Identifying Better collection sites

[River's Edge]

Don't know about you out there, but here in the east those rights of way under power lines are often the paths that gas, water and fiber optic cables use. Digging there can bring a lot of problems for the digger and the gas/water/cable providers' customers.

Power line staff will attest to the fact that they are popular travel paths for predators such as black bear, Grizzly bears, and cougars. At least in our neck of the woods. Be sure to take bells and whistles.

 

[River's Edge]

Love the bogs you have and what they produce. I will look around here for some of those. Good pictures you all are showing. This coming weekend will be my last collecting up high as the snow is working it's way down the Mts

The heavy rainfall in the past month has covered most high alpine collection sites with plenty of snow, bog sites in lower elevation plateaus may be free of snow but inundated with fresh rain. In some cases you might need a raft.

 

[River's Edge]

Shallow soil on bedrock, exposed mountain side, affectionately referred to as rock pockets. The disturbed site in the first picture was the location of this sub alpine fir. Located on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Elevation approximately 1500 metres.View attachment 407177View attachment 407178

These two picture will show just how shallow those rock pockets can be. The root ball was lifted by running the shovel on the bedrock after anchor roots were cut. The duff or debris cover and moss is often as thick as soil. Very important to carefully and tightly bind the roots for transport. I prefer the garbage bag method with lots of rope or electrical tape to compact the bag and hold the entire mass tight for the trip down. This is a Mountain Hemlock collected in 2015. Note the weak foliage and discoloured appearance. Avoid this, successful collection is unlikely with trees already in weak condition. One needs to judge the health of the tree carefully before collection if it is to make it through the recovery process.

 

[River's Edge]

One of the better collection sites is when the homeowner decides to replace overgrown shrubs. In this case azalea. ideally suited species for cutback and redevelopment. Here are two liberated from a Vancouver residential site and entering new lives as Bonsai. I should mention there is a decade between collection and the recent pictures. A favourite type of collection site, less climbing and carrying.

 

[rockm]

Areas of sparse growth with challenging conditions are great choices, I imagine the challenge would be deeper roots for survival. Do you practice staged collection with successive trips or take the trees in one go?

Depends on the species. Cedar elm (even BIG ones) can simply be sawed out of the ground with a reciprocating saw before bud break in the spring. Near 100 percent survival rate. Same for species like wild plum. Oaks, not so much. IMO, Texas oaks (there are over a dozen species) are a veritable gold mine for bonsai uses--the keys to getting them successfully haven't been completely developed-- yet.

 

[River's Edge]

Depends on the species. Cedar elm (even BIG ones) can simply be sawed out of the ground with a reciprocating saw before bud break in the spring. Near 100 percent survival rate. Same for species like wild plum. Oaks, not so much. IMO, Texas oaks (there are over a dozen species) are a veritable gold mine for bonsai uses--the keys to getting them successfully haven't been completely developed-- yet.

That sounds like the situation with manzanita and arbutus. Infrequent success with no reliable methods developed as of yet.
By and large important to note the collection process for deciduous is very different from conifers. Particularly in reference to root pruning and foliage preservation. For a thread like this it is important to identify differences in collection methods by species.
For conifers I find the process for root collection very different for sub alpine fir and mountain hemlock. Then again shore pine are a completely different scenario from fir or hemlock. It is even different for the same species when collected from distinctly different sites with different native soil in the sites. One can be blue clay mixed with moss and the other decomposed granite with leaf littler compost. The result is very different root structure and often location of feeder roots.
This is where experience is a better teacher than general research.

