Bonsai on a shoestring.

[Damian Bee]

Hi there,

I was on RRR radio a couple of years ago spruking about this, Bonsai on a shoestring. The idea was to promote Bonsai as a passtime for people on low income. I believe it can be done using whatever you can get your hands on from seeds, to pruning gear, to materials needed to employ techniques, etc.

I have grown a Coprosma repens from a garden weed, using shoot pinching to control growth, a bent fork and a take away chopstick for a root rake,$2.40 scissors and recycled soil for a medium. The pot is a bunnings sale item, coffee brown terracotta 31cm bowl reduced to clear at $2.00. All this tree has cost me is time and a few dollars on a pot and fertilser.

If you believe Bonsai is unattainable due to the cost of material and equipment to produce a good looking tree, all it takes is some spare change, Ausbonsai and some creativity/resourcefulness.

My Coprosma may not be a show quality tree, but it looks alright and it has a story that goes with it.

At the end of the day, Bonsai is a hobby/art form/learning curve/passtime/therapy that you can get a lot out of.

Can't post pics at the moment, compooter is not talking to the phone

[kcpoole]

What an excellent topic and thought

Maybe an idea for a Competition too, the cheapest and best Bonsai in 6 - 12 months!
Anyone involved in Youth groups or aged care and want to bring some new ideas in?

Ken

[Tambrand]

Affordable Bonsai-

in my climate -----

[1] Colander
[2] seed / seedling / cutting
[3] colander in ground ------ grow
[4] Over sized container === grape or apple styro box [ use newspapers inside if holes to large ] for refinement.
[5] Know that the concave pruner is only for cutting toothpick or matchstick sized shoots [ then buy out of China / Amazon $8/00 to $12.00 US plus
shipping ]
[6] Soil base 5 mm silica based gravel and aged compost [ sifted compost kept moist in a covered barrel one year, weed seeds germinate and die ]
Compost is home made, just yard stuff under the avocado tree,
[5] Fertiliser at 12 N .... inorganic,Refinement stage.

Now learning that a refined tree may only need some little fertiliser or not at all [ aged compost feeds well ]

------- Secret is here ------ "we grow our Bonsai for beauty, not produce or lumber."

Above is from an old Japanese book. Thus for a refined tree, little is removed from the soil.

Go look at trees, draw or copy on photos etc. to learn how to Design. Nature.

The gravel costs 50 kilos = $ 6.00 US

As to pots, make them by slab [ see youtube for instructions ] clay is dug from our canefields, and cleaned.
Glazes are homemade. Low cost.

There you have it, el cheapos way to Bonsai.

For furniture if needed, we have many hardwoods, and can be had as scrap at the sawmill.
Just make it.
Laters.
Tambrand

[JaseH]

The 2 most important tools in Bonsai are free:

Knowledge & time

[melbrackstone]

This is a good and timely thread, well done to all!

Nice to get new people in with a promise of not needing stacks of money..

Teaching them the Knowledge and Time thing can be the hardest part.

[treeman]

You can get just as much pleasure - and definitely more satisfaction - from growing and developing cheap material than you can by spending thousands on someone else's work.

[Charliegreen]

Agree with this totally.

Dont need to spend big dollars to have epic trees.
Just need the coin for good growing media and fertilizer.
The rest is a long term view and educating yourself, sadly 95% of the people who take up this glorious hobby do not have the capacity for either.

[Lane]

When I started bonsai I had lots of time and plenty of money, I have since had a baby and bought a house a now I have neither.

I am enjoying working with what i have now when i get the spare time and am learning to recycle as much as I can.

[GavinG]

Natives in $5 forestry tubes. Ground-grown cuttings. Grow long, cut back once a year, get rid of anything boring. Come back in a year's time and see what your tree has given you this year. Things only get tricky after 5 or 15 years when you start to need pots, and realise formal pots just don't suit how your brain has meandered over the last few years....

Grow trunks, don't make them/shape them/design them.

Gavin

[Raging Bull]

I learn and get so much out of this Blog it's great. So many and diverse Ideas and philosophies. Great example today with the Wabi-Sabi string and this one, so contrasting, but showing that here is something for every-one

[Damian Bee]