Good Material? or Bad???

[M. Frary]

It's a trap! Once enough of us say it's crap, he'll spring he finished image on us

I agree! We all know Stacy wouldn't really ask our
opinion about buying something without an ulterior
motive. He's baiting us for some fantastic reveal or
something

Probably.

 

[CWTurner]

Saw,
I think a better poll question would be "Should I keep this friend or not?" I can't imagine a friend who would ask me to purchase something he no longer wanted. I think this what @Anthony was saying too.
Either way you go, it's the best photograph of starter material I've seen lately.
CW

 

[Rid]

I am asking, because people seem to ask this all the time. There are numerous threads posted every other week doing the very same thing. This was stated in the original post at the opening of the thread.

As far as a number... this was not yet duscussed. As I mentioned the seller is a friend, I am not in the habit of screwing over friends... yet my friend for the most part just wants to get rid of it. Which would be why he showed up at my house with it... I guess he feels I can make something nice of it and take care of it in a way which he cannot??? Not sure what he was thinking... but there you go.
I am sure he is not really concerned about the dollars... nor am I really.

Having said that... $20 dollars is a little light don't you think? I mean, if I was to buy it... sure I would probably not give tons of money for it... but I also understand very well how long it takes a Procumbens to get a trunk the diameter of just over 2 inches... $20 dollars would be less than a dollar a year to grow it.

Probably more in the neighborhood of 50 cents a year? Maybe 25 cents... or getting close?

So the question you're asking really is how much should you offer for it. I say $80

 

[jriddell88]

Lay it down flat in a long pot like a raft maybe ? I'd look at it like that, maybe like a tree that has fallen over but still alive , maybe have half of the root base exposed

 

[Paradox]

It's a trap! Once enough of us say it's crap, he'll spring he finished image on us

I agree, I get the distinct feeling that I'm getting led into something

 

[Nybonsai12]

I could not would not buy this tree.
Not in a bag not if you nag
Not for a fee, not even for free.
I could not would not buy this tree.

 

[ColinFraser]

I could not would not buy this tree.
Not in a bag not if you nag
Not for a fee, not even for free.
I could not would not buy this tree.

Haha,
I would not buy it on a train
I would not buy it in the rain

 

[Cypress187]

it's the best photograph of starter material I've seen lately.

Wuhaha, that's what I was thinking before my first post. I could almost not judge the tree because the pictures where so good!

 

[A Random User]

You guys are too funny!
"I think I am being led into something..."

I have not actually done anything to the tree... still currently sitting in a garbage bag.

I do agree on two fronts with what has so far been said though... and the problem solving of what to do with the tree. The first being that a conifer with a straight trunk such as this is going to right off the bat require either a formal upright design, which is not going to happen due to one side having no branching, or perhaps more of a slanting style. So, easiest possible change one can do when styling a tree? Changing the trees angle.

I also agree with the concept of more of a mountain pine type approach. How tormented and beaten? Yes, I do believe it should have some deadwood... just how much? I could easily go for the jinned trunk for an apex, however there is some nice living material at the apex and plenty of it... so something to consider. Obviously, this still could be removed.

Also, I don't think it was apparent in the other photos because of the angle, but in this new slanted angle picture... there is a heavy branch that comes off right at the trunk... which if I decided to use this angle, which I think I probably will, forms a second trunk.
Bonus to adding intrest.

So far I have already begun to style the tree without even doing anything to it...

Tree is going to be a mountain pine, that is going to be angled out. Because one side of the trunk has no branching, this side dictates it should go down. Seeing it would be shaded out by light. In the process of changing the proposed angle, I will gain a much smaller trunk coming off of the right side of the trunk. So composition, will be a twin trunk.

Now, because I have two trunks going off in totally different directions... and obviously I don't really want a large slingshot for a composition... What would be my next factor that I can easily determine must happen wirh the trees design? Again without even doing anything to the tree...

Often, the material just solves it's own problems, you just have to work through them one by one.

 

[Chris Swink]

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So, one of my friends came by today with a Procumbens Juniper... That had been staked to grow tall at some point. He had bought it quite a few years ago and had it in a big pot ceramic, that just broke... So hence the trash bag. Whats up with all the trash bag trees that seem to be making their way to my house, I don't know? But, this is how he brought it over... And after all the years it is still in nursery soil.

When the tree showed, up half of it was dead... But had obviously died quite a while back, perhaps from to deep of a pot and staying to wet? Who knows... but, seems since a good portion had died off, my friend had started neglecting it... which in all actuality is probably for the best, seeing I think he was watering too much before... and him neglecting it probably saved the tree.

Now he asked me if I wanted to buy it off him... I told him let me clean out all of what is dead, and I will let him know... So, I have removed all that is dead, and decided I would take some photos and ask everyone here what they thought, seeing that often we see these posts all the time by people starting off of material they find at a nursery.

Specs of the tree are that it has a telephone pole for a trunk, not really much of a taper... has 2 lower really thick branches, and a ton of wispy branches in between, is 100 percent juvenile foliage. Height is 28 inches tall, Width 30 inches wide, and it has a 2 inch trunk.

So, my questions are, would you consider this Good Material?
Would you Buy it?
And if so... what would you do with it? Does anyone see a tree in there?
To heavy of a trunk to really do a major bend... So, would you Chop it? or leave it the length it is? Jin the top? Add a shari?

