any of. There's not a lot of local species that fit that description. I now simply have too many young trees to collect any more.

I recommend growing from seed highly. I never got into a hasle with a homeowner about taking a few seeds from the sidewalk in front of his house. It's easy to assemble a large collection of trees quickly in this way. Sure, it takes awhile for them to develop, but, to me, that's what bonsai is all about anyway: learning to take a longer term view of things. I decided early on to work in a 10 year time frame for all my trees. That way, I'm oriented towards "Progress not Perfection" and find my experience of growing bonsai very, very satisfying and not frustrating at all. Much of the "Bonsai Experience" is just as available from a few potted seedlings as from a centuries old masterpiece. And dreams of future masterpieces are quite freely provided by potted seedlings

Peace, Fred

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