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A question for all
What method do you favor when acquiring trees?
yamadori, or collecting from the wild.
nursery stock.
"finished" trees
I have all 3 kinds.
My favorite (so far) is nursery stock. Not bonsai nursery stock, just normal nursery stock.You can see the potential in these trees, but you have a lot of work to do...but it's your work, and the right trees can be transformed in a shorter amount of time.
My "finished" tree .....I feel like I'm it's foster father. Don't get me wrong, I really like this tree, but I wasn't involved in the training or development of it.
Two of my three collected trees are beech. They both transplanted well this spring and budded pretty well. I like them, but I can't seem to envision these trees as bonsai yet. They have years to go.The other one is a little spruce. I just started basic styling this spring.I've had it for two years.

So, In a big rambling nut shell, I'd like to know what is everyone's favorite way to acquire trees and why.

to be honest i perfer all( you forgot seedlings) i do not have any "finished" bonsai but i have some that have been developed ( trunk and roots)but still in my mind need alot of work .my seedlings are all doing well and really do not need much attention, i know exactly how old they are and am responsible for every bend and twist.20 years from now it will be cool
yamadori seem to give the most stress ..are they going to make it or not, and they have to be left alone to redevelope.
as for nursery stock i have stuff that has ben put in a new pot and wired and look great and others that really i dont have a clue why i bought them to begin with :blink:
they are all fulfilling i even keep in contact with the more develpoed trees original owners to show them the progress

Ahhh. I did forget seedlings.It would be nice to have that much control over the tree from the start.

I have seen many bonsai lovers making a bonsai starting from seed or seedlings and do all techniques over several years to form a bonsai, But some will acquire wild collections and make good looking bonsai within a few years. Most of the wild collections will have sufficient trunk thickness and they need to worry about designing the canopy only.
So friends which is better and pros and cons?

Seedlings
Pros: Full control over growth, cheap to get hundreds of lplants to start off with
Cons: Take a long time to get reasonable material

Cutings:
Pros: Cheap, one can select based on parent characteristics, head started
Cons: Dificult if one is not familiar with the process, still a long time to go before a bonsai is reached

Nursery stock,
pros: Cheap material, headstarted, well-rooted, small rootball
Cons: Material not pre-selected for bonsai

Yamadori
Pros: Nicely developed material, with lots of potential character
Cons: Robbing from nature, high mortality risk for the lesser skilled, takes a good eye to get the best out of such developed plants

Personally I would like all of the above options. I feel confident that most situations I know whether I can do something without killing it or not; I think my preferred method over all woudl be: Seedlings found i the wild. So, plants of 2-5 years old growing in spots to be cleared for building etc. Not damaging the wild stock of mature trees, and having a lot of place to play around.

For now, I am into bonsai for the process, not for the final trees. So I would not buy fully developed trees, although I would consider unshaped older starter materials, say from a bonsai grower, or just garden renovation projects.

I like the trees in nurseries because they can be trained according to their personal criteria and artistic sensibility while already having a trunk with the character.
I'm too old to do the seeding, but I liked to try experiments or work of tree species unusual in my area!
trees are worked, in my opinion, more impersonal.
The yamadori is too difficult for me: we must dig and dig ... (laugh out loud)
I never tried layering ... one day perhaps!

How in the world I missed this topic over the past two months is beyond me. :whistle:

Well, I'm very new to all this so I can only go by what I've experienced over the past three months+. I am also limited to having indoor, tropical plants ~ although a week or so ago, I suddenly found myself pulling over onto the side of highway, getting the shovel out of the trunk and digging up a baby Sumac that was growing on the shoulder of the road, bringing it home and sticking it in my small, raised, flower bed out in the courtyard! (What was I thinking!:pinch:) Actually I had a friend with me to help. However, collecting yamadori from the wild is physically out of the question for me anyway.

I would have to say my first preference would be young, raw nursery stock that has had no training or styling.

My second choice is growing from cuttings as I have been rooting several and they have done really well so far. My nurturing instincts take right over!

I layered a large plant once for a friend which was very successful...so that's pretty cool.

It looks as tho I will soon be trying to germinate some seeds so will see how that goes. I imagine I've only got another 20 years or so left in me so they will be young bonsai for someone to inherit.

All in all, I like to be able to create my own bonsai and apply my artistic talents throughout the process.

i personally like the bonsai stock for the fact of having a tree happily growing in a bonsai pot.its like getting roots and a trunk that are developed nicely and now its my job to style the branches.
don't get me wrong i enjoy working on all of my trees i have had some success with cuttings, i just have a patience problem and yelling at seedlings to grow so i can do somthing with them doesn't work and im at a 5 to 1 ratio of killing nursery and yamadori stock.this spring i have a few airlayer projects planned so maybe that will be better or maybe i just need more practice

Nice way of answering,Good luck

manofthetrees wrote: i personally like the bonsai stock for the fact of having a tree happily growing in a bonsai pot.its like getting roots and a trunk that are developed nicely and now its my job to style the branches.
don't get me wrong i enjoy working on all of my trees i have had some success with cuttings, i just have a patience problem and yelling at seedlings to grow so i can do somthing with them doesn't work and im at a 5 to 1 ratio of killing nursery and yamadori stock.this spring i have a few airlayer projects planned so maybe that will be better or maybe i just need more practice

Ohhh...yer jess be-yin sillee! :silly: I wouldn't doubt that you speak gently and sing softly to all your plants (and seeds) on a regular basis, Keith. And I bet they get a kick out of your sense of humour just as much as I do.