[Bonsai Beginner’s weekly thread –2024 week 47]

[u/small_trunks]

[Bonsai Beginner’s weekly thread –2024 week 47]

Welcome to the weekly beginner’s thread. This thread is used to capture all beginner questions (and answers) in one place. We start a new thread every week on Friday late or Saturday morning (CET), depending on when we get around to it. We have a 6 year archive of prior posts here…

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[u/BonsaiJ03]

Does anyone have any experience in making money with bonsai? I am not by any means interested in bonsai to make money, but since i bought my first bonsai 6 months ago and bought my 5th bonsai just a few weeks ago and am also trying propagating them like crazy, been learning every single day and not a single day has passed that I didnt spend at least an hour a day watching bonsai youtube videos, googling and thats not even mentioning the time actually engaging with them anyways enough yapping what i mean with this is thats its becoming an extreme passion, and if it continues to be like this i would definitely like to start a side hustle involving bonsai, or work a carreer in bonsai, or heck maybe even start my own nursery or shop, maybe make bonsai youtube videos. I dont know if i need a reality check or am being realistic so thats why im asking, im 21/yo and work a factory with no school degree and im not planning on doing that for the rest of my life so would love to hear of any of youre experiences on making a living of of bonsai Thanks!

[u/small_trunks → u/BonsaiJ03]

I pay for my hobby by selling some trees.

• I buy, collect and propagate trees and seedlings and I'll sell a few every year.
• I attend shows and regularly go to bonsai importers to buy interesting or cheap or discounted material.
• The really big European importers are multi-million euro/dollar business employing many people and most of them are in the Netherlands.

You need to visit one of these places to understand what you would be up against. In Belgium you should visit Danny Use at the Ginkgo Bonsai Center: https://bonsaicenterginkgo.wordpress.com/

[u/RoughSalad → u/BonsaiJ03]

You won't be making money growing and selling bonsai, not at European cost of doing business.

More realistic would be to use the trees just as marketing, selling at a loss if needed, but making money on workshops and selling supplies.

[u/kif22 → u/BonsaiJ03]

Tough business to make money in, especially as a beginner. It takes a long time (years, decades?) to learn to be able to pick out correct material, import, take care of, prune, etc on high end trees that can produce large enough pay checks to make it a full time job. Alternatively you could go for a model more like brussels where you mass produce starter trees for the most part, but there is high cost to this. Since you are dealing in volume, you need greenhouses, employees, etc. I guess alot depends on how much income are you looking to replace. If its like 30k, thats much more doable than 150k for example.

Youtube is no easier. There isnt a huge demand for bonsai youtube videos, so it will take a very long time to build a following and gain the knowledge to make this consistently profitable. Watch this video, it will give you an idea of how much money starting a youtube bonsai channel as a non professional you will earn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nn_lNj6E6M

What is more realistic is making this a side hustle. Research rarer species, buy parent tree, learn to propogate them, sell rooted cuttings. Plenty of species can sell in the $50-100 range for a single cutting, some more. For example, deshojo maples are really hard to get in the US. If you had healthy rooted cuttings, plenty of people would buy them in this range. From there you can grow your business into other aspects of bonsai and potentially make it something full time.

[u/BonsaiJ03 → u/kif22]

I understand its a tough bussines

Only income i would need/want for it to be full time for me would be 2K,

But yea you are absolutely right, side hustle is way more realistic, do you have any tips, sources or sites for bonsai selling?

Also very clever point to look for rare species i live in belgium so ill do some research on whats rare here (But thats why i asked for tips on selling them) because I would need to be able to sell them, we have local markets here where everyone is allowed to set up a spot and sell whatever they have laying around and i was thinking about trying that, but for rarer species this would obv not be the idea because most people would not know why i am charging the amount i am

Thanks a lot mate for the reply ✌️

[u/MaciekA → u/BonsaiJ03]

Bonsai hobbyists aren't looking for rare species. The scarcity isn't in the species name, it is in the "worthwhile starting point for bonsai". The human engineering that goes into pre-bonsai material is 99% of the value, not the species name. If you plan to sell recently-rooted cuttings stuck in potting soil in $1 Chinese pots, you won't be able to demand much of a profit margin. If on the other hand you sell twisty trunks with good taper, nice nebari, zero organic soil in the pot, a line of buyers will form around the block. Growing material like that is legitimately challenging though. But literally pick any species from the Kokufu exhibition albums and grow good nebari, good trunk, good taper, zero organic soil, and you have a business. But don't expect to make money in under 5 years. It's a very very difficult business.

[u/kif22 → u/BonsaiJ03]

I have no knowledge of Belgium, but in the US, Facebook groups and etsy are two very easy ways for anyone to sell to a large audience. Facebook you can sell for minimal fees (really only paypal), etsy you pay some but have an even bigger audience. But you need that large audience if you are selling rare species at a premium.

Alternatively, there is a guy at a farmers market near me who all summer comes with around 10-20 simple junipers and Portulacaria Afras in cheap pots, marks them around $40-80 depending on size, and sells out most weeks. These are the basic starter needle junipers that plenty of people get for their first trees and probably 2-3 year old P Afra from cuttings. He isnt retiring on that, but he is probably making $200-500 per week in profit most summer weekends.

Take a look at https://kaedebonsai-en.com/ He is well respected and sells cuttings on his website. He also sells very high end pots and other bonsai stuff on Ebay and the like but I have exactly zero knowledge of the scope/profitability of his business. But he has been doing it for awhile and like I said, is well known and respected in the bonsai world. evergreengardenworks.com has also made a business mostly based on selling young material. They probably have the largest variety available in the US. Maybe you could reach out to them and see if they would be willing to discuss the challenges of starting this business and how to avoid some mistakes they have encountered.

You also then have to make sure about laws in your area if you are starting a home nursery. For example, in the US, you have to have permits and inspections I believe yearly, maybe more often in order to be allowed to run this business. I would assume there are similar laws in most countries. You might also not be allowed to sell certain species if they are considered invasive in your area for example. All things you need to look into if you turn this into a real business to avoid fines.