WIRE
Just remember that because the growing season seems to be over not to neglect your trees especially when it comes to wire. During this time of the year, often your trunk and branches will continue to thicken up. One reason is the optimal temperatures (they are very much like spring) the other is that the tree is starting to store all its goodies before winter in preparation for next spring. For this reason wire can start to cut in quite easily and leave nasty scars. Just check all your trees and have a close look to make sure wire doesn’t need to come of. Keep this in mind if you are currently wiring your tree, it will need to be checked in a month or so.
In regard to flowers and fruit, don’t forget to start using liquid potash once a fortnight to produce an abundance of beautiful fruit and flowers come spring.
PESTS
I have never had so many enquiries regarding pests since we have been here at the nursery. The most frequent species have been elms and junipers. Most of them arrive either very brown, or having dropped most of their leaves. The problem seems to been prompted by the high humidity (I think) and we saw a mass of infestation of white louse scale, spider mite, and some other nasties. Most trees had the tell tale signs of very fine spider webs. The worst affected trees were those trees that had been neglected, and or had been over watered, under watered and not given enough sun. Problems will always occur when a tree is neglected. Nature will just do its job and remove the weakest tree. The best all round treatment is either “Folimat” or “Confidor”. These come in aerosol cans and will effectively treat the pests mentioned. What is important is to follow the directions on the can and reapply again in 7 to 10 days. This will ensure that any hatching “critters” will also be dealt with. Hold the can at least 25cm’s from the tree as the aerosol can burn foliage.
THINNING OUT JUNIPERS
At this time of the year it is worth checking your junipers for old needles under heavy growth that have died of from not getting enough light. This is only natural as the needles cannot work economically if they are receiving no sun because of the new growth that has formed on top of it. The growth on a juniper should not be much longer than 25 – 30 mm’s, any longer and it will get leggy. The reason for cleaning out this old dead growth is to keep the tree clean and not supply or encourage pests to take up residence using the old needles for their home!
Using a chopstick or similar object get in underneath and stir around until you see the old needles falling. You want to be able to see the branches and branchlets, free from any collecting debris. You may even notice small cocoons with little grey worms in them, these guys will really mess your tree up. Hold your tree up and look underneath, you may be surprised what you can see!!
Another thing to do is when you are watering, aim a strong jet of water up under the foliage pads as this will also blast a lot of the dead foliage out. Doing this will keep your tree healthy as the more air you can get moving around and through the tree will keep it much healthier.
REPOTTING
As we move into the cooler months you are able to repot any trees that may have been missed in spring.
The thing that needs to be remembered is not to take to much of the root system as it may not have sufficient time to fully redevelop before winter sets in.
Autumn temperatures are very similar to spring, that is why we are able to repot at this time of the year. Always remove some foliage to lessen the demands on the reduced root system. Keep the tree in some shade for a week to give it a chance to recuperate.
There are some trees that are best left until spring to repot though. Unless you are very confident to do so leave your black pines, azaleas, cedars, etc.
These trees may not respond with new roots before winter and thus not have the ability to sustain the tree.
WATERING
I know we have had lots of rain but as I have warned in the past, be diligent to keep the water up even after the rain. The reason being is that most trees have been in greater water take up since all this heavy rain. This is all right if the trees are in the ground but trees in pots will quickly run out of water. You need to help them reduce back to the normal uptake, so just keep your eyes on them when the sun comes out again.
I’ll leave you with a couple of photos form the exhibition in China.
These are done as landscapes on marble trays. (we carry these)
Happy bonsai-ing
Chris
