How to Make Money with Bonsai

So how exactly can we make some bucks out of our little living works of arts? Well, let us begin by identifying where we can the supplies.

How to make money with bonsai

1. Hunt

The Philippines is so blessed with natural resources. Having said that, mother nature is also the top producer of the best bonsai materials. But you have to be careful, you can’t just go to the forest or mountain and start digging whatever material you find worthy. DENR have set rules on illegal collection of Philippine native trees specially the endangered ones such as bantigue, bantolinao and more.

I would recommend digging in private properties where trees of such kind won’t be of no use anymore because of a certain land development. Instead of just letting the owner kill flatten the land and kill the trees, you can try and arrange for you to collect any valuable materials first. Or you can just simply talk to anyone you personally knows who owns a land and get a permission to dig some bonsai materials.

Hunting in the wild is perhaps the most fun and quickest way to get supplies. Once the trees are collected, just make sure that you apply the right care tips to ensure their growth in the training pots.

2. Propagate

There are 3 ways to propagate bonsai trees. Seed, cutting, and air layer. I personally prefer cuttings and air layering method because seeds are sometimes hard to find. You will be amazed by how fast cuttings grow specially when they are let grown directly to the ground. I have premnas, tugas, balete and hibiscus cuttings that never fail to amaze me with how quick they grow and thrive despite growing from small cuttings. It also gives you more liberty to train them to your preferred shape or trunk movement from the very start unlike the ones you dig from the wild.

3. Buy 

I admit that I am a frequent visitor of garden centers. This is so because I am always on the look for the next potential bonsai material. Garden stocks are perfect source of bonsai materials. The good thing about buying is you get to save time and energy. You don’t need to go too far to hunt to find some good materials, garden centers have what you might need so make every visit worth it.

I would buy in bulk to get discounts and freebies and don’t forget to make friends with the store owner so that the next deal wouldn’t be as tough.

Another good thing ab out buying from other bonsai collectors or garden centers is that the trees you are getting are well in good good condition.

You may also buy from online sellers of bonsai materials. There a many FB groups you can join to and get a chance to buy newly hunted bonsai materials from around the Philippines. Most of them are willing to ship your order anywhere you are in the country. Be mindful of the shipping time though because the delay in shipment might cause the tree to die along the way. You don’t want to buy dead trees.

Who do I sell it to and where?

Now that you know where to get the bonsai trees to sell and at this point you may already have allotted a space in your garden exclusively for your trees then it is time to market them. In the gardening business, your defined target customers could be anyone. But I noticed that the most active members of the bonsai communities are males from 20 to 50 years old. I noticed a few female enthusiasts too. It make sense because bonsai hobby sometimes requires some heavy lifting. Make Money with Bonsai

There are 2 ways to market your trees.

Online

If you want to tell the world that you have bonsai trees for sale, social media is best place to go. By simply joining bonsai buy and sell groups you can get people to see that you have trees for sale. Or you can simply post them on you personal wall. You will be surprised with the response. Just be ready to answer all sorts of inquiries from potential buyers.

Offline

If you have a garden located in a place where there is a good number of foot traffic, by all means take advantage of displaying your trees that are for sale. You may also arrange to sell you trees to plant vendors in the market where they will add a certain percentage for their profit.

Both 

Actually nobody will stop you if you want to market you bonsai trees both online or offline. In fact this is the best approach if you want to maximize your marketing efforts.

Products or Services

Selling bonsai be it online or offline is not that much of a different from selling other products or services. The power of the internet makes it more convenient to both seller and buyer to transact. So take advantage of that. Having a good supply of trees for sale is also key here but be mindful of quality. Your main customers here are also hobbyists like you and they don’t want to buy from someone who doesn’t really care about what he is selling. Make them feel that you know and give value to what you are selling by giving them some tips and advice. The whole bonsai experience will be much fun then.