Not interested in what I can do with it... already know where I would go with it... If i was to buy it, of which i have not decided. Interested in where you would go. Lets see the difference of views!

Oh, and just for fun... I will add a poll as well, for those who prefer to linger instead. Even though I can probably guess the results!
Thanks in Advance!

Hell yes!

 

[A Random User]

Ok... so obviously before any work could actually be done to the tree whether I buy it, or not... It needs to go into some sort of pot!
Cant have the roots sitting around drying out, cant have dirt falling all over my desk that I work at, and sure as crap cant try and do any sort of wiring or work to the tree with it flopping around in a garbage bag...

So, seeing that I liked this angle, and that I had a concrete crescent shape slab that I hadn't finished, yet had sitting around for the past year... I decided that if I quickly finished what needed to be finished to be able to use it, and if I did some minor work to the roots, which was mostly just removing some dirt... I could combine the two! Solving the issue of a pot for the tree, what to do with the slab that was never finished and used... and perhaps help people decide if the material is good or bad?

I think that perhaps it might have some nice potential.. and have a funny feeling my friend might end up wanting it back, whatcha think?

For the moment I did not change out the nursery soil. Not really any big rush to do so... It can be removed and repotted either next year or the following. It will help maintain moisture a little more, and help the tree to continue to grow faster which for the moment is what the tree needs. Moss had been added to the soil to prevent it from washing away.

 

[A Random User]

Hell yes!

I think the pictures you posted are a really nice concept of where the tree could head!
And for all intensive purposes, my feeling of where I would probably end up styling the tree, would be somewhere between what I have going on with the tree and the photos you have posted. Kind of a compromise... I like the slant cause I gain the second trunk, yet I don't want to go into a complete windswept tree, due to wanting to mask some of the taper issue of the trunk.

I could completely create a shari on the bottom side of the tree and play with the issue of taper, by removing deadwood as the tree moves up... however this only solves this issue of the taper from the front angle. Still would be apparent from the side.

Still not off the table though!

 

[0soyoung]

Looks like 'Thunder Chicken' the fighting cock.

 

[_#1_]

Wait a God dang minute here!

Is this a stealth ninja entry to @scorce awsome contest?

Way to show the folks who wrote this one off

 

[A Random User]

Wait a God dang minute here!

Is this a stealth ninja entry to @scorce awsome contest?

Way to show the folks who wrote this one off

No... Lol!
Didn't even think of that!

 

[drew33998]

It kind of looks like middle of a Florida thicket/swamp kinda scary. If you never been deep in a Florida forest then you wouldn't get it.

 

[Adair M]

I'd try to make a raft out of it.

 

[CWTurner]

What strikes my eye is the branching on the entire upper half seems to be growing pointedly downward. I've seen some of your bending skills @sawgrass, so that's what I think needs done here. The where and how, I'll leave to you. Jin the end of the trunk and use the branch that is now curving off to the right as the apex.
CW

 

[A Random User]

Last night I had one of my main breakers of my house blew permanently... Which blows! Lol!!!
So, a closed sign was hung on the front of my shop, which is my back porch... and I spent the rest of the night watching TV.
TV... has gotten pretty much to the point of not even watching in my book these days, but that's a whole nother story!

So, today went to work, then came home and change out the breaker for a new one... then began to do a little bit of work.

First order of biz was to bring up a leader on the smaller trunk. The heaviest branch in the mass of the cluster, well you know...
was wrapped with raffia, and bent up. Not tons over here to work with really, in fact most of it needs to be eliminated... so this
area is going to take some time.

Then I began to put some wire on some of the branching of the main trunk... as I did, I just pulled it straight up away from the trunk,
so I could separate them. Then pushed the bottom left branch over to where it is at to get it out of the way of the view of the trunk.
Not quite sure if it will remain... Or just jinned in its entirety. Will Wait to see how the rest develops.
Although, I kinda like that it counterbalances the direction to the right of the rest of the tree... think the very end needs brought down straighter.

Not trying to do tons of work to this tree... in fact I really like the wild, unkempt look of what it already has going on. Just trying to sort out
Problem areas... as well, trying to make the whole composition of the two trees work together. Also, at this time, I am not going to go through
and eliminate tons of foliage, want to see what new stuff brings as the tree develops, also want to keep it healthy and moving on.

Will keep moving up the tree!

 

[A Random User]

Side note...
Wanted to address the whole baiting people thing. I am not baiting people, just asked a question of what people thought of this material.

Everyone always says go out and get good material... it is interesting to see what people's view of good material is. No, answers are wrong, really.

For some, good material is trees that just need refined, where someone else has already done all the construction work. For others they see the tree in a rough piece of stock, just needing to begin the process of it's construction, and then there is the last group who just seem to say everything is bad, just because that seems to be the response to all answers of if a piece of material is good or bad.

I am not judging... I just figured after I showed the initial photos, I would follow it up with it's progression, too show my opinion of whether or not I thought the tree was good or not. Which happens to be, well... it doesn't become good on it's own... only one way to find out.

Is it good or bad? Well I have seen worse trees and I have seen better. But, so far it's an amazing improvement in my book. We will see how it develops over time. I think it has some very nice potential... yes, it still has some issues, but these cannot all be resolved this week.