Bonsai

if any of you guys need some help with this hobby feel free to ask. i study it for 3 years in japan. its one of the few things in life that i am pretty good at

Believe it or not, I just bought a small bonsai tree for my brother for Christmas. There was a Japanese guy selling from the back of his pickup on Christmas eve, and it just "struck" me on the spur of the moment to get it. The prices kind of shocked me --- up to $80 for about 6 x 12 inch square planter. But the "tree" was really nice. I paid $40 (supposedly 50% off!!!).

Can you give me a link to the "basics." I never was particularly interested in bonsai, but now am intrigued. Maybe I will get one or two myself (uh oh -- this sounds like it could get out of hand quickly). [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

oh man it always gets out of hand! that was the best way for me... if you have enough trees to play with you wont cut one or two trees to death. yeah 40 bucks for a tree seems high but you are paying for the dish and the time it took for this guy to raise and train this tree. i will look for some links this weekend.

as for your own...just got to depot and buy a small cypress or boxwood or white pine and buy a pot you like. here are the two most important thing to know when starting....1. thses are outside trees and should only be inside for short times as displays! 2. the dish you bought your brothers tree in is for display purposes only....i.e. when you have it in the house. the tree will die in that dish because there is not enough soil to hold all the water the tree needs.

hope this helps....remember good size dish and go to home depot...this is the cheap way...or you could take a cutting from a tree you like.

bonsai translation.... tree in a dish....thats all!