I can attest to this first hand, and Rockm may even be conservative in his response. I entered a HD JM into a 5-year contest and not sure what I will actually have in 5 years, assuming things even go right (in 20 years though!!!!).Sure you can go get a $50 maple from Home Depot and chop it. Still would take five-10 years to build out an apex with movement in it.
I’ll have to visit again as it’s been years for me too and before I got into bonsai. Didn’t think of them, but good idea.I didn't think $100 for that tree is high so I would go for it.
Are you not live close to https://www.metromaples.com/? Go there a pick a decent big one for a few hundred (300) or so then air layer them. Pick the one with interesting branches, trunks for air layer. They have many the last time I went there which is about 7 years ago. I want to go there again but just haven't find time to do it.
I second the comment that maples are tough in Texas. What do you have natively? I know jade does well in texas. Can you make a misquite bonsai?Man I need to go wherever you guys go to get trees. I swear getting decent material locally is like pulling teeth. I can go to a local nursery and find a decent $100 JM, but it would take many more years to fix.
Thank you for your kind words. I will again have trees for sale later this season. If I counted correctly, I have at least 250 to move this year.Last year @rodeolthr sold a bunch of shohin starter JMs with better low trunk movement and *I think* a bit better prices. Not sure if that's a yearly thing or not.
I’m about to start some acer rubrum seeds. They do well here!I second the comment that maples are tough in Texas. What do you have natively? I know jade does well in texas. Can you make a misquite bonsai?
Actually, that might explain the markup in price for that particular tree. If there aren't a lot of buyers, there might be less competition. Or, maybe it is harder to get them?I’m about to start some acer rubrum seeds. They do well here!
Tridents can do well if you protect them from the afternoon sun.
Shantung maples do well here. A few members of my club have been messing with them. I haven’t tried one out yet.
Most of my Japanese maples get burnt by mid-end summer, but I’ve only been doing this two years. This year they got burnt less than last year and hoping with some more changes this year I can get even more success.