thumblessprimate1
Masterpiece
It's an expensive hobby, but if you love it you'll find ways to fund it.
Is Bonsai an Expensive Hobby?
- Thread starter srunge55
- Start date
thumblessprimate1
Masterpiece
Until I get some good pots, my trees stay in colanders or grow pots forever ?.
peh3
Yamadori
Why not just start, get some experience and then think about whether or not you want to get into more advanced levels and/or save alot of time.
Pots, it’s true that yamadori make great bonsai. It is, after all, the foundation upon which bonsai is based.
But, the tone of your responses in thisand other threads is that you feel that ONLY yamadori make good bonsai.
Since you live in Oregon, I suggest that your perception of bonsai is heavily influenced by the relative availability and abundance of mountain yamadori. Please be aware that not everyone lives in places where old mountain trees grow naturally.
And, please consider this: in Japan, there are virtually no wild Shimpaku left to be collected. They’ve all been taken. Most that were collected didn’t survive the collection process! There were so many, you see, they didn’t care.
It reminds me of the bison herds that used to populate the Great Plains. Millions of animals lived in huge herds. Where are they today?
I have rather mixed feelings about yamadori. Yes, our Western mountains are vast, and there are zillions of good trees out there. But, like any natural resource, the number of 300 year old trees is limited. Once collected, it can’t be replaced in a lifetime. Or two. Or even three. Do you want your great grand children to go up to the mountains and see only rocks? I don’t.
Yes, I have a few yamadori. They make up about 20% of my collection. If I was more interested in deciduous trees, that percentage would be significantly smaller!
What’s more, I personally believe that all yamadori collecting should be banned from public property. Think about it: those trees belong to all of us. Any of us can go see them if we are willing to go to the effort. Giving someone a permit to go dig it up, take it home, and resell it benefits that one person, but steals it from the rest of us!
Privately owned property is just that. The owner can do what he wishes. (Within reason, of course.)
On the other hand, collecting a fabulous tree, and making it a bonsai can preserve that tree for a very, very long time. As long as bristlecones seem to be able to take care of themselves? Probably not!
Anyway, Yoda, I mean Pots, I just want to give you some things to think about.
True. There are cheap “production” bonsai pots, and there are really old antique bonsai pots, and everything in between!
When I first started with bonsai, I didn’t concern myself with “quality” of the pot, just the shape, size, and color to match the tree. So today, I have a bunch of old cheap production pots that I use as training pots. Yeah, they’re 40 years old, but they’re still not “quality” pots.
For show, I tend to use antique Japanese and/or Chinese antique pots. The patina those old pots have is just not available any other way.
There are many good contemporary potters making quality pots. I would consider using them if I had the right tree for them. Some of the contemporary styles I don’t particular care for, but that’s more of my taste in pots, and has nothing to do with “quality”. As an example, Sara Rayner. I know many people love her pots. They just don’t do much for me. Roy Minerai, on the other hand, makes some pots that I find incredible! Granted, I don’t have trees for most, but when doing Shohin, more colorful pots are allowed, so I have a couple of his pots for my small trees.
BillsBayou
Chumono
Trees: Cheap. I did bald cypress from the swamp.
Pots: Cheap. Go to club auctions. Plenty of deals to be found.
Soil: Cheap. I sell soil. What I don't sell, I use.
Stands: FRIGGIN EXPENSIVE and they don't seem to show up at auctions! No deals to be found! I've taken to wandering around thrift stores looking for a small end table or coffee table I can cut down to size. Damned stands...
Pots: Cheap. Go to club auctions. Plenty of deals to be found.
Soil: Cheap. I sell soil. What I don't sell, I use.
Stands: FRIGGIN EXPENSIVE and they don't seem to show up at auctions! No deals to be found! I've taken to wandering around thrift stores looking for a small end table or coffee table I can cut down to size. Damned stands...
And why can’t you build your own?
If you’re showing (needing stands) you may want to consider some not-so-cheap pots.
Timbo
Chumono
I haven't even thought about how much pots will cost.
Tools and wire cost enough for me. I find mainly nursery/tropical trees to use, or i buy seeds.
Tools and wire cost enough for me. I find mainly nursery/tropical trees to use, or i buy seeds.
Victorim
Omono
I dread to think what I've spent in my first year all together.. but I didn't have to. And I could, if I had the cash, could have quite easily spent ten fold..
But, I have alot of matierial to go on with, all different stages. Benches in place. Tools (and power tools) in place, working, collecting, carving.
As long as the will to not splurge on nice material is strong, and can't see the on going cost as significant. My soil is cheap.. furt is cheep.. water is cheap.. grow baskets / containers are cheap
Good, well matched pots will be added in time as trees are ready for them. In fact that's a good note to self.. stop looking at pots..
Yes you can spend next to nothing. But I'm happy with what I've shelled out so the foundations are laid.
But, I have alot of matierial to go on with, all different stages. Benches in place. Tools (and power tools) in place, working, collecting, carving.
As long as the will to not splurge on nice material is strong, and can't see the on going cost as significant. My soil is cheap.. furt is cheep.. water is cheap.. grow baskets / containers are cheap
Good, well matched pots will be added in time as trees are ready for them. In fact that's a good note to self.. stop looking at pots..
