How to Choose Nursery Material
From BonsaiWIKI
Nursery Stock: SELECTING SOMETHING TO START WITH
- by Ron Martin
So where do I start? I have read almost all the books and looked at a zillion pictures. Just what kind of pre-bonsai do I need to create a masterpiece? If I want to create a beautiful bonsai, can I start off with just anything? A maple, after all, is just a maple. So, all I need to do is get one and, presto, a few whacks and a bit of bonsai wire later, one has (or should have) a masterpiece? Sounds simple! What happened? I did have all the pieces-parts to do the job but, somehow it just did not work out! How could this happen? I wish there was a simple answer to this question. None comes to mind but, I do hope that the following helps a bit.
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Pre Bonsai
First, let me say that all trees are pre-bonsai. Every nursery has lots of pre-bonsai lined up in all those plastic nursery containers. A walk in the woods will yield plenty of pre-bonsai that can be dug up. They are easy to find. Pre-bonsai are everywhere. They just need a little work to become at least something.
The problem is sorting through all those pre-bonsai and finding the potential bonsai among them -- lots to chose from but very few correct choices to make. A bit of time spent in the selecting process goes a long way.
Just what turns a "pre-bonsai" into a bonsai? More important, what makes some not a good selection? How do we find the potential bonsai among all those possibilities? There are lots of answers to this question. None of them are all that easy to give in a few short paragraphs. Whole books could be written on the subject and still not cover it completely. It might be easier to tell you what to stay away from than to tell you what is good.
Bonsai is a time-consuming art form.
One makes a few cuts then waits for the tree to catch up. Then we use some wire and wait some more. Try as we may that tree will not be forced to grow faster that it wants to. Styling a tree does damage the tree. Hopefully this is constructive, well thought-out, but it is still damage to the tree. The wounds left by pruning take time and energy to heal. What we do to the little bugger does slow down the growth process? Anything else that also slows down this process should be avoided at all costs. At least during the styling process.
Sick plants are bad.
The disease and weakness slow down the growth process more than anything. Time must be spent getting the tree healthy again before we can continue. Working on a sick tree usually means disaster. If you do find that the sick thing in front of you has potential, then make sure it has enough to make the time spent in getting it back to healthy is worth the effort. (Something to think about when you are tempted to save that half-dead, poor thing in one of those chain stores.)
Sloppy pruning cuts, wire marks, poor graft unions and large amounts of dead wood
...are all good indicators of a bad choice. They all take time to correct and heal. Poor graft unions are one thing that you will be stuck with forever. Poor pruning cuts, etc, can be fixed. But again that takes extra time.
Time is a valuable commodity, only the young can afford to waste it.
And even their supply is limited. Don’t waste it on a sick or poorly formed tree. Get something healthy. You will do enough to the tree to slow down the process all by yourself. You don’t need any extra help.
But what makes for a good choice?
- The Quality of the Trunk: the most important part, and longest to develop, is the trunk. Does it have good taper? Does the shape suit your needs ? Is it pleasing to look at ? Growing a nicely shaped trunk takes time and, unless you are growing from seedlings a poorly formed trunk will always be a poorly formed trunk. Basically, if the trunk is small enough to bend with wire then it is going to be a long range project. Do you want to wait that long? Look closely and make sound decisions based on realistic goals.
- The quality of the root spread or Nebari: Is there one and does it match the trunk? Big question. Sometimes you have a great nebari and a great trunk but they both go in different directions. Not an easy thing to correct.
- The Branching: It is better to have too many than too few. You can always take off what is not needed. That is easier than putting them on. Heavy branches at the top and thin branches at the bottom are always a problem. So look closely.
- Growth habit of the plant: Know the growth habit of the tree. One that wants to grow prostrate will not make a good formal upright style and one that wants to grow upright will not make a good cascade style. You will always be fighting to make the tree do something it doesn’t want to do. Use its natural growth pattern. It is a lot easier that way.
- Dwarf varieties are always preferable over the standard ones.
- "Domestic" trees are always better than imported ones. Just a short note here. By imported trees I don’t just mean trees that have come in from Japan, Korea, etc. Trees that have been brought in from a climate different than your own falls into the same category. Trees do not know borders, just climates.
- Fruits and flowers will not reduce in size. Colors will not change. Look hard at these things, you are stuck with them for the most part.
- Consider the size of the plant you’re working with: A six-inch plant will take years to make into a three-foot tall masterpiece. Taller, however, can be cut down to size, the offending scars hidden and a nice piece completed in a shorter time.
Summary
When you think about it the choices are not all that hard: the stock you start off with, to a great extent, will make the bonsai. Bad will get you bad and good will get you better. You just have to think about what you are doing. Spend some time, a lot of time, in the initial selection of your material. Look closely and study it hard. If you can’t see the tree in it then DON’T BUY IT!
Continue looking until you find that perfect specimen. Pass up the pre-bonsai and go for the potential bonsai. Don’t waste your time, use it wisely. Decide what you want the finished product to look like then go in search of raw stock that will give you a chance of achieving these goals.
