House of Bonsai - Flowering Apricot

namnhi

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Just pull the plug on this one. It came from House of Bonsai in CA. Have never bought a tree this expensive before but since 'Tet' is around the corner and the flower of this guy is the sign of the New Year for us. I can't help myself. Hopefully $310 is an ok deal.

Am doomed!!!
FloweringApricot.jpg
 

Tieball

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Clear the math up for me. I read and see that you paid $310 for a tree advertised for $79. Am I seeing this correctly? Or did I just miss the point somewhere.

My Mai tree is nearing bloom...yellow flowers, southern....should be right on the mark for Tet. Are your flower buds near blooming?

I’m always skeptical of a description that says...Actual tree may look different....
Did you receive your tree yet? It’s a good one?
 

namnhi

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Clear the math up for me. I read and see that you paid $310 for a tree advertised for $79. Am I seeing this correctly? Or did I just miss the point somewhere.

My Mai tree is nearing bloom...yellow flowers, southern....should be right on the mark for Tet. Are your flower buds near blooming?

I’m always skeptical of a description that says...Actual tree may look different....
Did you receive your tree yet? It’s a good one?
Yeah I got the tree they posted. I was looking at the Mai tree on ebay as well a while back. I seen some that was listed around $200, $250 but the seller took them all down and relist them for $300 - $400 range. I believe he did it because of Tet. That's sux.
 

namnhi

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No! Shipping!

Damn Namn!

Sorce
Oh yes there is shipping. 225 + 80 = 305. My math was off by 5. :) Will need a pot for this one day.
This is my highest paid tree so far. I have an eye on one of Chinese Quince which is $500 from a local bonsai shop. I will most like be trading 5 of my JBPs for that one.
 

Cadillactaste

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Your tree...appears to not be grafted. Nice bones there. I recall Dario purchased one from them...and it was grafted. Which is why I never looked really at the material. Have fun with it!
 

Giga

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310 is actually a pretty good price an not that much honestly - That's a very nice tree and with some work that's going to be very nice. Ume is my favorite species so good luck with it.
 

Phillthy

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I bought mine from the same seller awhile back. I’m still unsure on how to design the trunk line.
 

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jriddell88

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Your tree...appears to not be grafted. Nice bones there. I recall Dario purchased one from them...and it was grafted. Which is why I never looked really at the material. Have fun with it!
I’m pretty sure these are grafted ,no?

Looked like the grafted branches to trunk not a low graft onto a trunk
 

Giga

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I may get one too - though I would like a white one
 

namnhi

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I’m pretty sure these are grafted ,no?

Looked like the grafted branches to trunk not a low graft onto a trunk
I bought mine from the same seller awhile back. I’m still unsure on how to design the trunk line.
This look a little leggy. Good candidate to learn how to graft. You have plenty of branches for that. Beautiful light pink blooms.
 

namnhi

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I’m pretty sure these are grafted ,no?

Looked like the grafted branches to trunk not a low graft onto a trunk
Am pretty sure some of the branches are grafted but it hard to see the graft. I have a hard time seeing them. The plan is to remove all coarse growths and keep the smaller twigs. With Ume, I found that if you let the branch goes uncheck then it will kill off all the other smaller ones.
 

namnhi

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I may get one too - though I would like a white one
I took my chance when they have several to choose from. Looks like this batch has all pink flower. When are you going to chop back your collected one?
 

Adair M

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Just pull the plug on this one. It came from House of Bonsai in CA. Have never bought a tree this expensive before but since 'Tet' is around the corner and the flower of this guy is the sign of the New Year for us. I can't help myself. Hopefully $310 is an ok deal.

Am doomed!!!
View attachment 174639
That looks like a good deal! Even considering the shipping.

Ume are trained differently than most other trees. They’re one of the rare deciduous trees that typically are developed with deadwood! (I know you’ll like that!)

Of course, the deadwood is only appropriate if the tree has old bark. Your tree has the beginnings of mature bark, but it’s not there yet.

Ume are grown for their flowers. The cool thing is they bloom really early in late winter to early spring. They’re usually the first thing to show signs of life in the spring. And then, the flowers are delicate and fragrant. Wonderful! They’re a stark contrast to the winter season.

And, when these precious flowers come from a gnarly old trunk, the contrast of the apparent age and hardship endured by the trunk and the youth and vitality as expressed by the flowers makes for an exquisite display!

So...

What I am telling you is to think long term with this tree. You’re eventually going to want to carve the trunk. Which means you need to grow wood to carve!

If this were my tree, I would seriously consider growing it in the ground for a few years to beef up that trunk. You have some good movement, but the branches have long straight stretches that will have to be removed.

Meanwhile, get another cheap one. To practice on. Make sure it blooms before you buy it. There is a yearly cycle you go thru to get both ramification and get flower production. And it’s its own thing. There’s an article in an old International Bonsai magazine (from around 1980) that details the process.

Good luck with it!

Here is a recent picture of an Ume I used to own:

DDD8E69C-3940-484A-BF86-46517C508422.jpeg

Here’s what it looked like when I showed it two years ago:

EA5BB330-3D63-4582-9E32-5FE3632FFEBE.jpeg

As you can see, there’s a lot more ramification now!
 

MobiusKB

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I have two mumes from this seller from 2 years ago. They used to be under $200 or somewhat around $160 and with more shipping options. These mumes seem to be low saddle grafted to maybe a myrobalan rootstock due to their darker bark plus its one of the more commonly used rootstocks for apricot varieties. Mine are grounded for now.

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namnhi

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I have two mumes from this seller from 2 years ago. They used to be under $200 or somewhat around $160 and with more shipping options. These mumes seem to be low saddle grafted to maybe a myrobalan rootstock due to their darker bark plus its one of the more commonly used rootstocks for apricot varieties. Mine are grounded for now.

View attachment 177204View attachment 177205View attachment 177206
Nice trunky but I don't see any twigs close to the trunk to cut back to. You will definitely have to graft those back?
 
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