ÃûæÂÖ±²¥

Answering the same question several times per day... I'm going to make a generic text. Fill in the blanks.

It's a [species], young, untrained, not in any way different from any other [species] cutting.

It's a young [species], nothing else. If you let it grow, it will become a big [species], not a bonsai. ÃûæÂÖ±²¥ is not a tree species, it's a collection of techniques to create minaturized, but realistic, trees.

With the right techniques your plant can become a bonsai. For a reasonable bonsai, that'll take about [time needed for this species] and requires study and practice. For a decent bonsai it will take longer, and for a real good one a [time needed for this species].

Selling this as bonsai is a scam.

Made my day But it is sad on the other hand.

Madartej21 wrote: Made my day But it is sad on the other hand.

It is sad isn't it? How many of these posts are we getting lately? How many of these first posters actually ever return?
I think 99% of these plants will never become bonsai - if they even live. It's on such a large scale that there are actually very little people who know what a real bonsai is. Can't even really call it a scam, as apparently it is what people want to buy - and what they want to believe. You will have noticed how hard it is sometimes to convince people that what they have is not a real bonsai.

I would definitely call it a scam. The vendors that sell a seedling 3-4 times its value, just by calling it a bonsai, are scamming people. I have been to nurseries here in Greece and if the owner notices that I am checking the trunks of the plants, he asks: Do you want to make it a bonsai? If you make a mistake to say yes, its price increases immediately. And all the people here that asking advice for their ¡°bonsai¡± are reluctant to believe that their tree is just a seedling because they realize that they are victims of this scam. Just my thoughts on the matter¡­

3-4 times? Make that 20 times. These are grown from cuttings, and are about 1 year old after rooting. These plants sell for about 2 euros here at garden centres.

They are on the market in a very high percentage really.. I had the same idea about bonsais as well. If someone mentioned bonsai the first thing that came to my mind was these tipycal mallsais. It is very sad.
I don't know about you guys but here in Hungary even the most famous bonsai nursery sells them. They have fantastic trees in fantastic mediums and japanese pots, lot of them are prize winners. But half of the trees they sell are tipycal wallmart mallsais. It makes me cringe. They should fight against these trees on the market, not help them spread.. they should fight for the name of bonsai and what it really means. Instead they put a two year old chinese elm in a small ugly pot, place a stone on its horrible soil, and label it a bonsai for 25€ ... This is what makes my blood boil..

There is the same problem here in my part of the USA. My in-laws purchased a 4 yr old juniper for $75 (68 euros) from a man selling "ÃûæÂÖ±²¥" in a parking lot. And when it died, so did their interest in ÃûæÂÖ±²¥.
Getting people interested in ÃûæÂÖ±²¥ can be a good as long as it's with realistic expectations and an understanding of the art.

One of Europe's biggest importers of ÃûæÂÖ±²¥ related stuff is in the Netherlands. Their webshop sais it all, really..

I found a $125 juniper procumbens t my local garden center. Worst mallsai ever and they call it professional bonsai.

We have a trip to Lodders every year. I have had several trees from them, and they are super. But I paid quite a lot for them. You get what you pay for.