Where Can You Buy Bonsai Seeds?

I get asked a lot about where to buy bonsai seeds from, the truth is that any seeds you see on the internet or your local shop are going to be fine, it really just depends on what you want and that you also check a few things before buying them.

I have bought many packets of seeds and most of them have been totally great, but I will go through some places you can look for them and what to look for when you are there.

Don’t Buy “Bonsai Seed” …Buy Seeds

When it comes to buying seeds for bonsai… don’t buy bonsai seeds.

Bonsai are just normal trees that have been manipulated to stay small… after they have grown. This means you don’t need special “bonsai seeds”…In fact if you buy bonsai seeds and plant them in the ground, they will just become full size trees, because the seeds you are buying are just that. 

If you buy them, you are just buying the marketing and more importantly, paying double or triple the price simply for the word “bonsai” on the packet.

All you need to do is buy normal tree seeds, they are much cheaper and are the same thing. The bonsai stuff comes later, it has nothing to do with the seeds. 

(You can read more about – What Are Bonsai Seeds?)

Buy Seeds Online

Of course the first and most obvious place to buy seeds is online. You can look at any of the usual suspects like Amazon or Ebay and you will find plenty of seeds on sale.

You can also try any gardening type webshops, as quite often they will have seeds for sale too.

It will really depend on what you are looking for but I am certain any tree you can think of will have seeds available online somewhere for you to buy. You just have to search what you want and you will find them for sale.

Try Sourcing The Seeds Locally

If you want to get your seeds in person then you can start by going to any local shop that sells gardening type stuff or plant nurseries. They will of course sell starter trees, but you will probably be able to find seeds on sale too.

You can also try and find seeds for free locally, by just going for a walk in the local park in autumn. Any native species will dropping their seeds at this time of year and no one is really going to care if you pick them up and take them home. I have started a number of trees this way, such as my Horse Chestnut and Sycamores, it is an easy way to get started for free.

You can also look in your house right now for seeds. I imagine you have some sort of fruit in your kitchen and there is a good chance you can grow these. I have done this with a lot of trees.

My avocado, apple, lemon, pomegranate all came from my kitchen.

How Do You Choose The Right Seeds For Bonsai?

When it comes to buying the right seeds, I always get asked “how do I know if these ones are good?” …well you have to treat it like buying anything else online. You kind of just have to hope you don’t get ripped off and you try and use as much information as you can to avoid that.

Start by looking at the reviews as they should give you some indication of whether or not the seller is legit.

You also have the price, if it seems extremely high or low compared to everything else, something is wrong.

However, at the end of the day, a packet of seeds is only a few quid, so you are not going to lose much. I have bought olive seeds online and they were perfect … I also bought some kind of oak seeds online… and they were certainly not acorns!

I have bought plenty of other seeds too and they have always been fine, just do as much research as you can before buying and you should have no problems 9 times out of 10.

Work Out What Species You Want

I think knowing what you want solves half the issue. If you know what species you want you can investigate how to actually care for them properly.

You will also know if they are a difficult tree to work with and if they will actually survive in your climate.

Knowing this information can usually make the difference between your seeds turning out “good” or “bad” as it can really make a difference to how successful you are.

(You can read more about – What Are The Best Species For Beginners To Use For Bonsai?)

Work Out How To Germinate Them Properly

Also investigating how to actually germinate the seeds can make a huge difference in how much success you have.

Just randomly buy seeds and planting them can often lead to nothing happening and you blame the seller and their rubbish seeds …but you didn’t do things properly, so it’s actually your fault.

This is again why knowing what species you are buying is important. Knowing how to properly germinate the seeds is going to make sure they actually germinate and you have success.

Conclusion  

Hopefully this helps you pick some seeds that are a decent price and actually germinate into the trees you want.

Just remember that it can be a very slow process and quite difficult to grow trees from seed, but when you do it can be very rewarding, especially when you start doing bonsai work on them.

(You can read more about – Starting A Bonsai From Seed – A Guide For Years 1 To 5)