Is this zuisho worth buying?

_#1_

Omono
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Second one has no nebari to speak of. At that age and size, can you still grow out a nebari?

If the other side of the surface roots is similar to the first pic in the OP, I'd go for the first one.
 
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Both certainly have their merits. If one had to nitpick I'd say the second is fairly generic in regards to styling, not really a negative per-say but I think its worth acknowledging that despite successfully looking like a pine tree in nature, it looks like many pine trees in nature. The drawn out profile of the first also leaves a bit more negative space between each branch which I personally enjoy. Finally, the branch placement on the first does what I would consider to be a superior job of implying age.
 

Potawatomi13

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Surprised no one notices first tree has boring predictable left/right trunk bends. Second tree has first main branch inside of bend of trunk🧐. Likely why trees left Japan.
 

Nybonsai12

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As usual, feel free to point out where you're finding better value trees
Brussels sells JWP that aren't nearly as developed for as much as the tree in the OP.

And Brussells aren't Zuisho either(just standard JWP), likely twice as much $$ and grafted to JBP. Julian Adams was the only seller of ungrafted Zuisho that I know of in the US and i'm pretty sure he has sold off all of them.
 

Potawatomi13

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As usual, feel free to point out where you're finding better value trees
Brussels sells JWP that aren't nearly as developed for as much as the tree in the OP.
Is simple matter usually to find better tree of different variety/kind for much better price. "Need" to have Japanese tree for sake of being Japanese tree owner is ridiculous. Many other great native trees for Bonsai available for much better cost.
 

leatherback

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Keep in mind that these on their own roots are quite dificult to keep in god condition in Germany. Especially with recent hot summers, the P P have been suffering.

If I may ask.. Where do you fnd material like this for sale?

Personally, I feel the second tree had more options, and the trunk-diameter to height ration I find better. Agreed with the lack of good roots visible. I am not sure the nebari makes up for what appears a boring truink with little taper on the first one.
 

kudos91

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Keep in mind that these on their own roots are quite dificult to keep in god condition in Germany. Especially with recent hot summers, the P P have been suffering.

If I may ask.. Where do you fnd material like this for sale?

Personally, I feel the second tree had more options, and the trunk-diameter to height ration I find better. Agreed with the lack of good roots visible. I am not sure the nebari makes up for what appears a boring truink with little taper on the first one.
Yeah indeed this summer even my maples had some issues with the high temperature too. So you keep your white pines in full sun?
Ok so please don't laugh but the second tree I found it on ... Ebay 😆 I keep checking often and once in a while tree like that pops up for a good price
 

leatherback

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Yeah indeed this summer even my maples had some issues with the high temperature too. So you keep your white pines in full sun?
Ok so please don't laugh but the second tree I found it on ... Ebay 😆 I keep checking often and once in a while tree like that pops up for a good price
Ah, the bay.. OK. I am hardly ever there :)

I have only 2 white pines, both grafted. One growing out in the ground (pretty much full sun, except for mid-summer when I need to prune bushes around it. The other has been with me now for little over a year.

I have done some work for 2 big bonsai nurseries where these were suffering. One just had a massive yellowing on their Pp's; Thei kept them out of midday sun, and kept cloth around them wet to raise humidity. At the other I was asked to re-style 2 of them, as they had massive dying of branches.

All in all, on their own roots, Pp can be tricky if you do not have the perfect climate.
 

kudos91

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One just popped up in the US on FB auctions, for a frame of reference. Nice looking tree.
View attachment 525751
Very nice tree indeed, but if the BIN price is 9000, I doubt that the reserved price is anything less than 5-6000
I recently saw here a zuisho from Kimura garden for 14 000 pounds, so I guess everything is more expensive in US
With pine having taper is nice but the lack of it seems still acceptable too
 

kudos91

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I saw a post on IG from the zuisho exhibition in Japan. Ok nkw I can definitely see with the first tree when the pads fill in it will can look much better indeed
 

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Brian Van Fleet

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Here is my Zuisho, I bought it as a 2-year old graft in 2006, grew it out for 15 years or so, and wired it for the first time around 2021…? Trunk is starting to fatten up, and it’s ready for another round of wiring. It is, I’m not, LOL. Pot is 18.5” wide, 4” high.
D93AF4EC-2319-4AD6-9271-7CF084477F94.jpeg
 

kudos91

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Here is my Zuisho, I bought it as a 2-year old graft in 2006, grew it out for 15 years or so, and wired it for the first time around 2021…? Trunk is starting to fatten up, and it’s ready for another round of wiring. It is, I’m not, LOL. Pot is 18.5” wide, 4” high.
View attachment 525789
Oh I definitely already saw this Brian, that's how I found out about zuisho 😁 very nice progress there, thanks for sharing it! I just want to ask, you said the trunk is thickening up, so even in bonsai pot it continue to fat up?
 

kudos91

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Ok so quick update on the decision. The second tree was sold while I was thinking already and the first one is a bit out of budget for me at the moment. Luckily I found an importer from Italy with a zuisho for half the price of the first tree so I bought it right away. The root this very compact and the needle is a bit yellow so I will do a repot this spring and hopefully I will go well from there. The tree is 66cm (26 inches ) so quite decent size in the end
 

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