Bonsai for profit, and fun.

I love being in the woods, and have always been very fond of the cypress tree, as I grew up on a lake completely surrounded with them. I’ll be retiring next year and have collected 18 cypress this year, all are sprouting new growth, and I have access to many more. Hoping to supplement my retirement while having fun (yes, for profit) I wanted to collect odd specimens to sell for material. Being relatively new to bonsai, what would a cypress like this one sell for after being collected and recovering for one year?

In the photo, that’s a five dollar bill for reference. The tree is 14 inches from top of trunk (already toped naturally) to the water line. 2-1/2 inches wide at the water line. The base is 8 inches below the water line and is 7 inches wide with flutes- I think that’s what they are called.

Just give me a ball park figure if you can, I know it depends on how bad someone wants one.
[img][/img]

well, I can't get the photo on here!!!

There is a photo upload tutorial in the testing forum.

i do not get the browse optioin when i click on 'host an image'

Are you using Firefox as a browser? If you are, are you using an ad-on called NoScript? Or another browser and have your options been set to block the various "Java" and "Java Script" programs? You need to allow Java and Java Script to use the photo upload feature.

That said, I'm not sure we are in the business advisory trade here on the IBC. You might do better going to Miami tropical Bonsai and seeing what they're asking.

is HTML supposed to be on?

It is NOT here.

It looks like he's using IE 5.0

i think you'll find if you are in an area with 100's of similar trees practically every local bonsai hobbyist will have colletcted their own for free -so the local value will be low. To have a locally valuable species it needs to be of execptional 1 in a million quality, or a very unusual and in demand species.

this leaves you with selling further afield so using ebay, internet sales, advertising etc which will push your costs up - then having the uncertainty of postage and delivery.

If i was thinking of buying local yamadori species that are common to my area (hawthorn, blackthorn, spruce) i'd only give £50-£75 for a tree that was workable and properly established (2 yr in pot),- for a good quality species that is not local to me (pine, larch, juniper) i'd happilly pay £100 - £250 for good unworked material - There are many commercial adverts all over the web with rather over the top prices for very ordinary material - i see elm stumps at £800 ! just chopped off, oaks and hawthorns the same - i think some people are trying to attach imported japanese prices to local collected material and dont stand a hope of getting many buyers....

The main point is the locallity - in the Uk an italian mountain collected pine of very high quality could be £800 - £1000 from a trader - but a few emails and a plane to Italy would probably get the tree for £400 - Big old olives are the same - expensive here but common and cheap in southern Europe

Just a caveat as I'm not sure what you mean by having "access to many more", but there is the most important factor of all:

Please make sure you have the correct permissions to dig up plants from the wild.

Yes I do have permission from property owners. By many more I meant there is a high probability I can locate several more due to the areas I have access to, some locations in Florida and in Georgia I have not yet explored. My question is if its profitable, I will continue to collect useful trees and work them as I can.
The internet is vey unreliable, some people are showing nice trees but selling cheaper smaller trees, others are at a ridiculous price- look at the $59,000 tree on ebay. The completed items on ebay dosen't show very many sales. That cypress bonsai I saw for sale at the nursery was $750, but how long has it been for sale.

I’m just trying to get a feel for the industry before I bring home any more babies for my wife to feed and water.

I thought I'd help posting the photo of the tree in question....

For my wife to feed and water?

(emphasis added.)

Wow! I know at least one wife who would take exception to that!

I think you need to read and digest Marcus' message very carefully. You're gonna have to ship your trees some distance to get the best price. In the south, BC are a dime a dozen and those who want one already have one. Shipping live plants isn't something for the faint-hearted, and there are many restrictive state laws you may have to become familiar with.

And, the world of bonsai is a mighty small world. There's not a lot of money in such a specialized endeavor, or so I'd suspect.

Working through Ebay as a seller is also not as easy as you may think, In fact its often a royal pain. A few years back I had the same idea of selling trunk chopped beech trees off my land on Ebay for a few bucks here and there. I wound up talking to a local bonsai nursery fella and his story of having to get certificates, box fumigations and the list of states he couldn't even ship too was enough to put me off the idea. BUT that having been said us Northerners (myself one of them) wouldn't mind getting ahold of a cheap fat trunked BC Yamadori. I'll trade ya a Beech?

Is this a picture of a pond cypress rather than a bald cypress?

bucknbonsai wrote:Is this a picture of a pond cypress rather than a bald cypress?

Looks like it to me.

bucknbonsai wrote:Is this a picture of a pond cypress rather than a bald cypress?

There's no picture there for me to look at. Unless it is a close-up of the leaves, it'll be hard to say. They are the same species, anyway, according to many Taxonomists. Pond cypress is a variety.

JimLewis wrote: Pond cypress is a variety.

I thought Pond Cypress was Taxodium ascendens? Hmmm.

According to the Plant List
Taxodium ascendens Brongn. is a synonym of Taxodium distichum var. imbricatum (Nutt.) Croom
So yes, pond cypress is a variety of bald cypress.
Iris

And so, if I recall correctly, is the Montezuma cypress.

tlynn wrote: ... what would a cypress like this one sell for after being collected and recovering for one year?

In the photo, that’s a five dollar bill for reference...

Yeah 5 bucks should cover it

Really man you should do it, dont let negative nellies change your mind. We need more good bonsai material and providers and it may make you live longer getting out there in your retirement years...perfect hobby/job.

I'd think This tree flat cut root wrapped and shipped to me this Jan. I would give 150 or so for , to give you some idea. YMMV

Montezuma cypress is a separate species. The correct name is Taxodium huegelii.
Iris

Yes its a PC, not as pretty as a CP when yor see them side by side, needles not as green and the bark is gray/white/tan as oppost to reddish/brown on the BC. but the PD does seem to have a more aged form on a smaller tree than the BC. I collected my first 3 PD's last week from about a foot water, 5 inches of dead debris with sand below that and am anxious to see if new buds are greener.

Rock,
"it may make you live longer "

do you know anything about alligators, cotton mouth moccasins, quick sand, ticks, misquotes that can lift a bonsia pot, and heat stroke?

But yes the exercise is good and my other hobbies dont pay much (hunting, fishing, tinkering)

thanks all for the input, 150 might not e a bad price, unless the piticular tree becomes a pet.

tlynn wrote:Rock,


do you know anything about alligators, cotton mouth moccasins, quick sand, ticks, misquotes that can lift a bonsia pot, and heat stroke?

Nope, but I have been known to misquote now and again

did I misquote? sorry