pre bonsai Mark

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I heard and seen his stuff but at what point will the 'customers' stop trying. I guess if you have the goods then you can treat customer like sh*t and they still flocking back for more? Remind me of the soup Nazi in Seinfeld.
 

Adair M

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I heard and seen his stuff but at what point will the 'customers' stop trying. I guess if you have the goods then you can treat customer like sh*t and they still flocking back for more? Remind me of the soup Nazi in Seinfeld.
No JBP seedling cuttings for you!!!
 

August44

Omono
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And what does one do if you don't do facebook?? Shouldn't be this hard to get in touch with someone IMO
 

Adair M

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And what does one do if you don't do facebook?? Shouldn't be this hard to get in touch with someone IMO
Things come up with these small vendors. Have patience.

Or, depending upon what it is you want, seek out alternative sources.

The man has kids, a wife... who knows... he may be on vacation with the family. He’s a one man operation.
 

Dav4

Drop Branch Murphy
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Things come up with these small vendors. Have patience.

Or, depending upon what it is you want, seek out alternative sources.

The man has kids, a wife... who knows... he may be on vacation with the family. He’s a one man operation.
He has a wife and a kid and that is the entirety of his operation's employees, as well, and spring is an extremely busy time of year for any plant nursery, never mind one dedicated to pre-bonsai production. Patience...
 

eb84327

Mame
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i purchased a handful of seiju elms just recently and my experience was great. He gave me almost double the amount i ordered. All have survived transplanting.
Amazon has spoiled us. not every one has the resources or time to get product packaged and delivered lighting fast. quality takes time.
 

JudyB

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And what does one do if you don't do facebook?? Shouldn't be this hard to get in touch with someone IMO
He's super busy right now for sure, and the weather has been working against him as well. Keep after him, he'll come thru, it may just take a minute!
 

cbroad

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Just about everybody in the green industry is going to be busy as hell from mid February to about mid June or the beginning of July.

As a nursery worker and landscaper, I can attest to the amount of work that will need to be done in that span of time. There just isn't enough daylight to get the work done that's needed, and that's not accounting for any weather delays or setbacks.

As for a grower, their work a lot of times starts as earlier as January. I can imagine what Mark is going through this time of year, he probably gets up to work before the sun is up, and doesn't finish the day til the sun's going down. He seems to be a reputable guy from what everyone here says, I would trust in that and have a little extra patience for his busiest time of year.
 

theta

Mame
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Here's my experience with Mark Comstock if anyone's interested.

https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/worried-about-this-kashima-maple.32491/page-2

I don't hold anything against him for shipping a diseased tree, it happens, obviously not very often with his stock. Although, I have talked to at least 3 others who've gotten the same black trunk - who knows, maybe he's changed something so it doesn't happen anymore... I do think he handled the situation poorly and acted like an a-hole though. I mean, threatening me to not give out a refund, because I told people here what happened? lol.
 
D

Deleted member 21616

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Tough guy to get to respond to numerous calls and messages left. I've been trying for quite awhile and now mail box is full. ?????

Don't give up! I had to coordinate importation documents into Canada etc. w/ Mark. At a certain point, i gave up on messaging, got in my car, and drove 6-7 hours to see him. Nicest guy you'll ever meet! Just very busy! Reminds me of Clark Long on facebook. The guy has a warehouse full of pots, a few Koyos i want, but he's so busy he doesn't have a minute to take pics and send them to me! Very busy people, we need to be understanding :) nothing we want is urgent to us - everything they're doing is time sensitive.

needless to say, the product is worth the drive! I just wish he worked with more maple cultivars!
 
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I think they’re “Rhode Island Red”

Thank you. They really do grow like weeds. I got them later in the year after the leaves hardened, so I left them in the same pot they came in which made sense at the time as they were maybe 15 inches tall.

They sat out next to some 1g trident (maybe 24 inches from evergreen that I had in Anderson flats on a cutting board.

The RI Reds exploded with growth. Each one had whips as high as 6 feet, easily outpacing my tridents which had a better grow media.

I have them in flats, screwed into cutting boards now. I notice 99 percent of the ones I have seen have that super straight tall trunk which I can totally see happening since they grow so coarse. 04AC28DB-AC85-439C-936B-A6763B85C929.jpeg

These two have a first branch around 4 inches up. I think I am going to start there and do a series of chops.
 

Adair M

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Thank you. They really do grow like weeds. I got them later in the year after the leaves hardened, so I left them in the same pot they came in which made sense at the time as they were maybe 15 inches tall.

They sat out next to some 1g trident (maybe 24 inches from evergreen that I had in Anderson flats on a cutting board.

The RI Reds exploded with growth. Each one had whips as high as 6 feet, easily outpacing my tridents which had a better grow media.

I have them in flats, screwed into cutting boards now. I notice 99 percent of the ones I have seen have that super straight tall trunk which I can totally see happening since they grow so coarse. View attachment 235239

These two have a first branch around 4 inches up. I think I am going to start there and do a series of chops.
Wow!! That’s a lot of growth!

Here’s the thing with Japanese Maples: watch those internodes. They only produce branches at the bud nodes. If you get long internodes, it’s difficult to build good taper and ramification. Also, really long branches chopped off creates big scars. They’ll callous over, but they’re still unsightly.

So, I propose a more managed growth. Yes, you want to thicken the trunk, so an apical sacrifice is ok, just don’t let it get TOO big before you cut it and select another sacrifice to take its place. Repeated growing and cutting back will create a nice gentle taper and multiple changes in direction in the trunk line. It takes longer, but the final result is better.
 
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This sounds like the 5 year plan from bonsai with Japanese maples by Peter Adams. Big fan of that book. His diagrams help me see that progression.
 

Bonsai Nut

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Mark is a member here (@kingsville grower) but he is an extremely busy guy and doesn't visit that often. If you look at his profile, he hasn't been to the site in a week.

I know it is frustrating, but it is unreasonable to expect a professional nurseryman to be available at this time of year to quickly respond to consumer inquiries. Just keep trying. He is probably pulling his hair out right now... try to look at things from his perspective and think of the work that needs to get done at this time of year.

To quote Mark himself: "You have to badger me on messenger, or put me on the spot when I’m posting something,,like”dude answer my messages” you gotta call me out"
 
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