Type and Thought of this Juniper?

[GarlR]

Do any of you know what kind of juniper this is? What do you think about it? It is only $95. Unknown age and species/cultivar. It is 19 inches.

I thought it might be good to practice carving/jin on. Edit: It won't let me rotate. Apologies to your neck.

Edit: I was hoping it was a Californian Juniper.

 

[Nybonsai12]

Hard for me to tell without seeing the foliage close up but I think it is a needle juniper. Juniperus rigida I believe is the name.

 

[Alex DeRuiter]

Not worth $95. Not much branching or movement.

Check out Andy Smith's stuff:

http://www.goldenarrowbonsai.com/goldenarrowbonsai.com/Trees_Pg1.html

You might want to contact Dan W. He also collects a lot and has fair prices. I don't know what or if he's currently selling, but you might want to email him to see what he's got going on.

Also, before you go investing a ton of money in trees, you should buy some cheap stock first so you have an idea of how to keep things alive and growing well. That way, if you do lose anything, the loss won't be as heavy.

 

[jk_lewis]

It looks like yet another J. chinensis cultivar to me.

Funny though, I see quite a lot of nice movement to that trunk, and a literati form isn't supposed to have much branching. It's a quite nice tree.

Would I spend $95 on it? Maybe, If I Bought Bonsai; but I prefer to make my own.

BUT! Once again . . . you tell us (elsewhere) you can't or don't want to grow outside (for whatever reason). This is a juniper. They are outdoor trees. Unless you LIKE to see trees waste away and die, you should not buy it. If you want to practice making deadwood, buy a Home Depot juniper and chop away.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

If it was a rigida, and in a $50 pot, it might be worth $95. This is a procumbens; and not likely to survive a winter indoors or in a refrigerator.

If you are growing trees inside, the smart money is on trees which tolerate that environment. The longer it takes to figure it out, the more expensive and extended the learning curve becomes. Most of us have to learn this lesson for ourselves.

You can find a decent ficus retusa for $95-$140. Stretch the budget a bit and this one is yours:

http://wigertsbonsai.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=66&products_id=308

 

[bonsai barry]

If it were mine I'd do Four things:
1) Check the soil to make sure it has good drainage
2) Change the planting angle of the tree
3) Bend the branches downward
4) Add some carving and shari

Here's a poor virtual of what I had in mind:

 

[Vance Wood]

If it was a rigida, and in a $50 pot, it might be worth $95. This is a procumbens; and not likely to survive a winter indoors or in a refrigerator.

If you are growing trees inside, the smart money is on trees which tolerate that environment. The longer it takes to figure it out, the more expensive and extended the learning curve becomes. Most of us have to learn this lesson for ourselves.

You can find a decent ficus retusa for $95-$140. Stretch the budget a bit and this one is yours:

http://wigertsbonsai.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=66&products_id=308

I agree, it is probably Procumbens but it could be San Jose and neither species will do well indoors.

 

[edprocoat]

I like it, it looks like an almost instant Literati. I would do the same as Bonsai Barry with the planting angle. This is an outside tree though ...


ed

 

[Tona]

I believe it is a procumbens. $95.00 seems too steep to me. I agree with Barry that if it were mine I would go with the bunjin/Literati style. Using Barry's planting angle and a smaller round pot.
Just my 2 cents,
Tona

 

[PaulH]

Looks like a $20 tree to me.

 

[Vance Wood]

Looks like a $20 tree to me.

It's worth more than $20 but less than $100. I could probably sell it for $75.

 

[bonsai barry]

I think many of you are underestimating the value of this tree. Someone has put some time into training it, that's worth something.

 

[Alex DeRuiter]

All due respect, they chopped the top, left two main branches on one side of the tree, and grew a couple secondary branches...and maybe wired it a little. A little work went into it, but certainly not enough to justify the cost.

Two branches on the same side isn't always bad, I suppose...but I don't think much thought or time or patience has gone into the styling of this tree. Okay, done. ;-p

 

[bonsai barry]

All due respect, they chopped the top, left two main branches on one side of the tree, and grew a couple secondary branches...and maybe wired it a little. A little work went into it, but certainly not enough to justify the cost.

