Help with nursery stock

AndyPandy

Hi All,

This spring I'm hoping to buy a tree from a nursery to develop into a bonsai. I know to look for nebari etc. but is it just a case of looking for a 6'+ tree with a decent base and then performing a trunk chop?

Should I cut at 90 degrees or 45 degrees? How do you develop the new leader?

Help and advice is appreciated as alway!

Andy

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Less is a bore...

swatchpost

I would read all you can. There are a lot of books out there, naturally some better than others, that cover topics from "what to look for in nursery stock" as well as what different angles will do to your trunk chops and how to develop new leaders from each—and so much more—because after you do that—THEN what do you do!!!

My favorite so far, which is an incredibly in depth source, is "The Living Art of Bonsai" by Amy Liang and John Naka's classics, "Bonsai Techniques" which is a two part series.

They're always good reads before you go to bed. But that might be a little obsessive, wouldn't it? Oh dear....

Best,

Yusef

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gregb

You always want to make the first chop @ 90*, then wait for buds to form. Make the 45* cut behind the bud you select for the apex and seal your cut with the flexible putty-type cut paste. That's the "cookbook" response for elm, maple and other deciduous species. If you did this with a conifer, it would die.

My best advice would be to try and find something inexpensive for your first time out on a trunk chop because chances are something might/can go wrong. You would do well to join a bonsai club and find a mentor to guide you through the process. It will make the learning process so much clearer for you.

Mcspeed

Andy, you got a good answer from Greg, a lot depends on the particular stock, and how it buds back etc..

Some of the things you want to ask yourself before you buy are:

What kind of trees do I like?
What do these require for care( Horticulturally?
Assuming that the previous answer says I can't do all that, then go to second or third choice of material species.
Does this tree lend itself to bonsai?
What style do I want to work with?
Does my tree work in the style I want to work with?
How big of a tree do I want?
Are there low branches to work with?
Can I get a prebonsai worth working with ( from somewhere that knows, and deals w/ bonsai), for the money I will spend on a 6' nursary tree?

These are all questions to ask of yourself before buying though.

To expand on Gregs answer, it's been found that you have less control of trunk dieback with the angled cut, and the wood can be removed later for the tapered appearance, it's safer to do a straight cut, if for no other reason there is less surface area exposed.

Bill

rockm

Greg's answer is excellent.

A couple more things...As for where to make the initial trunk chop on DECIDUOUS species, I always chop at least a foot above where I want the final height of the "finished" bonsai to be. That gives you some room for new buds to appear over a much wider space and gives you more choice down the road. The closer you make the initial chop to the final height, the less options you will have further along.

Also, look in the sale bin or sale lot for likely candidates. Sometimes there are great deals in there, even on larger stock that's been damaged somehow and isn't presentable for sale to the fickle homeowner buyer. Some trees only have superficial damage that has only marred the outward appearance of the tree and doesn't threaten its health. For instance, I've bought $500 landscape Japanese maples for $50 in August because their leaves were sunburned to a crisp. The nursery owner said they wouldn't appeal to homeowners who see burned leaves and think "dead tree." Sunburned leaves aren't life threatening and the trees were only temporarily ugly. The owner didn't want the expense of overwintering them...

clrosner

Dear All:
A couple days ago we had snow that actually stayed over night. I have said it in the past that I love to see my flowering trees bloom with snow on the ground. I took the opportunity to photograph my Bougainvilleas in bloom.

The background of the first two pictures is snow! The third was taken that night, of course the snow did not show!

Attached Images

	BOUGAINVILLEAS IN BLOOM 070311 a.jpg (56.8 KB, 33 views)
	BOUGAINVILLEAS IN BLOOM 070311 b.jpg (54.3 KB, 20 views)
	BOUGAINVILLEAS IN BLOOM 070311 c.jpg (57.8 KB, 52 views)

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Carl L. Rosner - near Atlantic City zone 6/7
arteacher3725@yahoo.com

CHECK OUT MY UPDATED WEBSITE AT[B]:
www.carlrosner.com

JohnQuinn

You should also consider doing an air layer on such nursery trees. You will end up with two trees or perhaps equal potential and it will take only one growing season for deciduous trees.

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Interplast

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AndyPandy

Thanks for all the replies, I'll see how I get on!