Huge Olive Stumps Off Craigslist - Your Opinion?

[Firstflush]

Some links provided of a seller nearby off CL. What do you think? Pretty substantial.
Are they just gigantic air layers or huge cuttings? Anybody know how long they take to get roots?

Old Olive Bonsai Tree - farm & garden - by owner - sale

Fruiting Olive Tree, Bonsai Tree 60 Years old ___ L15,W11,H25 ( 11 INCHES TRUNK) ( 34 Lbs ) ___...

orangecounty.craigslist.org

Old Olive Bonsai Tree - farm & garden - by owner - sale

Fruiting Olive Tree, Bonsai Tree OVER 60 Years old ___ L26,W13,H20 ( 9 INCHES TRUNK) ( 40 Lbs )...

orangecounty.craigslist.org

Old Olive Bonsai Tree - farm & garden - by owner - sale

Fruiting Olive Tree, Bonsai Tree Over 60 Years Old ___ L14,W13,H23 ( 13 INCHES TRUNK) ( 67 Lbs)...

orangecounty.craigslist.org

In your opinion are they worth the asking price?

 

[leatherback]

They could be collected by chopping secons off a large old tree. Rooting can happen within a few months given the right climate. I would presume these are well rooted.

As for the asking price.. I find it too much money. For 300E I get big-trunked olives from regular trade, which you can carve down to pretty much the same material.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

A lot of these come out of landscape. Westminster, Garden Grove, that's ground zero for the Vietnamese bonsai crowd (Little Saigon, etc). @Si Nguyen and I would go there for good Vietnamese food. A lot of those guys don't hang out on Internet forums, but don't fool yourself - they have some amazing skills and amazing trees. Tom Vuong is one of my personal bonsai idols... and not too many people know who he is because he keeps a low profile.

Viet Bonsai Today is the big Garden Grove club - they hold an annual show. Bring your big trees, LOL!

Here's a link to a Dai Ichi Bonsai Kai newsletter, that not only has an article on Tom, but shows one of his monster olive stumps... which make those stumps on Craigslist look small

Whether those stumps are worth the price or not is strictly up to you. For that kind of money, you should be able to ask who the seller is in real life, whether they belong to a bonsai society, etc - just to get a feel for them as a seller.

 

[BobbyLane]

at the landscape nursey i have seen such trunks being sold as garden trees for around £300 you would need to chop them down and regrow the stump though. and repot them into managable containers.
that job looks like its all been done for you with these.

 

[leatherback]

at the landscape nursey i have seen such trunks being sold as garden trees for around £300 you would need to chop them down and regrow the stump though. and repot them into managable containers.
that job looks like its all been done for you with these.

exactly. All the fund work has been done, and they ask more money. How does that work!?

 

[BobbyLane]

Many people dont know how to the fun work though

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Many people dont know how to the fun work though

Yeah these stumps have already been roughly carved... but trust me they are raw stock and there is plenty more carving to be done. The big ones weigh 40 lbs! You would never develop a bonsai out of one in the current rough form, but you're right... you need to know what you're doing.

Reminds me of @ianb and one of the deadwood workshops he went to in LA. People were rolling in with rough stock that weighed a ton... and learning how to reduce it. Some of those big California junipers out of the desert are 95% deadwood - and not in a good way.

 

[BobbyLane]

yeh theyre still a little rough around the edges. i can see saw cuts in there and straight edges that will need work with a heavy tool like a makita. they also need a free run of growth. i would be trying to bargain a better deal on the price though. for those prices you want to be sure the trees are healthy and although they have some growth, you could say theyve been listed a little early/prematurely.

 

[Firstflush]

Well thanks folks.
Thought they were cool and wanted to share.

 

[vp999]

The seller for those is the 3Mbonsai on Ebay I believed, I bought a grape bonsai from him a few months back, very nice guy, he even called me after purchased to give me tips on how to care for it.

 

[BobbyLane]

the large one £625 the small one £425 without VAT!

 

[leatherback]

the large one £625 the small one £425 without VAT!

You could make 6 of the trees shown above out of each of these olive. Big Deals!

