Clump heritage river birch?

[Maloghurst]

I’ve been looking at this for probably 2 years at a local nursery and contemplating its potential. I have thus far left it alone. It’s on clearance for about 70.00. I probably won’t buy it but curious if you all see a great opportunity or a waste of time, money and space. I did a quick virt on my phone, messy and probably not the best angle. Completely fused base but not much nebari visible. Unsure but I think internodes and leaf size are usable as bonsai. What do you think?

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Looks like it could work. You might need to make the branches longer, to cope with the length of the internodes in river birch. But your plan basically could work.

Birch bonsai tend to be larger size rather than smaller. If you can think in terms of 2 to 4 feet tall, rather than less than 2 feet tall. And you should be able to create something mice.

 

[Maloghurst]

Looks like it could work. You might need to make the branches longer, to cope with the length of the internodes in river birch. But your plan basically could work.

Birch bonsai tend to be larger size rather than smaller. If you can think in terms of 2 to 4 feet tall, rather than less than 2 feet tall. And you should be able to create something mice.

Thank you for responding @Leo in N E Illinois Sounds like your on the fence like myself. Though I like the recommendation to make a taller more birch like form. Maybe I’ll try a virt taller and see how I like that. I’m just being very discerning with anything I get going forward and unless there is real potential I’m not getting it.
it’s the clump that is drawing me in.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

The key beauty of birsh as bonsai is the bark. Taller trees have more bark to show off. That is part of the source of my recommendation. The ambivalence you hear is that birch tend to have moderately coarse branching pattern when grown as bonsai. There have been some nice birch bonsai created, but they are not common. You are tackling material that does not have a "good track record", so I am not saying it is impossible, just that it may be difficult. If the cost is "fun money" in your budget, go for it. If the cost is a a stretch for your budget, walk away. Also consider how much time you have for this project. If you are having a hard time keeping up with all your bonsai projects, this one will become time demanding as it matures.

 

[Potawatomi13]

Personally straight trunks boring uninteresting. But is your money and time.