Hello from up North

[kootenay]

Hello Everyone,

So I kind of put it out there pre-xmas that I wanted to start getting into bonsai this upcoming year. I wanted to do something new that was out of the normal for me I guess. I don't really have any growing experience to speak of, but the idea of growing and caring for a bonsai is very appealing to me. I am hoping to find a calming force from the whole experience.

With that being said my mom bought me some bonsai items for x-mas this year. I ended up with some starter soil, a very small pot, a larger 8" dish, cute little bonsai pruning shears, and a bag of JWP seeds. Now, I did some googling about starting JWPs and have found that it may not be the easiest endeavour to begin. Apparently they are not always keen to germinate? I read a few things about soaking them in water, rubbing them with sand paper, hoping that they sink in water and even letting them hang out in my fridge for a month or two? Maybe some people here have some better insight on starting these JWPs? Maybe even a fairly detailed guide as I don't have much growing experience at all. I am worried I need to start this process soon, and the weather up here has been extremely mild this winter, been getting some +8c days consistently, but still -4c nights.

My next item to ask about is: Since I do live in the interior of BC I am surrounded by pine forests, can I just go into the woods and find something to grab, re-pot and start from there? What should I go looking for and when is a good time of year to do this? I am assuming in the next 30 days-ish?

Lastly, I don't mind throwing a little $$ at this project, so would you guys recommend that maybe I purchase something already started to play around with, get my feet wet so to speak? I found these guys up here in Canada http://www.bonsaistore.ca/, maybe there is a better option? I plan do most my growing at work as we are almost done our new office and it does have a large out door patio.....I made them build me stands for plating on..lol I also wouldn't mind having something on my work desk, I have 2 sun facing windows that will see sunlight from around 9:15am to 2pm starting mid March.

Ok, that is all for now and I know that was long, but I am excited to start my new adventure and I appreciate everyone's help. I also promise to become an active member of this forum and post as many pictures as possible!!

 

[ghues]

Welcome to the addiction fellow northerner - On the coast here so not much good to you but check out and search for posts or go to his profile wireme, he's from Kootenays, and PM him as he's from your neck of the woods and will give you some great info.
Cheers Graham

 

[edprocoat]

Oh you crazy canucks, makes me wonder how you grow anything up there with your 3 1/2 week growing season ...... eh?

lol This post would drive my cousin crazy, he'd be so pissed he would probably drive down from Moosejaw Saskatchewan and smack me with a kurling stone.

ed

 

[Si Nguyen]

Welcome to BNut! I have some family in Kelowna. I don't know how far that is from Kootenays. But the entire BC is just beautiful. Wide open spaces! Weather is nice! You're lucky to be living there. I would recommend taking walks in the woods and finding small interesting trees that way, but I don't know how old you are. So be careful in the wild. Never be alone. Hang out at your local plant nursery and talk to people there first. You may find a few local hobbyists to hang out with and learn from. That's how I started.
Good luck with your new hobby.

 

[kootenay]

K-town or Kelowna as you call it is only about 3 hours from me. I am 32 for reference and spend many of my summers alone on the woods...lol Mainly flyfishing though. When walking alone in the woods, what would I be looking for? Anything smallish at all? Are any pines better that others? Sorry, I am 100% green to all this, but am super keen to learn.

Thank you ghues, I will try to get in touch with wireme for a local's perspective on things. The Kootenay's as a whole are not very large so I suspect he/she is fairly local to me.

 

[Si Nguyen]

Sorry, I thought you were much younger when you said you got X-mas presents from your mom. I know I stopped getting presents when I reached puberty.

Without getting into the whole collecting permit thing (save that fight for another day), you should look for any trees that are stunted, twisted, or just simply interesting looking. Look for trees in your city neighborhoods too. You don't have to go to the mountains to find bonsai material. Once you got the bug, you will not be able to stop looking for bonsai material anywhere you go. But do try to resist the temptation to dig without a permit.

 

[kootenay]

Hahaha all good, we do like a secret Santa type thing with half the family. Ok, well I will start the look out then and see what I can find for sure. I don't think the whole dig thing will be an issue as Nelson is famous for its 100+ "illegally" dug and built mountain bike trails which are all over the place here.

 

[wireme]

Heya, good to see another kootanite. You've got a killer climate for bonsai in nelson, you can grow a few things that I can't being in the colder east koots.

As far as collecting and permits, I hear where you're coming from knowing the situation here, we all know people who've landscaped their yards with young trees dug out of cutbanks and stuff without a permit. A few things to keep in mind though. One, collecting without a permit could affect those who do, giving a bad name to all bonsai collectors. 2- once you get into older stunted material its a bit different than thinning out a few seedlings from the woods. The really cool old trees are deserving of some regulations re: collecting. There's more but I'll leave it at that for now.
When I first started collecting I called up the local forestry office and was verbally told to go ahead and collect a few as long as it was for my own use and not for resale. I did that for a while but was a bit uncomfortable not having anything in writing and a few years ago I also thought I may want to sell some trees someday. So I approached them again and submitted a list of guidelines to follow that I thought would be appropriate. They accepted that and topped it up with no activities that break any aspect of the forest practices code. Its a yearly permit with restrictions that I hope they will continue to renew but I never know for sure.
Generally permits and guidelines don't exist in these parts yet and its up to the local forest district office. I've heard of people gaining permission for single trees in another district under a Xmas tree collecting permit.
Send me a pm, I'd be happy to have someone local to talk trees with.

 

[Si Nguyen]

You 2 kootanites should share with us what your country looks like when you go yamadori hunting. I am sure most people here would love to see pics of your BC landscape and cool trees.

 

[wireme]

http://bonsainut.com/index.php?threads/pics-a-few-nice-mountain-trees.14604/

There ya go Si, bunch of Kootenay trees in the thread above, not so much yamadori hunting, just some nice trees in the wild.