AusBonsai

Hi all,

I am interested in collecting some new bonsai material on the cheap/for free and was wondering if anyone had any experience in digging up wild trees in the areas surrounding Brisbane? Any advice or spots to have a look would be greatly apprectiated. Cheers

Not sure where you can dig. But cuttings take well this time of year. Up your way you should be able to get some good sized fig cuttings going.
Cheers
Kirky

Wild trees are not always easy. Nativea generally have a few roots that travel a long way and don't transplant well. Exotic plants are generally easier. Easier still is garden plants. Look for people doing garden renovations, make friends with a horticulturist or knock on doors and ask if they mind if you dig up the tree in their front garden. You never know, they may say yes

Oh, gumtree often has plants for free if you dig them up.

I keep an eye on Gumtree for free to cheap plants, I also am a member of many buy/sell/swap Facebook pages.
I also have made friends with a tree lopper..
So far using all the above, I have scored 8 bottles brushs, 1 China doll, 1 umberalla tree, countless fruiting fig cuttings, 1 ficus, 1 olive, 2 pines, massive jade stumps, lots of moss and baby tears and all for free, I've only dug out the bottle brush trees..
Others I've purchased cheaply are a large 3 trunk ficus and a orange jasmine.
Then you're got cutting/seedlings from your own stock, 15 Japanese maple cuttings, a few ficus cutting, chilli seedlinds(a bit of fun) and some juniper cuttings from a bonsai demonstration.
Some of what I've got now and I'm new to bonsai is from swapping or selling as well, so far I've paid for all my trees and benches from selling cuttings and plants.....

Thanks everyone for the ideas. Will deffinantly get around gumtree and the neighbours gardens. However im still interested in going for a dig (sounds like an adventure). Would anyone be interested in exploring some local bushland or forests?