What's the ideal number of trees?

What do you all think is the ideal range of trees for the serious practicioner to maintain? Above a certain amount, it just becomes impossible for one person to keep up with and still retain quality. I've heard numbers from 8-30 when I've asked people this question. I have a difficult time keeping myself restrained and not biting off more than I can chew.

You need so many that you can't accurately count them so that when one dies it has no effect on the total.

It really depends on the amount of free time for bonsai one has, and the level of development of trees. Your 8 to 30 is a good bracket for advanced, exhibition quality trees and only an hour or two a day to take care of them.

If you have a lot of "sticks in a pot", they don't need much time or care beyond water and fertilizer. You can easily care for 100 to 200 of these sorts of trees with the hour a day budget. The problem is, as these trees develop, they will require more time. At first we build up large collections of raw material just to keep ourselves from overworking raw stock. One cure for impatience is more trees. However as these trees begin to need more time, one needs to immediately begin to "downsize" the collection, by eliminating your "junk trees" in order that you have enough time to put into your better trees.

It is best to think of our bonsai collections as transitory. Trees come in, tree are passed on or sold. Occasionally a tree is composted.

Show quality trees require large amounts of time, you don't want to loose them because you neglected them in order to keep raw "sticks in pots" watered and growing.

Be responsive to changes in your trees. Be conscious of the need to downsize as quality of trees comes up. Be aware of demands on your time. Keep control so you can enjoy the hobby longer.

enough to keep you from being bored which would make you fiddle
Less than you can maintain without it becoming work or overly stressfull in the peak seasons

There are many threads on here. For a family father with 3 kids and a full time job, 10 might be too many.
For a single girl working part-time as a consultant from home and no kids, 200 might be too few.
3 small young junipers are less work than 1 mature large maple.

Leo's answer is spot on.
I was concerned after reading the OP. I thought I needed to get rid of a few hundred trees to be in the ballpark.

Enough to keep you busy and interested. Not so many that you can't care for them properly.

Carol 83 said:

Enough to keep you busy and interested. Not so many that you can't care for them properly.

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Yet there is always that one.........

The ideal number is just one more.

Ruddigger said:

The ideal number is just one more.

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Well sure, if you only buy them one at a time.

Vajra said:

What do you all think is the ideal range of trees for the serious practicioner to maintain? Above a certain amount, it just becomes impossible for one person to keep up with and still retain quality. I've heard numbers from 8-30 when I've asked people this question. I have a difficult time keeping myself restrained and not biting off more than I can chew.

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8-30? LOL. I have 44 JBP four year-old seedlings that I am growing for the JBP contest. I might have over 200 princess persimmon seedlings ranging from 1-3 years. Just sayin'. Last I checked I had over 200 trees that were in some stage of refinement (past the seedling / nursery stage). Many require only a few hours of care each year... but people always ask "how do you get nice large shimpaku" and the answer is "you have 50 cuttings growing in your yard somewhere". So a lot depends on what kind of bonsai you want to practice. If you are retired and have a formal garden and want to keep trees on displays on stands in a small garden... 30 might be too many. But for many, I advise - for every 2 show trees, expect 10 finished trees, 50 trees in development, and 200 sticks in pots.

I honestly feel it depends on ones lifestyle...and time set aside for their hobby. I've 33 in total...I do not feel overwhelmed in the least. But I've seriously hit a comfort zone. I had birthday money with my turning 50 this year. Never once contemplated buying another tree. I could have bought a nicer specimen...and it didn't fuel me. I'm content... at 33 apparently.

42

Just one more…

Robert Callahan, in his book Satsuki Azaleas, actually wrote about this very question, but from a different perspective, the number of hours per year required to to maintain each of his azaleas.

Callaham figured, maintaining, stying, potting etc, six mature show quality trees took him about 20 - 25 hours a year per tree per year. thats about 15 - 18 working days a year…. not sure if he included watering?

He also mentions experienced satsuki collectors tend to winnow down their collections and retain 25 - 35 trees…. (most likely in different stages of development if his data is correct.)

I can’t wait to get to that winnow down stage!

cheers
DSD sends

Brian Van Fleet said:

Just one more…

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Yup, only held on to about 8 because I live in a smaller place, yet, yesterday I ordered another in the mail

Deep Sea Diver said:

Robert Callahan, in his book Satsuki Azaleas, actually wrote about this very question, but from a different perspective, the number of hours per year required to to maintain each of his azaleas.

Callaham figured, maintaining, stying, potting etc, six mature show quality trees took him about 20 - 25 hours a year per tree per year. thats about 15 - 18 working days a year…. not sure if he included watering?

He also mentions experienced satsuki collectors tend to winnow down their collections and retain 25 - 35 trees…. (most likely in different stages of development if his data is correct.)

I can’t wait to get to that winnow down stage!

cheers
DSD sends

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That's a very pragmatic approach to this question, thank you so much for sharing!

Size matters, too. One big forest can consume an enormous amount of time, especially tricking them out for a show. They take a lot of moss and that don't grow on trees. Big trees are easier to keep alive than 12" trees, and we do covet the big ones, and over-reaching is a partner of OCD, so we tend to accumulate bigger stuff. Eventually it becomes a burden and down-sizing begins. That's a laugh, too. Sell two, buy one. Over and over and over...

penumbra said:

Well sure, if you only buy them one at a time.

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People do that?

This got me thinking…took my morning coffee out to the garden to take an inventory I’ve got…

15 trees in bonsai pots. None are exhibition quality, yet, but are on their way.

40 trees in training pots or wooden boxes. I consider these to be legitimate “pre-bonsai” but still a long way to go.

10 trees in the ground grow bed.

A few trays of cuttings/seedlings for long term projects and/or grafting.

I find that my limiting factor is not time or energy or desire to work on trees, but space. I live in the heart of the city and have just a small city lot to work with. My wife is also a gardener so she needs her own parts of the yard, too. So my space is approximately 10’ x 25’. It is like Tetris to get each tree the sun it needs. But I can usually find room for 1 more shohin

“Some day” I’d like a large garden with 200+ refined bonsai. Retirement plans….in 40 years

For me, the ideal number of trees is the number that allows my wife to water them in the event of my absence, in 2 minutes maximum ( 4 or 5 trees), a good way to get there, it's every time we buy a tree that we like, to sell one or two that we like the least, it's also a way of gradually improving the collection