This is something that gets slid across the table at me quite often. Usually when someone has seen a tree at a Garden centre or supermarket they “consider” expensive, at around £40 for a small Supermarket Bonsai through to £800 for a large nursery grown tree in a large container.
Yes, you can buy a “Bonsai tree for under Ten Pounds…
I simply point out a serious Bonsai tree that is considered “Really Good” will set you back over a Million pounds…
Seriously? Yes…
Why do “they cost so much?” You may ask.
SImple.
- Time.
- Love.
- Care.
- Attention.
Decades or more of constant daily/weekly watering, fertilising, pruning, weeding, repotting and wiring.
Tip of the Iceberg for proper Bonsai Care, honestly. Serious Bonsai care is a lot more involved and time consuming.
Let me strip this back a little to allow you to grasp why from a basic level/
You see a tree in a large plastic container at a garden nursery, it’s a decent sized tree, thick trunk, bushy foliage, all in all a nice tree to “Shove in the garden and skip a decade or so of growing a small sapling yourself. All good till you check the price tag and it’s £600….
You don’t realise it’s been watered daily or so for however many years, potted on several times, let alone either grown from seed or taken from a cutting or a graft many years ago. All that is time and effort by someone or several people over that decade. That cost has to be passed on, as is fair.
Now, Bonsai is far more complicated…
A decade of pruning, root pruning, leaf defoliation, wiring, feeding, tweaking the branches, leaves, roots. It’s a labour of love yes, but for a basic tree that looks good it’s time-consuming. For an amazing tree or a stunning show winning tree it’s more than that. It’s a total passion and life consuming.
The Million pound tree at auction linked above is just the start of what you “Could pay” for an amazing tree, some collections hold trees that are priceless, or have trees that are worth more than 4 Million Pounds!
The trees I offer initially are only “Starter Material”, grown from seed and perhaps 3 or 4 years old.
The “Material” I will offer that I consider beginner level Bonsai trees will be 4-10 years old so will have been grown by hand, from seed, to a sapling, potted on a few times, hardened off to cope with British weather OUTDOORS, then when ready will be planted outdoors, watered when it’s warm and twice or three times per day when it’s hot. Fed on a weekly cycle through Spring till Autumn. Moved from growing in the ground after fattening up and becoming mature looking to live in a confined space of a Training frame and then again till able to survive in a training pot and kept healthy through this difficult process till they can fill a Bonsai Pot with roots to allow them to become your Bonsai tree…
That is why they cost what they cost, time and effort + Love and attention; then add cost of tools, feed, water, time and all the other little things not worth listing here.
It’s not a cheap thing when you consider those things, is it?
It currently takes me on average an hour a day in warm weather to water the tree/plant collection I have now, previously it had been up to 2 hours or more when my tree collection was at around a 100 in pots and 400 or so seedlings/saplings. 2 Hours a day and that was for the Bonsai/saplings collection only…
2 Hours of watering a day over 2 full months at peak summer, really adds up over a season, let alone cost of water and time. Add on feeding them as well…
You pay someone for the time and effort to get a tree that is healthy and alive when you see it and like it.
That is why they cost the price tag on the tree.
The tree you see and like got that way through time and care, respect that fact and perhaps see why it costs the price being asked for it.
This doesn’t even take into consideration someone’s time and effort learning the methods to grow and keep Bonsai, hundreds or thousands of hours at study. Trial and error, and endless hours practical experience working with trees to keep them alive…
I hope this answers the question “Why Bonsai Trees cost so much?”
If you still are unsure at the cost of my Bonsai Trees for sale, feel free to check Amazon, eBay or other places and look at the difference between my stock and those on offer in those places or others.
I’m fairly sure you will notice my stock is superior in size, thickness, height and quality, yet my prices are not that much more; and often as not my stock will be younger and far more advanced in how close to looking like a mature tree that fits the Bonsai description.
This is why I ask the price I ask for a tree.
Quality stock that has been grown correctly and looked after properly for the first few formative and most important years of its growth to the point it is ready for sale; and not forced to grow as fast as possible in a production like line to churn out low quality stock.
The price tag reflects my time and effort to produce the best tree possible to end up in your care and collection.
I start the trees off, you are the one that will finish it off and make it true Bonsai.