hi all, my landlord is a farmer and I have found some Blackthorn on his land that he said I am welcome too!-)

Any tips on collecting Them?

I'm planning on digging as large a root ball as I can, wrapping it in a bin liner to help keep the roots moist and walking back 5min home to pot, any tips?

Justin83 wrote: any tips?

Make sure to research Blackthorn before you go, have all of your training pots ready before you leave, check whether bin liners are suitable, invest in a burlap sack or two, ofbonsai.org/techniques/bonsai-collecting/collecting-basics

Did I miss anything?

Ed

BonsaiLearner wrote: I miss anything?

it might be interesting to know how big it is.

The one I'm definitely planning only has a 40mm trunk and is about 900mm tall, considering larger ones up to 6ft tall with a 70-80mm trunk.

Justin83 wrote: The one I'm definitely planning only has a 40mm trunk and is about 900mm tall,

Uhmmm... I´ll start saying that without actually seeing the tree in question it might be difficult to properly assess the suitability of this tree as a Bonsai. Now, that said, it does appear to me that this will be a tall and slender tree in relation/proportion to the width of the trunk you are reporting. Let me explain myself...

Generally and as a rule of thumb for a tree to be considered as a proportioned Bonsai, the trunkbase´s width must be related to the trunk´s height in a 6:1 (generally prefered) up to say 12:1 ratio (depending on the style previously chosen). That is, if your trunkbase possesses a 40mm width, then the height of the trunk should be ranging around 240mm-480mm. 900mm it is almost two times bigger than the larger proportion.

To add a little bit more in proportions... The firs branch you select for your Bonsai (either left or right oriented) should be at a 1:3 height, or in another words, should be placed approximately at 1/3 of the tree´s height (a bit higher than this is allowed too). This means that in your 40mm example, the first branch location should be around 13-14mms up the trunkline.

Further reads on this issue you can find it here:

General Bonsai Aesthetics by Wikipedia
The Golden Rule Applied to Bonsai by Harry Harrington
A very simple Bonsai Proportions Calculator by Mello Bonsai

Well, I hope this would help a bit...

Alain

Thanks for The actual numbers mate, in a year or so it will require a trunk chop so I'm guessing it's more material collection than yamadori I guess...
I will snap some pics later!-)

Well I brought home 3 trees potted them, one of which in my opinion has adequate roots.
I picked up a nice little birch Aswell with good roots but has been damaged by the farmers but has buds some high hopes for that one!-)

what ever you do, don't go pruning / cutting/ wiring now!

leave the tree a few years to recover