 

[rockm]

One of the better collection sites is when the homeowner decides to replace overgrown shrubs. In this case azalea. ideally suited species for cutback and redevelopment. Here are two liberated from a Vancouver residential site and entering new lives as Bonsai. I should mention there is a decade between collection and the recent pictures. A favourite type of collection site, less climbing and carrying. View attachment 407316View attachment 407317View attachment 407318View attachment 407319

We have the same kinds of landscape plantings here. Looking at these azaleas, I was reminded of a photographer friend of mine who's ancestral family home in Maryland sits on the grounds of Avanel golf club. The house, built in the late 1700's had azaleas planted in front around the turn of the 19th century-- Those azaleas were kept tightly pruned for 100 years and had trunks bigger than my thigh and only two feet tall. He wouldn't let me have them One of the best sources for collected Japanese Maples (!) are old mid-century modern house landscapes. Maples and pines were often used as "asian" accents to that kind of architecture. Some of those maples are huge, but some have been pruned (into "bonzai" shapes) over the years. It can be worth asking the owners if they're "sick of that old tree yet?"

 

[HoneyHornet]

As an north east urban bonsai enthusiast i too scour forgotten commercial landscape all the time.. Great material..i wear hi viz for work every day so the more plain sight it is im just sure to wear my hi viz n noone thinks twice lol doubt anyone really cares..i mean there are old banks that been overgrowing out of biz for years round here...my fav urban spots r old parking lots where something once stood years ago...they turn into cool little wastelands of potential material.. Bring your brick chisles mini sledge n wrecking bar tho cuz the best is usually growing out of crack in concrete lol

 

[HoneyHornet]

Not to mention my hi-vis says Tree Service real large on it LOL

 

[Rivka]

Early last spring i had a great time trading homeowners “small happy flowering” nursery stock for their “old worn out shrubs”.
have 19 new azaleas from that!!

 

[Crazy Diamond]

One of the better collection sites is when the homeowner decides to replace overgrown shrubs. In this case azalea. ideally suited species for cutback and redevelopment. Here are two liberated from a Vancouver residential site and entering new lives as Bonsai. I should mention there is a decade between collection and the recent pictures. A favourite type of collection site, less climbing and carrying. View attachment 407316View attachment 407317View attachment 407318View attachment 407319

Totally right, old hedges and bushes make awesome bonsai!! the best "wild" material I've seen

 

[BrianBay9]

Now that we've had our first heavy rains, my collecting season has opened. I've got three or four coast live oaks marked for this round. Area is designated for hazardous waste clean up and light industrial development. The whole place is to be "skinned" before building.

 

[HoneyHornet]

Now that we've had our first heavy rains, my collecting season has opened. I've got three or four coast live oaks marked for this round. Area is designated for hazardous waste clean up and light industrial development. The whole place is to be "skinned" before building.

Relentlessly scour those grounds for sure

 

[Hack Yeah!]

Power line staff will attest to the fact that they are popular travel paths for predators such as black bear, Grizzly bears, and cougars. At least in our neck of the woods. Be sure to take bells and whistles.

There like a highway for Bigfoot!

 

[River's Edge]

There like a highway for Bigfoot!

Not a true predator though, unless you count missing cases of beer.

 

[Joe Dupre']

This is my favorite place...... a 2 mile stretch of rural roadside. I've collected 2 varieties of mulberry, oaks, rough leaf dogwood, ERC, common and Chinese privet, elm, nandina, lantana (blue and orange ) , elaeagnus, camphor, mimosa, etc. I recently found crepe myrtles from 1" diameter to 36"............yes, 36 INCHES just inside the tree line.

The group of small bushes on the left are camphor. They have thumb-sized or bigger gnarly trunks ready to be dug and made into almost instant shohin. The big one behind the walking stick is has a 2" trunk.

 

[John P.]

@Bonsai Nut … have any Orange County, CA collection areas that you could DM me? Now that you’re out of state and all …

 

[bluone23]

Old stone quarry.
Nebari is interesting, the roots run long but can be manageable.
Of course with permission only.

 

[BrianBay9]

View attachment 412334
Old stone quarry.
Nebari is interesting, the roots run long but can be manageable.
Of course with permission only.

Old quarries are great! Just be careful about unstable sides. I used to collect from one in Wisconsin and rocks would occasionally fall from above.

 

[BrianBay9]

Now that we've had our first heavy rains, my collecting season has opened. I've got three or four coast live oaks marked for this round. Area is designated for hazardous waste clean up and light industrial development. The whole place is to be "skinned" before building.

Pulled these two this morning......