Budget Bonsai - perhaps a new forum?

denny

"Budget Bonsai"
for example:
i broke the turn table of an old utensile holder and glued it to a frisbe for a small bonsai turntable.
still working on a heavier one.
how bout it?

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Denny
Still Growing in zone 9
So.Cal.

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Desert_Dwarf

I like it. All of my projects are on a strict budget. For example, I use an old plastic cookie container (the type that store bought cookies come in) as a green house to sprout seeds. Rather than buying screen mesh for the drainage holes I use a role of putty tape which is cheaper, lasts for ever, and is far easier to use and secure to the container. The tool I use most often for clearing roots, checking soil, removing dead leaves, etc, is my fingers, next in line comes a plastic spoon from a Military MRE, for digging, packing, and the handle as a trowel. Instead of paying $5 for a special brush I use a nylon paint brush from the dollar store, etc... etc... etc...

I've also seen identical pots at Super-K and Walmart as those found in the local Bonsai shop for about $20 less, so rather than purchase growing pots, training pots, then an expensive display pot, I've opted for something nice enough to display in, yet cheap enough to sit atop a Walmart display shelf. I even put my seedlings in these display/growth/training pots; since my plants are on display everyday, at least for me anyway. Though I will admit that I have seen some nice looking display pots for dwarfs at the Bonsai shop for about $4.

I have nothing agianst the expensive stuff, if I had the money I would buy, until then its the dollar store, Walmart, and what ever I can dream up.

denny

some nice ideas.
i also use the drywall putty tape.

__________________
Denny
Still Growing in zone 9
So.Cal.

ripsgreentree

Here is a tip for you budget minded bonsaiasts. Your local grocery store is probably throwing away the styrofome grape packing boxes that most table grapes are packed in. If you ask you will probably be able to recieve a few good boxes these things have holes for vintalation on the bottom edges and the edges of the lid also. If you can get them for free as I have then all you have to do is add a little bottom rock and soil then plant your tree or cuttings or! or! Whatever. They are good for about two years in the sun and outdoors before they really start to fall apart. By this time it is time to repot any way. It is also easy to tye trees into these boxes as you can push a nail into the box any where you need a tie down. I use them for cuttings and airlayerings after I have seperated them from the parent tree. I will try to post a photo of this tomorrow, although the tree that I am thinking of is in the bottom of a steak delivery box. Its still styrofome so I think that it counts.

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ripsgreentree

It requires an open hand to give and to recieve.

denny

i collect styrofome,almost as handy as duct tape sometimes,but i never thought of planting in it,well mabey,but never did it.
now i see,nice idea,pretty tree.
thanks

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Denny
Still Growing in zone 9
So.Cal.

bonsaial1

I use plastic canvas, the stuff sold in the craft dept for making cross stich.

You can buy replacment guts for a lazy susan at the hardware store. These are very cheap, ball bearing, and will last a long time with reasonable care. Just screw them to two peices of wood.

I use spring loaded "corona" pruners. these can be bought at any mass merch. hardware store. I use my belt sander to bring them to a fine point. Then sit in front of the TV and sand them with 220 emory paper. I finish with 400 wet and dry paper, wet. Then I use a cold gun bluing kit. I give it three coats of the bluing, and you can't tell it from the Japanese article.(of coure they don't cut like em either).
I use "mink oil", the stuff bought at K-mart for boot dressing, to wipe down my pots. This stuff puts a dull sheen on them and will keep the white deposits from forming for a long time. when they do form they will come off with out a lot of elbow grease.

When you do get a pot with thick calcium deposits on them, a pumice stone will clean them up like crazy. The only thing is the pumice wears down fast, and these things are expensive.

I make my own fertilizer cakes, equal parts blood meal, bone meal and cottonseed meal. Put a little sevin crystals in to keep out the bugs, mix with enough diluted fish emulsion to make a stiff dough. Put this dough about 3/4 inck thick on aluminum foil, scribe some lines about one inch square, and put in the sun to dry. When dry, just snap the apart and keep in an old tin. Place them around the edge of your tree and they will dissolve when you water. Bonsaial

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I been kidding the last seven years.
no.... really!

I use the plastic canvas for drainage screen too, 29 cents as opposed to $5.00 at bonsai places. I buy my copper wire from the scrap yard and put it in a hot bed of charcoal until it glows red and then into water to cool it down quick. After that it's pliable and ready to use on your trees.

And my brand new hobby is dumpster diving. I stopped by lowes tonight for something non bonsai, a new thermostat for the furnace [getting down to 35 tonight] Anyway I see this guy hauling a dumpster full of mum plants on a forklift and ask him if they were throwing them out. He said I couldn't look through them there but hinted that he was taking them to the back of the parking lot and didn't really care what happend to them after that. When I started looking in the dumpster I found more than mums. I got 2 alberta spruce a live oak and and a bald cypress all with trunks from 2-4" wide and all with broken or died back tops but all still have healthy low branches [exactly what you need for bonsai hey] Also got about 25 perfectly healthy potted mums. I'll probably give or trade most of the mums away but I'm real happy about my tree finds. All of that stuff would cost $300 to$400 if I was to buy it. The moral of this story: keep your eyes open and don't be afraid to ask questions.

Tony the tightwad

ripsgreentree

Well tony the tightwad, Here is one for you. About three years ago I was at a cutting nursery that was going out of business, We purchased 100 one gallon japanise apricot at 1.00 each and several juniper stock plants. Then I saw a wagon full of shimpaku flats, you know liners. These things were the size of a pencil and about 10 inches strait as a rod. When I asked about them she said "If you want them you can have them I am just going to throw them away." They now reside in our growing field approching one inch in diameter and no longer strait. The original count was 425 trees. We have about three hundred in the field. I was shopping at another nursery that was being sold off and saw a five gallon squat pot with bare seedlings in it. Looked like someone had shoved five inch spegetty strands into this pot. When I asked how much the guy said 10.00. I had already seen the last trident leaf. So for ten dollars I now have about 200 yatsa busa tridents in the field, Most of these are also approching an inch in diameter. Is this tight enough for you. I know I am nuts, but its fun.

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ripsgreentree

It requires an open hand to give and to recieve.

denny

WOW!great stuff,keep it comming!
need to get that mink oil.our water is more mineral than H2O.

__________________
Denny
Still Growing in zone 9
So.Cal.