Newsletter February 2008

WELCOME
Again welcome to all the new readers of the newsletter! Great to have you with us.
Well the rain keeps coming, we are in our normal monsoon pattern and probably will stay this way for a few more weeks at least. Just remember after heavy rain your trees have gotten to use to a higher uptake of water. When it stops raining your trees will stay in this mode for a few days so you may have to water more than usual for a few days, as they will dry out quicker.

FERTILISING.
Where do I start?
The idea of fertilizing is even more important when we are growing container trees. They are completely dependant on the immediate surrounds of the pot for their nutrients.
One of the key aspects of fertilizing is that it obviously keeps your trees healthy! One of the forgotten up sides to this is the fact that healthy trees will attract less insects and pests! Healthy clean areas are must for healthy trees.

Many of the commercially produced fertilizers are usually high in nitrogen. This is the chemical that will produce great growth to your foliage. The problem with this is that it is “artificially” feeding the leaves. It is the roots that should be feeding the leaves! So what you need is what is called a ‘balanced” fertilizer, one that will feed all aspects of the tree. We forget that the leaves are feeding the roots and vice-versa.

Around this time of the year, the reason for fertilizing, (particularly slow release) is to allow the tree to begin to store nutrients for the coming spring. This is vital if we are to have healthy happy trees come springtime. These nutrients are stored in the trunks and larger roots until called on when the weather begins to warm.

One of the dangers of using a fertiliser high in nitrogen late in the season is that you are liable to produce late growth which may not last the colder winter months. If this happens, you may lose your tree. Trees need to go into dormancy, we all need a rest sometime. If we make it produce during this period we will threaten the trees health.

I would encourage you to do some further reading regarding fertilizing if your are serious about your bonsai. There really isn’t the space here to discuss all the issues involved, chemical verse natural etc.

You may have seen the bottled liquid fertilizer I sell at the nursery. This is an all natural “Healthy Earth” fertilizer, a balanced liquid concentrate that will keep your trees topped up with constant nutrients. This is ideal for transplanting, balancing PH, revives sick plants, and the 600 mls makes up just over 100 ltrs. This is used every 3 weeks or so.

The other new range I am now selling is “Healthy Earth” slow release. This will feed up to 3 months, doesn’t “wash out”, and doesn’t dump in hot weather.

Both of these fertilizers are safe on newly potted trees, herbs, indoor, all flowering plants, and even natives. This saves the hassle of buying different fertilizer for all your different types of trees.

I only use these fertilisers in the nursery. I have found them to be safe, environmentally friendly and extremely beneficial to my stock.

WIRE
Whilst we are talking about fertilizing and growth, it is worth mentioning that as the temperatures start to drop.

We enter a period that is similar in temperature to spring, so guess what? Yep that’s right, new growth, again this is why fertilising is important at this time of the year, we want to make sure we are getting every chance of growth into our trees as we can.

BUT! Keep an eye on your wire as the branches begin to grow and expand, wire, if not checked, will begin to cut in. This can leave nasty obvious scars on the tree, which is to be avoided at all costs. Some trees will never recover from this and can spoil a great tree. If needed remove the wire and rewire if necessary, just wire it slightly adjacent to were it previously was.
It is often best to use slightly heavier wire as this will have a twofold effect, it will last longer (ie avoid what we are talking about above) and hold your tree in position more securely. Believe it or not, your tree can often produce enough pressure over a growing season to move the branch upwards, which is its natural inclination.

GROWING GOOD PADS
A common problem I often see is with the thickening of foliage, and the die back of undergrowth.
People find it difficult to understand the need for constant trimming on some trees. The varieties that are effected most are the likes of junipers. As the foliage elongates, the lower leaves or needles (now covered by shade) are no longer able to do the work they were to designed to do, ie to turn starches into sugars with the help of the sun. (UV) So once growth elongates, the bottom or inner needles die. By constantly thinning your needles/leaves during the growing season, you will create a nice thick pad, which is able to let plenty of light in to these branches. This is the secret to creating “cloud like” pads on your branches.
On varieties such as junipers, this is done by constant pinching back. Never cut the needles, otherwise you will end up with lots of brown tips. These will eventually grow out but will be unsightly for a time.

You need to keep the pads down to about 25cm in thickness. Much more than this and you will encounter the problem we are talking about.

A lot of people think that if they cut of these small branches their tree will become smaller. The opposite is true. When you prune a tree, you remove the hormone in the growing tip, thus the tree responds by making more growth. So where you had one small sub branch, you will now have 3-5. This is how pads are created. (in a fairly simplistic way)

“T” Shirts. After a large demand for our T shirts, they are now available in sizes s,m,l,xl. They are as you see me wearing them on the webpage, and at the nursery. They are $25 and great quality! (mine are 2 years old!)
I’ll leave you with a bit of inspiration from the recent Bonsai show in China.