I forget to ask the most important question. How to take good care of it? Thank you.

Hey newbey, thanks for posting this interesting tree. Good bonsais go thru many ugly duckling stages, and I would say this has a lot of potential and is currently in an ugly stage. I can't tell for sure about the charring, but charring with a torch is an actual technique for 'developing' dead wood. I'm not that hardcore, so haven't looked into it too far, nor can I tell with absolute certainty that this is what darkened that portion of the trunk.

A key aspect to most good bonsai is looking like an ancient, gnarly tree that has survived a whole lot of mother nature. It looks to me like this tree was grown for about several years, maybe more than ten, or was found in nature at that age and collected. Then it was trunk chopped when the trunk looked 'right' and allowed to grow new branches.

The illusion of bonsai necessitates attention to proportion. Thus the first branches should be quite a bit smaller than the trunk, trees should be sized proportionately to how fat the trunk is, the pot should be sized in a way that it does not draw too much attention, etc, so to achieve this illusion many temporary uglifying procedures are done to the tree at different stages. Thus I would say that this ugly duckling has had a pretty good start to turning into a nice bonsai down the road as more is done to it by knowing/learning hands.

If this hobby/art/way of life/pastime is interesting to you, the best way I can think of to get a leg up is to join a local bonsai club, have your tree critiqued, and pursue refining it under the tutelage of someone you relate to that has some skill.

ez

Thank you David.

I definitely will follow your advice and join my local club. I have always been interested in bonsai but never had the time. I have 2 now and really enjoy them and its even peaceful when doing all the work they need. This particular tree is 13 years old.

Thank you for your response. This is why I love these forums. I learn a lot from responses like yours! Cheers.

I must say I grow bonsai b/c of just what you said, "really enjoy them and its even peaceful when doing all the work they need". Best to you!

ez

I am going to be very unpopular here now because of this, but... your sister got ripped off - that's a mess!

Lol moochinka. Your feedback is appreciated. I think I forget to ask if she got ripped off which in your opinion she did :-) (I also thought the same when she told me the price).

what would have been a good starting price for this bonsai though?

Half that, depending on where you live, maybe.

I agree that your sister was taken advantage of. The only future the tree has as a believable bonsai centers around getting it healthy enough to cut it back to nothing more than a nub of a stump and starting over from scratch. Please post the name of the unscrupulous entity that sold this plant.

Plant's history: You're looking at the understock of a plant that was once grafted. The scion (species unknown) died and multiple branches sprouted from the near vicinity of the graft union (which caused the swelling), along with a basal sprout low on the trunk. These sprouts grew for a couple of years until the plant was cut back. One branch was left at the graft union and the basal sprout was just randomly truncated. Multiple branches occurred at the truncation point of the basal sprout and were allowed to grow (thus the swelling at that point as well). A second branch angled downward near the graft union was also allowed to remain on the tree. A year later, several sprouts were removed at the terminus of the basal sprout, leaving you with what you have now.

Al

Thank you all for your responses.

The bonsai was returned today to the seller. My sister bought the item from a seller on eBay. The seller's name is HOUSEOFBONSAI.

I contacted her personally and she/he told me the bonsai was perfect that as "you know" the bonsai still in a recovery phase (LOL) and that it will be a beautiful tree in the end (50 years?) So I told my sister to return it and initiated a return request, the seller of course didn't want to pay for return shipping and my sister escalated a claim.

So the tree was returned today. The seller had to pay for return shipping at the end and everyone is happy.

Thank you all for your responses. I learned a lot.

Way to be persistent!

ez

The staining was old bleed (sap) It would've passed in time. The Buddah-bellies were from a butchers job of pruning, and a much tougher job to fix, if ever.

Collect some wings and plant them to field, collect small trees to a colander after a few years.

Now do not be discouraged by this experience. Get your sister to buy you a good book on bonsai. Amazon is a good starting place to do some research on books.

That maple is a classic rootstock variety as Al described it so wonderfully.