Discussions about propagating from cuttings, seeds, air layers etc. Going on a dig (Yamadori) or thinking of importing? Discuss how, when and where here.
Thanks to a very generous member here I have the opportunity to obtain a really lovely tree. In the meantime, i have been wandering the nursery at Bunnings and keep seeing cheap ficus/firs/lilly pilly trees for sale and asked myself - would these make good starter trees to practice on before I have a crack at a really lovely tree? I would hate to massacre a really nice tree without any practice at all.
If you can afford a better stock tree from a bonsai nursery then i would go for that--you will get more satisfaction and better results from playing with something decent-just read and get advice from aus bonsai or the nursery before jumping in.
Hi Ado , have a look in the progression section of the forum , there is plenty of material being used by all sorts of members from collected to garden material pot plants. Beware of Garden center Bonsai starter material in bonsai pots .It is usually a cutting or a very basic plant which is not the problem . The surface material , little pebbles are usually held in place with bondcrete for the simple fact it cant spill out when in transit or doesn't need resetting after delivery .This bondcrete usually holds the top layer in place but in most cases penetrates the roots and soil mix and set like concrete . slowly killing the plant .
My advice would be to either go to a Bonsai nursery or a Quality Garden Nursery {Bunnings is fine} and look for a healthy plant , be it a small lilly pilly , Juniper ground cover , Or anything that is hardy . I usually look around in the damaged section or ask, but rarely will i purchase a sick or dying plant . Damaged stock can have a broken branch , pot , sun burnt , frost burn etc etc . I f you know your plants you can determine if it will make it or not , other wise stick to healthy pot plants with plenty of branches or foliage to play with . Nothing wrong with a $10-15 juniper pot plant to play with , Many styles eg, Informal Upright , slanting , semi cascade , cascade can easily be had from a single plant .Markets are a good place for cheap plants , most towns have one .Its how i learned to hack and chop in the early day and i still have a few of them with me now .
All the best . Cheers Alpineart
Last edited by alpineart on November 6th, 2011, 5:28 am, edited 1 time in total.
I agree about the trees that are passed off as 'bonsai' at places like Bunnings. I think they are supplied by an ebay shop that sells a lot of other unrelated crap
I saw a Lilly Pilly there but it was over a metre tall and I am unsure as to what size I should be looking at. there were a couple of junipers but they seemed quite small and had thinnish trunks...do i understand correctly that a trunk should taper from the base up and this therefore needs some maturity in the tree?
As has been suggested, I'll do a little more research and look around carefully. I suppose there is also the possibility of buying a young tree and growing it as future stock whilst I begin on a more mature tree. Options appear endless.
do i understand correctly that a trunk should taper from the base up and this therefore needs some maturity in the tree?
thanks again for your advice..
cheers
Adrian
Yepp that is spot on
the only way to really acieve that is by Growing the tree over several years and doing trunk chops on it and regrowing the apex. IUf lucky you may find stock that has lo branching that you can use as the Apex. this will give the taper in the first 2 section but rarely you will find stock that will give 3 reductions already.
Went to a bonsai nursery, picked up this ficus for $15. not sure what I'm gonna do with it
I think its a bit small to start hacking away so might just let it grow some more. maybe one day it will be a good bonsai?
I agree about the trees that are passed off as 'bonsai' at places like Bunnings.
I don't know about WA and other states, but in NSW the bonsai in Bunnings, FlowerPower, Kmart, suburban nurseries etc are supplied by the two major bonsai nurseries in Sydney and one from Melbourne.
Last edited by Blackie on November 7th, 2011, 5:08 am, edited 2 times in total.
They supply here too, I wonder how they get some of the stuff through but they do.
Ado, you are better to take a trip to the two Bonsai nurseries that sell Bonsai, from starter kits upwards, or look for some being sold here.
Joining a club is always good because you get to go on nursery crawls like the one yesterday with B S of W A some good stuff was bought at reasonable prices.
At last, some people are listening to what the more experienced growers are telling them now. Still have one or two that don't though and buy cheap shari.
Cheers Pup
IN THE LIGHT OF KNOWLEDGE ATTAINED, ACHIEVEMENT IS WITHIN SIGHT
Thanks Pup, totally agree. I went to Lee's Bonsai place yesterday and picked up a Ficus and a juvenile juniper. the owner was very helpful.
Joining a club would be great. will think about it seriously once the new baby is home and we establish some sort of routine.
ADO wrote:Thanks Pup, totally agree. I went to Lee's Bonsai place yesterday and picked up a Ficus and a juvenile juniper. the owner was very helpful.
Joining a club would be great. will think about it seriously once the new baby is home and we establish some sort of routine.
Cheers
Adrian
If you can get out there, the Bonsai Emporium is also filled with some awesome stock. Lee's is great... spent as much time with the puppy there as I did looking at Bonsai
I'm always around bunnings hoping to find some good stock... but its usually hit and miss with them. Scored a nice juni from their last week though, and at a nice price too
Last edited by Jason on June 19th, 2013, 1:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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