Best 100 Dollars you ever spent on Bonsai

[Jluke33]

Make a weekend trip out of it. Just make sure you leave room for trees in packing your vehicle.

If only! I believe his garden is closed to the public until at least 2021

 

[zanduh]

We need someone who does intensives up here in the northeast. Does Sergio do classes?

 

[ProfessorFarnsworth]

I would pay $100+ for someone to take me on my first yamadori hunt! I want to find pines I can collect without getting in trouble and don't want to screw up the collection.

 

[just.wing.it]

Buy lava and pumice.....or as my wife says....big bags of expensive dirt.

 

[sorce]

These baskets have done more for my collection than anything else.

Sorce

 

[BobbyLane]

thats roughly £76, which is what i spent for this nursery stock Hornbeam, so bang for buck possibly my best purchase. although i have bought many trees with great potential for less and more.


probably worth a few hundred now after about nearly 3 years.
i would do a nursery crawl with the money.

 

[Josh88]

Well! It’s about 5 hours from me. But definitely not a bad weekend drive. Actually I had family that literally just moved away from cookeville TN which is like 30 minutes from Nashville! I figure if I get a tree from him it will already be acclimated to my zone and obviously well taken care of.

I moved in March to Mooresville, NC about an hour north of you, and the Bonsai Learning Center here is a great place for finding material as well as workshops when things continue to open up a bit more. Certainly worth an hour drive to take a look around and find out more about whats going on in the area.

 

[Jluke33]

I moved in March to Mooresville, NC about an hour north of you, and the Bonsai Learning Center here is a great place for finding material as well as workshops when things continue to open up a bit more. Certainly worth an hour drive to take a look around and find out more about whats going on in the area.

I’ve checked this out too! Their site also hasn’t been updated in a few months, so I’m just kinda checking back everyonce in a while!

 

[Driftwood]

H

thats roughly £76, which is what i spent for this nursery stock Hornbeam, so bang for buck possibly my best purchase. although i have bought many trees with great potential for less and more.
View attachment 332033View attachment 332034

probably worth a few hundred now after about nearly 3 years.
i would do a nursery crawl with the money.

Hey BobbyLane, would you mind sharing your dealers?

 

[BobbyLane]

H
Hey BobbyLane, would you mind sharing your dealers?

Trade secret im afraid. i use to divulge such info, but now because i buy and sell a lot, its not within my interest. but if you do research you might find the odd post where i spoke about it.
but it doesnt matter, as all of my go to places dont sell online, not like kaizen etc. im sure there are nurseries near you or within a specific radius that sell similar material. just takes time and effort to weasel them out. i used to be jealous of folk up north getting all these massive hornbeams and finding English elms in skips n hedges etc lol the odd privet on the roadside. now i can find my own gems.
at this particular nursery they gave me a trade card, 50% off. because i bought so many previously. i have trade cards at two nurseries i visit and im not even a gardener/landscaper. but i showed them my ebay sales and they were cool with that.

 

[Driftwood]

Lol OK so where do you sell?

 

[BobbyLane]

Lol OK so where do you sell?

Feedback profile

www.ebay.co.uk

if you need anything, just drop me a PM. i can do stuff cheaper via bank transfer.

 

[Japonicus]

Pot was $100 tree was $10-15 some years ago.
Not the intended tree for the pot nor its' permanent home, but I had it on hand ready at the go
after the intended tree did not fit in this pot after removing all the roots that I felt safe doing so. I need more pots!
However...

The best $100 I ever spent in terms of advancing my abilities is $100 spent on working with a bonsai professional / master via a class or workshop.

Do not prioritize stock (trees) over skill. Good stock + no skill = dead trees. Good skill + bad stock = there is no such thing as bad stock if you have good skills

This is best!
+1

I would bank that $100 for a class, and start saving for what to do with what you learn.
In the meantime a multi pack of 2 or 3 year old cuttings/seedlings, say 6 JBP or shimpaku or whatever you want to learn most,
buy now and get started on a 20 year project. Another day has already passed...

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

I'd choose either

a class

a pot

those are the two things I'd go for.

My very first, high quality pot. Bought it maybe 1988 or 1990. Spent $125, which back then was 3 or 4 days wages. Did not find out until recently who the artist was. Turns out this is an early Bigei. High quality Tokonome potter. This pot has never had a tree, I love the touch, the feel of this pot. Perfectly smooth, burnished finish. Sits on my shelf and I love it.

 

[Rafael Najmanovich]

subscribe to bonsai mirai

 

[cmeg1]

This has helped me the most.
I don’t know if my water sucked or what,but my trees always looked ratty at seasons end until I took this course!!!
There are $50 coupons online if you search...the whole course!

Harley Smith Master Growers Video Library

growclasses.npk-industries.com

 

[Josh88]

I’ve checked this out too! Their site also hasn’t been updated in a few months, so I’m just kinda checking back everyonce in a while!

I would make the trip in person. You never get a good sense of what a tree is really like from photos. I’d much rather buy something I put my eyes on in person. I’ve never really been happy with any of the few trees I’ve bought based on pics. Also, don’t underestimate the value of looking at well done trees in person. Just because you can’t afford and aren’t ready to care for more expensive material doesn’t mean it can’t teach you a lot about how good bonsai are built. I can’t emphasize enough how much you can learn from seeing as many trees as you can in 3-D.

 

[Jluke33]

I would make the trip in person. You never get a good sense of what a tree is really like from photos. I’d much rather buy something I put my eyes on in person. I’ve never really been happy with any of the few trees I’ve bought based on pics. Also, don’t underestimate the value of looking at well done trees in person. Just because you can’t afford and aren’t ready to care for more expensive material doesn’t mean it can’t teach you a lot about how good bonsai are built. I can’t emphasize enough how much you can learn from seeing as many trees as you can in 3-D.

Oh I meant to take a class! Yeah I’m sure it’s definitely worth the trip to look at trees/purchase

 

[thatguy]

We need someone who does intensives up here in the northeast. Does Sergio do classes?

Bill Valvanis has open workshops and clinics/seminars out in NY.

 

[Clicio]

Bill Valvanis has open workshops and clinics/seminars out in NY.

ANYTHING coming from @William N. Valavanis is worth much more than a hundred bucks. Easily.