Yes you can spend next to nothing. But I'm happy with what I've shelled out so the foundations are laid.
Leo in N E Illinois
The Professor
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I'm living on a fixed income. Retired. Health care cost has gone up $300 per month and my retirement pay has not gone up. My take home after deductions is below the poverty level. But I get by. House is paid for. I used to spend a lot of money on pots, stands, and other bonsai toys, now I spend very little. I have been collecting pots for 30 years, so I have a deep collection of pots that I have not put trees into yet. When the right tree comes along, I go shopping on the shelves in the attic.
Fun hobby, I love the depth that is possible. Right now it is cheap for me.
Fun hobby, I love the depth that is possible. Right now it is cheap for me.
Timbo
Chumono
Yeah i think it's people dependent, but you should get a few basic things no matter what level IMO. Kinda hard to cut off thick branches with your fingers. 
Victorim
Omono
A. Gorilla
Omono
Good, cheap, fast. Pick two
My health insurance went from about $600/mo for myself and two kids in high school, to today it’s $1900/mo for myself and one kid in college! And I have a ridiculously high deductible!
I’m trying to figure out how that’s saving me $2500/year like we were promised!
Back on topic:
I use my old pots as training or as “everyday” pots, and really nice ones for show. I will, sometimes, snag a really nice one when it becomes available even though I don’t have an immediate use for it, but it’s likely I will. Then, there are really nice ones I can pass on because I know I’ll never have a suitable tree.
Shima
Omono
Really Leo? I thought you were flush! You just told my story!
bonsai-ben
Mame
Just as expensive as coin collecting.
miker
Chumono
Which I also do, not on the level I want, but...
justBonsai
Omono
This is a good analogy. Bonsai can be expensive, its really how much you want to invest and divert resources into it.
Coin collecting was the very first hobby I picked up. Started in the 3rd grade and never stopped. I don't actively search and purchase coins anymore but constantly check my change for silver. Over the past 6-7 years I've found a mercury dime, some part silver nickles, silver dimes, a good amount of wheat pennies (not recently), and even a steel penny once when copper was being utilized for the war.
I think it was a pretty good hobby to pick up because some of my coins have significantly appreciated in value over the past 10-15 years. I don't plan on ever selling my collection seeing as some of my coins were passed down from older family but it can serve as some long lasting insurance for a rainy day or emergency.
You can find a lot of hawthorn and crabapples around southeast Michigan. I also get near-total germination on seeds from apples that I buy to eat (although it's far from near-total survival; extreme heterozygousness has a downside). I have found a lot of red, sugar, and Norway maple seedlings, and found that if you dig 'em up with a spoon they usually survive the process. No Amur or trident, but they're out there! There are a lot of flowering cherries and Japanese maples planted in landscaping, and I've yet to meet someone who objected to me collecting a few handfuls of samaras. This time of year I'll drag the wife out on walks that are really just thinly-veiled excuses for me to go collect up some naturally-stratified crabs and haws; autumn is when I'm out hunting maple seeds and acorns. I've bought some more exotic seeds, but for stuff I can find around here I don't need to spend anything more than time and effort on them.
I suppose I'll look into better pots than what I use right now in thirty years, when the trees I'm working on have grown up enough to actually be bonsai, but for now dirt cheap does well enough for me... which is fortunate, because I have much more time than I do money, and I'm not terrible at keeping baby trees alive and growing even in my dining room. They're benefiting from my other hobbies: aquariums (I breed guppies, the wife keeps swordtails) and gardening.
With everything that I've bought for bonsai in this first year at it, I've spent just about a hundred and fifty dollars. In thirty years, I might have something to show for it. On the plus side, I'm not running the risk of ruining an antique that someone spent their life working on with my inexperience; by the time I can afford good trees, I'll have had plenty of practice killing my own.
I suppose I'll look into better pots than what I use right now in thirty years, when the trees I'm working on have grown up enough to actually be bonsai, but for now dirt cheap does well enough for me... which is fortunate, because I have much more time than I do money, and I'm not terrible at keeping baby trees alive and growing even in my dining room. They're benefiting from my other hobbies: aquariums (I breed guppies, the wife keeps swordtails) and gardening.
With everything that I've bought for bonsai in this first year at it, I've spent just about a hundred and fifty dollars. In thirty years, I might have something to show for it. On the plus side, I'm not running the risk of ruining an antique that someone spent their life working on with my inexperience; by the time I can afford good trees, I'll have had plenty of practice killing my own.
As is said many times on here, it depends. On what you want. I've only been here a short time, but had a couple trees for awhile before joining. At first, I went super cheap and then I saw the value in buying better, a bit bigger trees. And I don't care for nursery pots, so I have trees, that shouldn't be in decent pots in them anyway, because they are mine and I can do what I want. I'm a big Iker fan, have a pot from @Stickroot , and @sorce , and another commissioned . I will never spend a lot of money on a tree, because I will never show a tree, I just do this this for my own enjoyment. But to each their own.
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