Pot Prices

Dale Cochoy

WOW...where to start...

Thanks Dale (love your pots btw) I guess I am discouraged after doing some online shopping for some nice pots and find that the ones I like cost more than the tree I'm putting in them.

That can certainly be true, especially for beginners or even people of experience who REFUSE to obtain good stock.


Somethings about this just doesn't seem kosher to me. What is a pot without a bonsai?

I dunno...I'll have to ask my display shelves in my house that contain pots( bonsai and otherwise) I've bought for 25 years! :> )

I mean I could carve out a rock, pinch out a badly designed pot, or even use my girl's tupperware and place one of my trees into it and I still have a valuable bonsai with proper form, mass, etc.

No,..... probably not. You can't achieve COMBINED proper mass, form , etc. with a spaghetti strainer!


Sure it may not be perfect because of the lack of a nice pot but the overall design and health of the tree will not be affected.

Health...nope, no effect, OVERALL design....not a chance!



I just feel that with the recent surge in interest with bonsai that some vendors are taking full advantage of beginners and experianced growers alike with inflated pot prices. Antiques I can see, but realistically for a pound of clay in a basic pattern doesn't $150.00 seem alittle high?

Well, first lets not confuse mass-produced slip cast Chinese ( or Japanese) pots with hand-made individual, one-of-a-kind pottery.
I will speak to the later.
The pound ( or 12 -25 pounds) of clay is the least concern. BTW, 25 pounds of raw clay costs about $12.50 give-or-take a bit.
but, it's like ANY art or trade, you pay for knowledge, expertice, training, equipment, etc, etc.
Lets take a few major purchases of wheel, electric kiln, gas kiln, shed, furniture, chemicals, cost of gas/electric....well, I could go on a long time!
But, lets look at the biggee...TIME!!!

I make MANY pots that have a total "hands -on touching time" of 2 to 5 hours. Now, what do YOU make an hour for JUST YOUR LABOR at work. Man, when I think of what I used to make fixing medical xray equipment!!!! or teaching for 180 days a year!
What do you suppose the % of people out there in the audience make $15 to $30 an hour, and I know LOTS who make more than that!
Another concern....they don't all turn out! Man, I throw out a lot of crap. That's TIME/Money down the shute! I'm fairly sure thats true of a lot of other types of artists also.

Now, to imported mass produced pots. Yes, I think they can be too expensive....sometimes, but that's usually my opinion involving "signature" pots . Heck, mine are ALL signature pots! :> )
Your average import pots are like your average import trees ( like the chinese elms in the group mentioned above) they cost more to import than they do to grow, manufacture,buy.
Just last weekend I talked with a pot dealer who told me their first imported pot shipment was 25% broken.... no hard math their to calculate.

Anyway....buy good stock!
study (more than reading a book),
go to some symposiums,
create nice trees and learn to keep them alive,
then,
those nice pots for them won't seem so bad...
In fact...
You'll GLADLY buy them!!
Dale


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If you want to be Different....
You have to DO something Different!
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Some people NEVER take the time to do a job right the first time....
but, they always seem to make the time to do it over again...
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Dale Cochoy
Wild Things Bonsai Studio
Yakimono no Kokoro Bonsai Pottery
Hartville, Ohio