Price for willow leaf bonsai material

[Hornemadness]

I recently was at an acquaintances place and noticed they had a pretty big willow leaf ficus. They don't really do bonsai, so it's just kinda in a pot outside. The tree is about 4 feet tall, and the trunk looks like it's 6 inches at the widest. After thinking about it for a bit, I figured I'd ask them if they were interested in selling it. What would be a fair price for a willow leaf ficus of this size?

 

[vp999]

I'll start at $100.

 

[Paradox]

Price is hard to say.
It really depends on what someone is willing to pay for said tree.
Location can also be a factor. Trees tend to be more expensive in some places than in others.
That said, given the size of the tree, I think $100 is a good place to start.

 

[BrianBay9]

You can compare commercial prices here https://www.wigertsbonsai.com/?s=ficus+salicaria&post_type=product&dgwt_wcas=1

The problem is that you've got a big base but on an undeveloped tree. Most of Wigert's material is smaller and undeveloped, or bigger and fully developed.

 

[Hornemadness]

Thanks everyone for your advise. I spoke to the acquaintance on the phone yesterday. They said that the tree in question held sentimental value, so they could not part with it ...... HOWEVER, they did say I could have some other pretty big propagates of the tree . I'm gonna pop over there at some point today and take a look.

 

[Paradox]

Willow leaf ficus are very easy to get cuttings from

 

[Hornemadness]

So I went and looked at the other stuff they had. Lots of cool potential bonsai in that backyard. The propagate he showed me was almost as big as the one I had my eye on! Following your guy's suggestion, I threw out 100 bucks as an offer. Long story short, the tree is mine now! Very excited to start working on this bad boy once the weather warms up!

 

[19Mateo83]

That’s a nice chunky ficus!

 

[Hornemadness]

They had this in their yard too. Super wierd!

 

[GreatBasinBonsai]

They had this in their yard too. Super wierd!

Ficus Palmeri or possibly F. Petiolaris... rare.

 

[Hornemadness]

Ficus Palmeri or possibly F. Petiolaris... rare.

Do you know what this ficus might be?

 

[GreatBasinBonsai]

It looks a lot like ficus Burt Davyii to me, but honestly it's hard to say- there are hundreds of species of ficus and some are very distinct, but a lot of them (like this one) look very similar…