@Sn0W
Do your latest comments mean you think the pictured trees are all worth keeping? If yes, your time line for bringing a tree to ''good enough to show at a local club bonsai show'' is much more than 10 years.
From your list
1. Atlas Cedar - A literati, a flared base and subtle movement in the trunk. -
the subtlety was lost to the camera's eye. Most likely as the trunk increases in diameter, what little movement you see, will disappear. You need to add more movement to the trunk. You will also need to learn to graft branches as no low branches will sprout. Grafting branches onto a trunk will require 5 or more years to graft, have the graft take and fuse enough to begin working on. Grafting is often tricky to learn, not everyone gets good at it. Of 20 some odd attempts of my own, I have only had 6 grafts really work, and they were on a crap apple. Cedar is more difficult.
2. Juniper - It's hard to see from the picture but there's actually a bend at soil level by that high root, I've felt down and the trunk continues under the soil so I figured I could make a small informal upright. Small bend at soil level, strong trunk and lots of branching to be air layered / taken as cuttings.
As I said before, these can be worked enough that they can become bonsai, but a lot more movement needs to be added.
3. Pieris - A 3 trunk clump and an informal upright, flare bases, nice movement -
Yep, Pieris is an interesting species for bonsai, a bit tricky, but not as difficult as it's distant cousin Manzanita. The bark color is a big plus. They will back bud, but not profusely, you will get just a few buds. Hopefully where you need them.
4. Picea Pungens Hoopsii - I assumed this was a graft but couldn't see one so I thought it may have been mislabelled. I'd seen Vance's Spruce and thought I could take this in a similar direction. Flared base, subtle curve in the trunk
Again, the curves you mention were too subtle to see in your photos, you will need to work a couple years to accentuate the movement if you expect success. Again, you will need to learn to graft if you desire lower branches.
5. Picea Pungens - Another literati. movement all along the trunk
See above
6. Thuja - A 3 trunk clump depending on what was below the soil line, it's so root compacted I couldn't even force a chopstick into the soil. Nice movement in all 3 trunks
- Yes, there is movement I can actually see. But you will have to get good at grafting to bring foliage in close enough to the trunk to create a believable bonsai. As a plant to use for propagation this one is okay, it is a acceptable cultivar.
So yes, you could ''save'' all these trees, but every one requires work,, and that you develop expertise in grafting that would be a stretch for my skill set, and I have been doing bonsai for many decades. So I am still in the camp that would discard every one of these except maybe the junipers and the Pieris. Which is more valuable, the few dollars you saved picking up this junk? or the many years, at least 5 to 10 years required to get these ready to be pre-bonsai, and an addition 5 to 10 years to bring them from their first bonsai styling to ready for their first show?
For no more than the retail price one could have picked out nursery stock that would NOT REQUIRE 5 to 10 years to correct the major flaws in these trees.
THe only reason I am responding strongly is your posts seems to tell those new to the hobby that they should pick up inferior material like these examples and expect to make bonsai out of them. I'm sure a skilled artist could make these work given enough time, and I guarantee that a skilled artist would glance at them and walk away, as there is MUCH BETTER material out there to start with. So please,
if you are new to the hobby, these photos are good examples of material to avoid, do not seek out trees like these. Sorry that I feel the need to be blunt, but you seemed to be sending the wrong message.
