nursery stock

I've seen ryan neil say this on multiple streams on mirai live, in this video at 16:33 he's saying this again. Reduce the rootball enough to fit a bonsai pot, it's a kill it or make a bonsai moment... but following that logic, why not bare root? why not make more drastic moves on initial stages...

Posted a prior thread here on a Honey Mesquite I purchased a few weeks ago at a nursery. I've been thinking about the other one just about every day since, so I bit the bullet yesterday and acquired this beauty: The tree has about a 3" base. Thoughts: - Beautiful movement. The trunk has that...

Posted a prior thread here on a Honey Mesquite I purchased a few weeks ago at a nursery. I've been thinking about the other one just about every day since, so I bit the bullet yesterday and acquired this beauty: The tree has about a 3" base. Thoughts: - Beautiful movement. The trunk has that...

I bought this today for 30 bucks. I have only been “doing bonsai” for 3 years so any advice would be amazing. I was able to put some nice bends in it and I think it is quite good looking now. Feel free to bring me back to reality but this turned out better that I ever thought possible. I’m not...

Hi all! I'm a noobie here and 1 year into my bonsai adventure. I just bought an awesome white cedar, thuja occidentalis, from nursery stock and I was wondering if it is safe to leave outside for the remaining weeks of winter. It seems  really healthy as of today's date, and I would like to keep...

Hi, My 1st post here. I acquired this Austrian Pine in Dec 2022 ($50) and proceeded to possibly make my 1st set of mistakes on it. First mistake I might have made was to remove some/most of the needles from the trunk of the tree. I had remembered someone someplace on youtube mentioning that...

I found them on the Colorado Rocky Mountain Bonsai "Bonsai Vendors" page, and they have a "For bonsai" section on their page where they list cultivars of JMs they sell with growth habits that are generally desired for maple bonsai subjects. Does anyone have experience with them? They seem...

Picked up a Picea pungens "Semper dwarf" today. A little pricier than I like for nursery stock but I did talk them down to about 40% of the asking price. No graft that I could tell. Nice base. It looked a bit rough to start with. After cleaning up it looks better. I'll repot it next spring...

I have access to a nursery with a few different species in zone 5. Plenty of Japanese maple which is what I have in mind. I might be able to find some good 5-8 year growth from field saplings. What should I look for?

The extension service in my area gave away some native trees today. I have zero experience with bonsai and thought it would be cool to start my journey with some native species. I wanted Red Maple (Acer rubrum) but they went quick so I got a Pond Cypress (Taxodium ascendens) and a Dahoon Holly...

Came across this five gallon Stewartia pseudocamellia yesterday while out at a nursery. The price is $95 and the tree is slightly taller than me, so I would say 6-7 feet. Pros: Can see some radially arranged surface roots and the trunk is pretty thick at the base (forgot to measure but would...

Hello all! I’ve only posted here once (asking for hinoki advice) but I spend many hours here reading. Since my first post I have fallen ever deeper into my bonsai addiction. Let’s just say both my porches are full of trees. Anyway, I have got a few Hinoki Cypresses and one sawara cypress, so I...

Saw this mugo at the Lowes today, priced at $120. Its pricey for me, any ideas if it will be a good bonsai specimen, new to bonsai world.

Hi everyone! I am pretty new to bonsai. I just joined this forum community. I have accumulated 4 trees that can be safely called developed bonsai, 3 potted into bonsai pots that are in training to become bonsai, 2 cuttings growing furiously, and a porch full of nursery stock. I guess you could...

Hey everyone!👋 I thought I would make a poll to determine the best possible front/style for this Acer Palmatum 'Little Princess' I got for 60€ from a local nursery! Since I'm very new to bonsai, I'm not entirely sure if it's the best bonsai material, but the nebari seemed promising and the...

I bought a potted Black Hills Spruce (Picea glauca var. densata) from Lowes last weekend. It appears to have been dug recently and just dropped into a pot. The soil is fine sand/silt and washes away easily (and weighs like it is solid rock). Can I re-pot this tree into good bonsai mix now? or...

Hi, I am new to bonsai. I have bought 4 trees so far from the nursery. This is my most recent. Nothing too exciting but its my only tree that looks like a tree right now haha. Let me know what you all think. I may also post pictures of my Boxwood, Hot Wings (Tartarian) Maple and Wells Weeper...

Have been on another Ryan Neil kick lately (goes in cycles during the last two winters when time is had to view 1.5 hour vids). Notably, the Fraser Fir nursery stock styling session. Despite acknowledging this not being the best time of the year to work this species (gathered from Bnut this...

Hi everyone! I just came back from a tree nursery with this rather large Acer palmatum shishigashira. They had a lot of japanese maples for 'garden use' in stock and I remembered this cultivar being used for bonsai. It was on sale, so I didn't really hesitate. The base and cultivar was what...

Recently acquired this JWP 'Glauca' from a local nursery and I am very new to JWP's so I am hoping for some guidance. The tree only ran me about $75, so seemed like a decent buy and I was itching to learn more about the species. I did basic work uncovering the nebari, only working the first 2-3...

Hey everyone, novice bonsai guy just looking for advice. I found this at a local mom and pop shop for 35 dollars and thought why not? Decent size trunk on it. I just bought it thinking of trunk chopping it and trying to root some cuttings but I just started thinking I could air layer the top to...

So I came across this schefflera at a home depot that was neglected and covered in pigeon crap. I know it sounds weird but I kinda felt bad for the thing so bought it. I took it home and cleaned up the base a bit so I could see what there was to work with a little better. It's pretty gnarly...

Got this pretty baby as present, Arbutus Unedo Atlantica, aka small strawberry tree. Love the curve at the base and the bark will be red when aged. Anybody have experience with them? I'm in South Ireland, so warm ish winters with very rare dipping to minus 2 or 3 Celsius. I was going to put it...

First steps

My first styling of a juniper I am hoping to make it into an informal upright. I did Shari on front of trunk and jin on the branch above. There was another branch below the branch I did the jin on and tied them together. I don't know if I should have waited to do the jin and Shari. if anyone has...