As several have stated the seed route is a long one. However, you have the
right idea in planting many seeds. I have a couple of nice Japanese Maples
(Acer palmatum) that I started from seed about 10 years ago. That was from
a lot of about 200 collected seed. About 100 came up, 50 or so survived the
first repotting and root spreading, and all but 5 - 10 have perished along
the way to various maladies - mostly root pruning that was too aggressive
and teenagers with watering chores who were not aggressive enough in the
amount of water they gave. However, those 5 -10 trees have great root pads
(like you see in repotting articles of Bonsai Today and similar magazines)
and are starting to develop good foliage pads. I start hundreds of seeds
per year and have fun playing with them.

I also buy stock ranging from cast-off, end-of-season standard nursery stock
to nicely developed prebonsai material so I have trees that will not take 10
- 20 years to develop. The cheaper the tree the more aggressive I am -
hence the large loss rate of seedlings! However, if you keep your eyes open
as the various nurseries start to clear out their stock you can find some
amazing bargains (often $5 - $10 for plants that may have been up to $50
originally) to start your collection and learn what to do (and more often
what not to do). As you learn more you can spend a bit more money with one
of the fine bonsai vendors (not the mallsai folks) to buy a bonsai or
prebonsai that has had a few years of effort put into it so that you can
concentrate on refining the bonsai. Of course a few of your seedlings and
small cast off stock may be starting to come along at that point as well.

Regards - Marty

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