Material

Lui

In a previous post I was reading about how good material is expensive and what it is. While I agree that you get what you pay for, when you start it is not advisable to go out and spend a lot of money on expensive material from the get go.
This is the time when you start going to nurseries and hunt for good starting material for only a couple bucks. This material can actually help you start finding the line learning what a tree can tolerate etc. and help you to develop an eye for the expensive material later.
This might help:
1. usually the junk area of a nursery is where you will find the best material for our endeavor
2.dont be afraid to get on your hands and knees and crawl thru the trees scanning the lower parts of all trees
3. dont be afraid to stick your hands into the pots and try to see whats under the soil line
4. I use to do this one a lot before I decided to cut back on my trees. In Florida there is a publication called the Plant Finder most nurseries subscribe to it and post all their surplus material there at liquidation prices. Try to get a copy of this magazine look for the material youre looking for show up at the nursery with the book ( it helps to look the part if you show up in a suit driving Mercerdes 500 it may not work) tell them you want to see whatever your looking for and boom there it is.
5. Dont ever mention the word Bonsai or the prices go up
6. If you wanna have some fun after you pay for the material cut it to what you want to stay with in front of them they will think they were dealing with a madman.
Anyway this is a Bucida espinosa I bought about 50 for 2 dollars a piece

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Lui

Here is Ficus Nerifolia bought about 10 at 3 dollars each trunck chopped around 9 months ago

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Lui

Here is some sort of vine I got for around 4 bucks

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Lui

Then when you feel more comfortable you can go out and spend a little more. Another good source for material is sometimes people as they grow older will also stop working on their trees and eventually leave them abandined for years this ruins the design of the original tree but the age and size is there These trees may need a few yeaers to get back into shape but you cant beat the years in them. Here is one of several I bought from an 85 year old gentlemen when he decided it was time to let them go. It was started from a cutting from Joe Samuels Cloud some 35 years ago.

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Lui

Oh and last but not least after a while you will encounter stuff you dont even know what you saw in them in the first place. Get rid of them they take up real estate, water, food, time etc.
heres one I took out of my garbage last night to photograph

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Lui

obviously not good bonsai material

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outatrash.jpg (54.9 KB, 67 views)

dbz12fan

And the amazing part is that if you put any of those plants you bought on Ebay saying pre-bonsai, it will sell for triple what you bought them for.

__________________
"Success demands understanding"-Andy Rutledge

Charles Bevan
Vero Beach, Fl