Were do you guys acquire Larger Stock???

B.adair

I recently Invested in the Bonsai techniques I and bonsai techniques II books and have read the first within the same day they are soooo informative and the extent of which things are explain are fantastic!! In bonsai Techniques II John Brings home a LARGE montezuma cypress for the formal upright demonstration and it got me wondering WERE on would acquire a tree of this size? its about 10 ft tall and has a 10" trunk base. thanks guys!!
-Brad

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bonsaial1

You gotta go to the really BIG big box stores....


seriously...you must collect to get anything reaching the proportions seen in that book. Anything with a trunk over two inches will most probably be collected. Gone for the most part are the days of looking in the nooks and crannies for a bush or tree left in the corner of some Mom and Pop nursery for fourty years and split the side open on its container.

Good luck, Al

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

TreesGrowInDirt

all my trees have been collected, and i find it better this way. native material is superior to anything that is imported or trained in a nursery. native material also solves another problem, climate. since it is already accustomed to the climate no special care is needed.

Vonsgardens

Ah, no. Some of the natives are very, very, nice. But lot's of nursery trees and imports are nice too- just look at all those black pines in Guy Guidry's nursery- and while he might deny, I have heard Guy say that if he could only have one species to make bonsai from- it would be Shimpaku......

But, this is just my opinion.

John

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"Wiring is simple; However, it is not easy to do it right" Boon

Vonsgardens

Brad, sadly big stock=big dollars. Lot' of good nursery reared (frequently in ground) junipers and such fairly reasonable in SO Cal. John

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"Wiring is simple; However, it is not easy to do it right" Boon

TreesGrowInDirt

japanese pines beat southern pines handsdown, thats a fact. and yeah guy does grow shimpaku.

zen

Either big bucks or a long time,...but there are ways to get more growth in shorter time,...like some one here said they had planted some small seedlings in the feild (amended ground dirt/compost) and some at the same time in just compost,..and the ones in compost grew much faster,...so maybe there is something to this,...i'm sure there are other ways to speed trunk growth, and perhaps some folks here will let loose some of their secrets. xD

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"Although profoundly "inconsequential," the Zen experience has consequences in the sense that it may be applied in any direction, to any conceivable human activity, and that wherever it is so applied it lends an unmistakable quality to the work."

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ElGringo

Cypress huh? i just dug 1 out of my garden. A lot of trees like this are used for hedges, unfortunatley they (esp. cypresses) grow massive in a short space of time, people are always digging them up and throwing them away. Enter the bonsai fan! Take a look around the street. I bet theres a few overgrown trees that you can get your hands on, just tell your neighbour that you'll dig it up free of charge and replace it with a younger one. My neighbour recently paid me £20 to dig up a12ft juniper from his garden, unfortunatly it really had no potential so i had to bin it. I kept the money though

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Richard

treetitan

ElGringo, hit on a very effective way that I have used to obtain large, old specimens of trees and "shrubs." (The first suggestion below)

1. Asking friends and neighbors if they have plants that they just haven't had time to remove or have wanted to remove but haven't had the time...etc...

2. Many local garden centers, nurseries, merchants will have a bulletin board that people can post business cards or advertise services rendered...Make a small ad that states you will remove unwanted material for free, well below local cost, a case of beer, etc...Don't forget to have your phone number on the ad

3. I have befriended or approached caretakers, grounds workers, owners, of parks, campgrounds, living on property containing a large wooded lot or forest...Most folks will be more than happy to allow harvesting up to a specified size or quantity. If someone is hesitant, or starts to hint or him-haw around, perhaps you could offer an exchange of services, or even good old cash in return. Not everyone will be game, but I have found that most people I approached either had something to be pulled or knew someone else who did...Be specific regarding the type of plants and the size that you are willing and able to remove...Otherwise granny nextdoor will have you pulling out her begonias for a glass of nutra-sweet pink lemonade!

4. Get a job with a landscape company that removes plants as part of their service...Most of the plants are usually scrapped...

5. Get a job at a nursery, greenhouse, anywhere that sells plants you would be interested in and that also offers an employee discount. Another related option is to date or marry the owners daughter/son...I'm sure your odds will increase of scoring free or discounted plant material

6. Contact your local extension office. This branch of local government, deals with agriculture/horticulture...Permits can be issued for harvesting plant material in parks, public spaces, etc...they will be a good source of insider info...

7. Join a logging company Leaving all moral and ethical issues aside, this is a potential avenue to obtain plant material...

On a related note...my neighbor has a few items of interest right next door to me...I'm pretty confident from other observations regarding his landscape, that he would have no problem with me removing his plants with his permission...The only problem is that the family is Korean, and do not speak english, save hello, etc...Having a conversation regarding me removing their plants might get a bit tricky...Anyone who speaks Korean, or knows someone who does...please send me a cordial request for the plants in my neighbors yard in Korean that I can print out and hand to my neighbor as I gesture toward his Junipers boasting what appears to be 4"-6" trunks...(which from a distance seem variagated I've never seen one before, is there such a thing?