Two branches on the same side isn't always bad, I suppose...but I don't think much thought or time or patience has gone into the styling of this tree. Okay, done. ;-p

Reminds me of an incident I had visiting a small nursery. The owner knew I was looking for bonsai material. He pulled out a tree and wanted more than I was willing to pay for it. He then picked up some clippers and his monologue went something like this:

"This tree has great bonsai potentional.. all for $40. All it will take is a couple of snips and it will BE a bonsai and worth a lot more!
[He snips a branch off[/
See what I mean, it already looks more like a bonsai and it now is going to cost you $50.
I]Snips a few more branches
I told you it has potential. Look at it now! If you want it now you're going to have to pay $60. You better buy it while you can afford it!"

I never knew how serious he was.

 

[Alex DeRuiter]

I imagine at most that these couple of snips he made while "styling" the tree in your story took about 5 minutes, depending on how much you were talking. That means he makes $120/hr while styling his trees. Where did you go so I can avoid that nursery?

But in all seriousness, I see what you're saying. I wonder if he was joking with you or if he was dead serious. It just proves that some people in the business are absolutely unreasonable when it comes to pricing, and this is either because they are greedy or just don't know any better. Just to clarify, "reasonable cost" and "quality material" are relative terms and can usually be justified, and I understand that nurseries generally have a lot of overhead...and looking at it from my perspective I really have no clue how to measure all that to balance the costs of one's trees. However, I think that a balance can be reached. As for how, I can't give you a good answer. ;-p

I just really hate to see people get ripped off because they end up losing interest and not wanting to practice bonsai anymore. If people offered good trees at fair prices (again, a relative thing), then we would all be having nicer trees and paving a finer road for future bonsai enthusiasts.

 

[GarlR]

Thanks all! The reason I asking..which is kinda weird...but there is a juniper one of my bonsai books, "The Art of Indoor Bonsai: Cultivating Tropical, Sub-tropical, and Tender Bonsai" by John Ainsworth. (Someone told me to buy it on the forums. Great book.)

Anyway, it has Californian juniper (juniperus californica) in the book as a juniper that can be grown indoors. It says it is sub-tropical. I thought it MIGHT be one of those, since it is being sold from California.

Edit: If I indeed did buy it, I'd let my dad take care of it during the winter, possibly even until I have an outdoor area. I'm still waiting on a reply to see if they still have it. It is from a bonsai nursery.

 

[Smoke]

I would buy it for $95.00 and then write a stunning piece of litarary crap about how good it is and also add in that its an import from Japan and you could get as high as $710.00 for that on Ebay!

 

[Vance Wood]

In all honesty for you guys who think that this is a total rip off what do you think is a fair price for the tree?

What would you expect to get for this tree if you located the raw material and did some minor pruning etc. on it to get it sale ready. What is a fair price?

 

[nathanbs]

Thanks all! The reason I asking..which is kinda weird...but there is a juniper one of my bonsai books, "The Art of Indoor Bonsai: Cultivating Tropical, Sub-tropical, and Tender Bonsai" by John Ainsworth. (Someone told me to buy it on the forums. Great book.)

Anyway, it has Californian juniper (juniperus californica) in the book as a juniper that can be grown indoors. It says it is sub-tropical. I thought it MIGHT be one of those, since it is being sold from California.

Edit: If I indeed did buy it, I'd let my dad take care of it during the winter, possibly even until I have an outdoor area. I'm still waiting on a reply to see if they still have it. It is from a bonsai nursery.

It is definitely not a California Juniper.

 

[Smoke]

In all honesty for you guys who think that this is a total rip off what do you think is a fair price for the tree?

What would you expect to get for this tree if you located the raw material and did some minor pruning etc. on it to get it sale ready. What is a fair price?

I would give $95 in a heartbeat cause I see a damn nice tree in there. Bout two years and I could get 500.00 easy.

I will proove this in about a year and a half.