Hi there, I'm new here and have a few questions.
I've always loved how Bonsai trees looked and thought they were interesting but until a few days ago I'd never actually researched them and for some reason I thought they were crazy expensive.
So, after learning that that's not the case, I've decided to try my own.
I want to find a tree in the wild and do it by myself, I don't want to buy anything because it seems really interesting to me to get everything "naturally".
As it's my first tree, I really have no preference, when I spot something nice, I'm going to go for it.
Any have any tips? I live in Poland so maybe there are some easy to get, hardy species in this part of Europe?
I would like an indoor tree but really it doesn't matter.
My main question is, what time of year is best to take a tree from the wild?
Thanks

first what country are you in? Next you will probably need permission to collect in most countries. You would be far better to buy a plant than dig up as your first tree unless you are good at looking after plants.
Find a good garden centre or nursery and look at what is available, and find something that is established in a pot.
Trees that are collected need at least a year and preferably several to establish before any work is done.

Thanks for the reply. I live in Poland. There are no "good" garden centres, and the Bonsais that they have are being sold for about 10-15 dollars and look like they were small plants that were just chopped in half.
About collecting, as far as I understand. I carefully take the tree home and plant it in a pot with a mixture of half soil from the area collected and half peat for example. Then leave it for a year to give it a chance to become used to being in a pot. Is that the jist of it? Any other pointers? When is the best time of year to collect?

Darsh wrote:

There are no "good" garden centres, and the Bonsais that they have are being sold for about 10-15 dollars and look like they were small plants that were just chopped in half.

Usually, they are. Good that you recognize bad material

You wrote earlier:

I want to find a tree in the wild ... maybe there are some easy to get, hardy species in this part of Europe?
I would like an indoor tree

That makes no sense. A hardy tree native to your climate will not be suitable as an indoor tree.

I carefully take the tree home and plant it in a pot with a mixture of half soil from the area collected and half peat for example. Then leave it for a year to give it a chance to become used to being in a pot. Is that the jist of it?

More or less.
Are you near the Tatra mountains (I just found that on the Polish wiki ) ?. Seems your country should have some interesting areas to find good material. Retrieving such material may not be so easy and may require several steps... and I should not recommend it, as you don't have the knowledge yet and may ruin good material. Also, as pointed out, it may be illegal. Another issue is that you probably don't know yet how to recognize good material. You'll need to learn that first.

Any other pointers? When is the best time of year to collect?

Spring, just before bud break. But there's a lot of information to be found on this subject, Google for "collecting trees from the wild" or "collecting yamadori".

Looking at the list of native trees in Poland, some of the trees that are suitable are:

Tilia Cordata
Fagus Sylvatica
Carpinus Betulus
Pinus sylvestris
Larix Decidua

Ah yes I see how that makes no sense. I suppose if a tree is hardy enough to get through Polish winters then it's not going to like a nice warm apartment in the winter. I'm not near the Tatra mountains unfortunately, but there are some amazing places there

I'm a bit confused about what you meant when you said there are several steps but you shouldn't recommend them? Then how will I ever know?

As far as recognising good material, the only thing I know to look for it a good trunk. I love the formal Bonsai trees that resemble nature, so interesting.
Thanks for the info anyway, it looks like I have until spring to do some research so

[quote="Darsh" post=17948
I'm a bit confused about what you meant when you said there are several steps but you shouldn't recommend them? Then how will I ever know?
[/quote]

Collecting trees from the wild is a skill that needs to be learned. After collection, you need to keep the tree alive. This is also a skill to be learned. Auk suggests you first learn how to keep a plant alive. After that you should have gained enough knowledge to have some idea what goes into colelcting.

Okay I understand, sorry for my ignorance, but I am completely new to this. The only plants I've kept before were in aquariums, but I was pretty good at keeping them alive
So do you guys think the best thing for me to do is buy a tree (not a Bonsai) that's in a pot already?
- If I do that, do I move it into a smaller pot straight away? Because I don't think I'll learn anything by just buying a plant and not doing anything with it

I would suggest you seek out a bonsai society and go there. Most will have a sales table with cheap plants to get you started, or some of the members will be able to help. Collecting as said before is not for a beginner

This could be difficult as my Polish is not great, so it will be interesting trying to speak with someone about trees haha
But I'll give it a go, and I'll keep an eye out in garden centres for something that I think I can work with.

Darsh wrote:

I'm a bit confused about what you meant when you said there are several steps but you shouldn't recommend them? Then how will I ever know?

What Leatherback said. I meant I should not recommend to collect trees from nature. There's an interesting series on youtube about this. Look at this movie on youtube. At 45 sec. you 'll see a very interesting tree, shaped by nature. It appears to be not recoverable and he decides to leave it alone as it is not useful to 'take it home to watch it die'.