A Leg Up On The Buying Game

bonsaial1

I thought I would post a little primer on buying stock suitable for training into bonsai. Many people have asked, "what do I look for when I get to the nursery". This is some of the things I look for. It is by no means the end all to buying stock. 25 people could write this same article, and you would have 25 different opinions on what to buy. Some of this stuff is a nobrainer, so becomes very usefull for anyone.

When looking through the nursery for stock, it is sometimes hard to find the tree in the forest. There are some things that make this easy to do.

First, only look at the healthy stock. This may cut the shopping expierance by half if it is a crappy nursery. No use wasting time on stock that is sick and will not tolorate work being done to it.

Second, look at everything. Don't be afraid to pull all the cans out in the aisle to see whats there. (Be thoughfull and put the cans back when your done though.) Don't be afraid to move the foliage out of the way to see what under the dead stuff. Check the trunk and carry a chopstick in your back pocket to dig at the root base to see whats under the soil. Sometimes the best part of the tree is just buried under the soil, just waiting to be exposed.

Third, and probably most important, have a budget in mind when you go to the nursery. Decide on how much you can spend and then look for the best plants in your budget. No use beating yourself up on finding the great stuff you can't afford. Don't let the money burn a whole in your pocket, by buying the first things you see. Start a shelf in some out of the way corner of the nursery. Pile the want to be's on the shelf. When you get half a dozen plants on the shelf, go back to evaluate the picks. I'm sure the the first picks may not seem as good as the later picks or vice versa. Go back now and pick some more. Get the whole thing narrowed down to the best 3 or4 plants you can afford. Then just for fun try to find just one plant to spend the whole roll on. After that decide if the 3/4 plants are better or the one plant. Then buy.

Better to come away with just one great plant then to buy 6 or 7 losers.

This will be a long post with many pics. I have shot some pictures in the nusery here in Fresno. The nursery has a huge array of plants to choose from. Starter material and some pre bonsai stock, as well as some stock that is still in cans but has been pruned for shape and started down the road to bonsai but still needs much finishing. While I know that not everyone will have the availability of a nusery such as this, these hints will work at most any nusery. You just will not find some of the pruned up stuff as much.

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bonsaial1

Here we see a group of junipers. They are 1 gallon cans, about 40.00 each. At first glance they may all seem the same in size and shape. There are subtle differances.

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bonsaial1

This juniper from this lot has been cut and pruned back to induce budding near the trunk. Good for bonsai. Although this might not be first choice this would be good stock for a rock type planting, hanging from a cliff, or good for cascade.

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bonsaial1

This little gem would be good right out of the can. I have seen mallsai not this good. Wire and a few bends here and there would make this suitable for a newbies bench. This is the kind of finds that make you want to contiue to do bonsai.

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bonsaial1

Here we come to a plot of elms. All in nice pottery containers, with plenty of room for the roots to grow. Another sure sign that the nursery owner is thinking in terms of bonsai and not letting the roots get all confined and start spinning around the can producing the awful roots we see at mass merchandisers.

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As we look at some of the seperate plants we see that some are sure standouts for bonsai. While the trunk is not as large as one would like, the elm is a fast grower and that should be taken into account. A year or two in the grow box would fatten this guy right up. Whats nice about this plant is the way the branches have ramified for a young plant. That is good for bonsai. The crown of the plant is well filled out for its age and already looks like a bonsai except for trunk girth.

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Here we have his brother. Probably the same age, but somehow the moter down below is just not kicken on all eight cylinders. The branches have not developed on this guy at the same rate. The crown is not developed, and I am positive that it recieves the same care since it is right next to it. I would look past plants like these. I look at these as genetic runts.

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For just a small step up, one can get a little larger trunk. A move up of 10.00 to 15.00 dollars will get you a little more wood to play with. I have not shown the front, to accentuate the chop for the pic. I wanted to show how taper is being induced on this specimen.

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Small elm whips such as these can be bent into wonderful little accent plants. With a little time on their trunks they achieve great character and could be used in a saikai scene with verticle rocks depicting a cliff.

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