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Wed, Oct 17, 07 at 17:09
| I am going to purchase a 2-4 year old bonsai, what should I look for to see if it is in good shape? |
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| When you say 'in good shape', do you mean healthy-for-a-plant, or do you want to know what makes it a good bonsai candidate? A tree that young will not always have features to judge bonsai-ability yet, though may otherwise be a perfectly strong plant. |
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| What I was looking for is a good bonsai to train. |
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| Well, ok... what you normally would look at is whether surface roots are coming off the trunk relatively evenly around the tree (as opposed to one big lump on one side and nothing much else on the other sides), though it's going to be hard to find any at all of the type on a tree that young (most roots will just be down into the soil... it's your job to train them over years. You also want to look for 'movement', which means NOT some already trained in 'S' curve, but some gentle curve(s) that are natural... again, not something you're going to see a lot of at that age. The tree of course should be healthy looking (a LITTLE bit of yellowish brown needle drop at the bottom of conifers is ok, more is not, especially from branch ends inward). On a deciduous (leafy) tree, hopefully no sign of pests or obviously chomped leaves, and good color. You haven't said whether you're looking for a tree for outdoors, tropical for inside, etc. etc. and it's hard to be specific not having a clue. Have you done any bonsai before? If not, you need to concentrate mostly on how to keep it alive and not fuss about style - that can wait, and your first tree is as likely to be a learning experience (rather than a long term survivor) as anything, so I wouldn't spend a lot to say the least - there are so many factors to think about from the minute you get it home, like light, soil mix, humidity (if indoors), climate if out, etc. etc. and you haven't posted your climate zone. |
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