Utah Juniper for Sale

[yenling83]

What do you think of this Utah Juniper. I'd like to sell it, you can also find it here www.yenlingbonsai.com under the for sale section. I'm not exactly sure how to price this-I put it at $1,300 but that might not be fair, i'm not really sure- what do you think? Local pickup only.

 

[Bill S]

How long since collection Yenling?

 

[yenling83]

How long since collection Yenling?

Collected in spring of 2009. This was one of the first junipers I collected, and I made two mistakes with it.

1. I removed too much foliage after collecting
2. The box is too big

This has delayed the tree, If I keep it I will wait 2-3 years to do anything with it, untill it get's long runners and looks super healthy.


I believe I have priced this tree much too high. I was hoping to generate some discussion and was really curious to see what everyone thought this tree is worth? Realistically because I don't want to ship-I think it would take along time to sell. Everyone is too nice on this forum-I promise you can tell me it's worth nothing if you would like. Also please note this is my first time selling a tree.

 

[tom tynan]

How you set the price for a collected tree is subjective and based on many factors; for example have you talked to other collectors privately to see what they are getting or visited nurseries that deal in collected material to see where the price point is located? When I first saw the tree earlier in the day I thought perhaps in the $350 to $400 price range. It has good movement on the left - but that straight section to the right has to be addressed eventually. Plus - the foliage - as you have noted - looks a bit weak and not full. A collected juniper should have some green and some fullness......So you might have trouble getting someone to want it now. You should be open to perhaps shipping the tree - that may increase your chances. There is not too much involved; pull it from the box, wrap the roots in damp newspaper, triple bag the root mass and cut down a box to make it fit. Since you pass the shipping costs on to the buyer - it doesn't cost you anything but some time. My thoughts - for what it is worth....regards...Tom


ps. put something at the base of the trunk for scale; like a pair of felco pruners etc.......I sense the trunk is bigger than the photo suggests....tom

 

[Smoke]

Here is what I see.

First you have limited this to local pickup only, which means that a cal. person is going to have to buy it. In Cal. there are many Cal. junipers for sale at any convention. Many are ten times better than this and can be had for much less and ready to style.

If I were to spend 1,300.00 for a tree I would want to start putting my mark on it that spring....not five years from now.

While the tree "could" fetch 1300.00, it may be smart to just hang on to it for a while and sell it when the value is better. Of course waiting till then may mean you decide to keep it and do the work for yourself.

Everyone has room for a tree hanging around.

Al

 

[bob shimon]

Pricing is very subjective, but when I first saw the tree, my reaction was that the "1" needs to come off of the price, and you would be in the ball park. We ship a lot of trees, and Tom's description is a bit of an over simplification of the process of sending collected junipers. I would never bare root a collected juniper, especially one that was collected 2 years ago. You also need to secure the tree in the box so that branches and dead wood don't get broken. I shipped a collected juniper last week and wound up building a plywood box, left the tree in the containter with wet newspaper packed on top of the soil and taped in a trash bag, and secured the tree in the box by screwing strips of wood across and on top of the pot. It took several hours to prepare it for safe shipping.

 

[yenling83]

Thanks for the feedback, really appreciate it. I will def knock the price down, you've made me realize it's too high. I am also in no hurry to sell it-so I will keep it somewhat high.