Nursery trained trees

irene_b

Omono
Messages
1,415
Reaction score
5
In light of the other thread going so well I thought I would add a new direction.
Again this is for the buyer/hobbyist.

"Good stock and the cost associated with it."

1.What would be considered good stock?

2.A nursery trained tree that has been trimmed or the wild ones grown in the field.

3.Nursery personel that have been into Bonsai or a raw recruit that you have trained to meet your needs.

4.Which is more important Good stock or the cost.
Irene
 

Tachigi

Omono
Messages
1,198
Reaction score
67
Location
PA.
USDA Zone
6b
Ms. Irene..........OH NOoooooooo! ;)

1.What would be considered good stock?
most anything that falls into the basic criteria of bonsai. Nebari, trunk movement.

2.A nursery trained tree that has been trimmed or the wild ones grown in the field.
These two IMO go hand in hand for the tree that has grown wild in the field, is groomed in the field as well. This to accelerate growth.


If you are referring to just plain wild trees then I would say your comparing nursery trees to yamadori.

3.Nursery personel that have been into Bonsai or a raw recruit that you have trained to meet your needs.


I wouldn't let a raw recruit with in 10 feet of a tree that I am growing. Outside of dragging off cut bits to the burn pile.


4.Which is more important Good stock or the cost.

Good stock regardless of cost, whether it be a pittance or a fortune. Why would you expend energy and resources on poor stock?

After I have thought about this, perhaps this is where a bridge needs to be gapped. At least in my case perhaps I didn't understand (in the other thread) what other people's definitions of are. What nursery stock is. What groomed nursery material is. What prebonsai material is.(I loath this term, as in my mind there is no such thing as prebonsai, used a marketing term for raw stock that has been touched up) .
 
Last edited:
Messages
271
Reaction score
3
Location
Scandinavia
USDA Zone
3b
Good stock for me is something that gives me the opportunity to develop. This can be a seedling or ancient yamadori. What's good is what's good for you for a specific reason.
 

bonsai barry

Omono
Messages
1,374
Reaction score
58
Location
Cental Coast of California
USDA Zone
9
One question that might be asked: "What flaws are often associated with nursery stock?"
One of the most common problems I find is in the roots. Not only are they frequently round into a knot but if the stock has been in there long enough it develops "knees" close to the trunk. (If you don't know what I mean by "Knees" I can supply photos).
 

BONSAI_OUTLAW

Banned
Messages
150
Reaction score
2
Location
Woodstown, NJ
In light of the other thread going so well I thought I would add a new direction.
Again this is for the buyer/hobbyist.

"Good stock and the cost associated with it."

1.What would be considered good stock?

2.A nursery trained tree that has been trimmed or the wild ones grown in the field.

3.Nursery personel that have been into Bonsai or a raw recruit that you have trained to meet your needs.

4.Which is more important Good stock or the cost.
Irene


1.) I think "Treebay" answered this one best at BT.

Bonsai Theory of Products
Value = [quality of stock] X [effort invested]

2.) Good stock is good stock and I don't really care where it came from.

3.) I don't really understand this question.... Of course I would rather have someone working the stock that knows what they are doing verses someone that does not if that was what you mean.

4.) I can't really answer this one for anyone other that myself. I have no limits that I would be willing to pay for somethng that I can't live without.
 
Last edited:

Tachigi

Omono
Messages
1,198
Reaction score
67
Location
PA.
USDA Zone
6b
Bonsai Theory of Products
Value = [quality of stock] X [effort invested]

Excellent memory .... I had forgotten about that thread
 

darrellw

Mame
Messages
244
Reaction score
1
Location
Vancouver, WA, USA
USDA Zone
8
4.Which is more important Good stock or the cost.

Quality, but of course if you can't afford it, it really doesn't matter. Of course, what each of us is willing to spend is a personal decision.

-Darrell
 

Bonsai Nut

Nuttier than your average Nut
Messages
12,420
Reaction score
27,854
Location
Charlotte area, North Carolina
USDA Zone
8a
I might tweak it a bit, the effort also needs to be quality:

Value = [quality of stock] x [quality of effort invested]

-Darrell


How about this:

Value = [quality of stock] x [quality of effort] x [time of effort]

And its correlary:

eBay Value = [amount of misleading text] x [# of times you use the word "master" in your listing] x [# of extraneous materials (mud men, glued stones) you add to the tree]
 

cbobgo

Mame
Messages
161
Reaction score
2
Location
Santa Cruz, California
USDA Zone
9b
yeah, I'm a little confused about some of your questions that don't really seem to be questions, maybe you can clarify # 2 and 3.

Tom's questions on definitions are good. Here's my 2 cents.

Nursery stock is a tree/bush/whatever that has received no training whatsoever.

I don't specifically recall coming across "groomed nursery material" as a term before, but I would guess that would be stock that has had some initial work done. Maybe removing some excess foliage or something like that, so you can see better what it is.

Pre-bonsai I generally use to refer to stuff that has been grown specifically for bonsai, but hasn't had any styling yet. It generally has better roots, may have had some trunk chops or initial branch selection.

Asking about cost vs quality I think is looking at the issue kinda sideways. Generally, if something is priced acurately, quality and cost will directly corelate. If you see something that you think looks great, but the cost is low either you or the seller doesn't know what he/she is doing. If you are confident that your ability to see quality is good, then obviously you grab the low priced quality material. But make sure you look hard for the flaw that maybe you didn't initially see. Because if you are buying from a legit seller, there will be a reason the price is low.

- bob

- bob
 

irene_b

Omono
Messages
1,415
Reaction score
5
yeah, I'm a little confused about some of your questions that don't really seem to be questions, maybe you can clarify # 2 and 3.
- bob

(2) Most Nurseries trim away the bottom limbs. Field grown still have bottom limbs.
(3) Several Nurseries have people who have dabbled in Bonsai. So they have an idea of what we look for.
If you train the nursery person to find what you are looking for in stock. Good Neb, low branching, good trunk movement, etc.

Irene
 

Vance Wood

Lord Mugo
Messages
14,002
Reaction score
16,911
Location
Michigan
USDA Zone
5-6
Good stock is where you can find it. Most of the time for me here in Michigan it winds up being in a nursery. The Mom and Pop nursery will probably get you better more neglected stuff with some character that is more compatible with bonsai culture. The bottom line is that I look for trunks. The trunk is the slowest thing to develop, if you have to develop one, and the most difficult to correct of flaws, if you have to correct for flaws. If you can find a decent trunk you can almost always regrow all the branches, depending on the species of tree.
 
Top Bottom