 

[SeanS]

A lot of these come out of landscape. Westminster, Garden Grove, that's ground zero for the Vietnamese bonsai crowd (Little Saigon, etc). @Si Nguyen and I would go there for good Vietnamese food. A lot of those guys don't hang out on Internet forums, but don't fool yourself - they have some amazing skills and amazing trees. Tom Vuong is one of my personal bonsai idols... and not too many people know who he is because he keeps a low profile.

Viet Bonsai Today is the big Garden Grove club - they hold an annual show. Bring your big trees, LOL!

Here's a link to a Dai Ichi Bonsai Kai newsletter, that not only has an article on Tom, but shows one of his monster olive stumps... which make those stumps on Craigslist look small

Whether those stumps are worth the price or not is strictly up to you. For that kind of money, you should be able to ask who the seller is in real life, whether they belong to a bonsai society, etc - just to get a feel for them as a seller.

Here's a video tour of Tom Vuong's crazy nursery/garden

[EDIT] Hope you don't mind, I'm going to put a video link here for the same content, since I find it so uniquely inspirational -BNut [/EDIT]

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Here's a video tour of Tom Vuong's crazy nursery/garden

LOL OMG - it is crazier than I imagined! @Si Nguyen and I were going to visit him, but real life intruded... we never got to go, and now I live on the other coast! I only saw his trees at exhibitions. Tom is the nicest guy ever in real life... he helped me a lot when I was having trouble with my water, and even came to one of our bonsai study group meetings. At 3:00 he starts talking about some of his olives. Note what he says - they take the olives out of landscape, cut them off, and flip them upside down... and the roots become the new top of the tree(!) So he has the huge stumps - with no cut scars!

Notice the section about him air-layering cork bark JBP. "Very successful" he says. LOL!

 

[meushi]

the large one £625 the small one £425 without VAT!

Just before the confinement and right after The Trophy, I bought a small one at a discounter for around €210. My wife tried to get me to buy several as they were quite cheap, but changed her tune once we had to take it down from the trailer. 30 gallons pot full of clay and roots, plus the tree... based on how it bent the trailer ramps, I'd think 200+ kg. I unfortunately missed one with killer taper that sold just before I went back.





The tree flowered, fruited and grew like mad this season. I've tried air-layering the limbs so I could repot it next year without a hoist. I'll attempt layer separation this month. Hopefully it will then be light enough to be moved to a sheltered area before frost.

 

[Firstflush]

Wow just wow!
I thought the years of collecting was over in CA and/or impossible to permit. Maybe private property.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Wow just wow!
I thought the years of collecting was over in CA and/or impossible to permit. Maybe private property.

I know many of the big California junipers were coming out of private ranch property by the Mojave. The best ones come out of the desert or higher on the mountains where they are dwarfed, but there are plenty to be had on private property all over the place. Several years ago I linked a Craigslist ad for someone trying to get rid of some California junipers on their property - they had it listed under "free firewood"; you just had to be willing to dig them out. Many of the ranchers and off-roaders don't like them because the deadwood is spiky and dangerous (particularly if you are on horseback or riding an atv).

In Tom's video, however, he mentions his personal preference for Utah juniper, and even One Seed Juniper (J. monosperma) which is going to be coming from Arizona, so it sounds like he travels pretty far afield. He mentioned the weakness of California juniper deadwood and termite problems, which I experienced first hand with some of my trees. At the same time, I know that he gets his olives and cotoneaster from landscape, because he told me so Some of those cork bark pines however, stole the show!

 

[Housguy]

Wow just wow!
I thought the years of collecting was over in CA and/or impossible to permit. Maybe private property.

True for California junipers, but you can get permits easy for Mammoth and White mountains and collect pines and Utah junipers. Already have my permit for this year, heading out in a month.

 

[leatherback]

Already have my permit

I get really jealous how easy it sems to be (straightforward?) to get permission to collect. Here, I would not know where to start. None of the public lands will allow it, afaik.

 

[Graft]

flip them upside down... and the roots become the new top of the tree(!) So he has the huge stumps - with no cut scars!

This blew my mind! His trees are amazing. Seems like such a good guy. A bit of a gross question, but I wonder what his total inventory is worth. I hope he's insured!!!