Newsletter June 2007

Well the cold snap had to come, now all we want is some good rain, they are getting heaps down south, hopefully it will arrive here shortly.

In life all things have seasons, let your trees have a good rest, don’t try and push new growth to early.

Remember to apply liquid potash to all your flowering and fruiting trees every 2 to 3 weeks for a great spring look!

Watering.
I know I speak on watering frequently but it is a vital area to healthy growth.
As the days and nights become cooler, your trees will need less water because of 2 reasons:
Because the temperatures are lower, there is less transpiration in progress (Water leaving the plant through the leaves) and Less to no root growth, which is the conduit for moisture.
If we are to ignore these factors, are trees will become constantly wet, and therefore be exposed to root rot etc. Remember trees in pots are different to those growing in the ground. Tees in the ground have areas of excess water run-off, and are therefore not so much under threat.
Allow your tree to nearly dry out before rewatering. It is having its well earned rest!

Winter.
Now is a good time to clean out all the areas where your Bonsai are displayed. You will have a lot less to do, so now is a good time for some tidying up.

Reconsider where you have your trees, have they been getting enough light, are they in an awkward position, are they displayed to their best advantage?

Maybe now is the time to build or extend your racks, design bit of a Japanese garden around them, and create a bit of “ambience”

Another thing that you can do in winter is take advantage of the sparseness of growth on your deciduous trees, and reshape and rewire them. Because most of the leaves will have fallen by now, you have a much clearer view of the tree. You may even see a new shape from branches that have been growing disguised behind the foliage.

This is also a great time for rewiring, not as many leaves to get in the way! Always make sure your trees are on the dry side before wiring.

If they have just been watered, they are more likely to be brittle and snap easily. This may sound strange, but picture a stick of celery, when is it easier to snap, when it is full of moisture, or a week old? Don’t learn the hard way!

It is also a good time to cut back you elms. When I say cut back, I mean cut back. Be ruthless! (I obviously don’t mean to cut of branches, but be quite severe on all your branchlets. Elms respond well to heavy pruning this time of the year. You will be rewarded with abundant new growth in spring. This will lead to greater branch ramification, which can be a winter highlight on elms.

Take a trip to the library, you will be amazed at the books available! Take the time, become more educated, be inspired to go further and higher in Bonsai. Be challenged, be stretched, enjoy yourself, remember, this life is not a rehearsal, it’s the real thing!

Sale
For the next week and a half (up to and including the 30th of June) we are running an end of financial year sale at the nursery.

This is only available to those in receipt of the newsletter. So you must mention it when you are purchasing something.

For the sale there will be 10% of all tree stock, and 20% of all pots! This makes for great savings and gives you a chance to get in before spring. The other thing is that at the beginning of spring, most if not all trees are repotted, and consequently rise in price. So by buying them now, you will get the same tree you would have bought in spring, but at a reduced rate.
This is a good time to get the tree or pot you wanted at a discounted price.

I am predicting a fairly large increase in prices in the coming months and years. The reason for this is many. We are seeing increases in water charges, and infrastructures that are being imposed on nurseries, higher petrol prices which impact on freight, insurance increases which again impact on freight and overheads. (for larger trees freight is now around $100 a tree!)
When you couple with this the greater demand for Bonsai, and the administration created by our top heavy bureaucracy, which has increased the hours of paper work dramatically, they all add up to increases.

I have seen some stock double in the last year!
I think we have had it good for a long time, but there is a radical shake up going through the nursery industry. I think we have been spoilt for some time!

Tuition
For those of you who would like one to one tuition, this is now available through the nursery. You may have a tree that you just don’t know what to do with, or you may have wanted to purchase something but didn’t know where to start, well nows your chance!

Larger carving jobs can be done and explained. It works on an hourly rate, and for work on larger collections, we can come to you.
You will need to book,

Happy Bonsai-ing.

Chris

Newsletter April 2007

Welcome all the newcomers to the newsletter, things have been very busy lately with 10 attending all the recent classes. Hope all your trees are doing well!!
Bonsai is really growing at a rapid rate in Australia, but it still hasn’t caught up with the enthusiasm of Europe and the U.S.. I think we are developing our own unique style which is exciting to see. As I always say in my classes, the rules of bonsai are there for guidelines, not something that must be adhered to at all costs. You will never fully enjoy your bonsai until you break out of the mould and start to create pieces that YOU find pleasing. They may not all turn out spectacular but it will lead you to a more enjoyable pastime.
Its good to let pictures and other trees you see inspire you, but let that be the motivation, don’t try and copy things, this will always lead to disappointment!

FERTILISING
Don’t forget to keep up the fertilizing at the moment. Even though the trees may seem to have stopped growing, they are still hard at work storing all their nutrients for spring. If you fail to keep this up at the moment, you will pay the price at spring time with less than efficient growth, and dieback of much of the small branchlets that take so long to develop. Remember that growth must come from somewhere, and that somewhere is nutrients stored in the trunk and large roots. This is especially important if you are trying to increase branch ramification on trees as well as fruit and flowers.

DECIDUOUS TREES
This is a good time for exploring your trees as they defoliate, it’s a great time to consider if the tree needs restyling. Often over the growing months, the tree will send shoots out all over the place. Whilst the tree might look good in full foliage, its not until you see it with out its leaves you realize that the tree is really messy. Now don’t be lazy and just leave it as it is thinking it will look good again when its got all its leaves in spring! Take the time to go through all the branches and cut of all the branches that have grown to long, have grown to far upwards, shot downward under the branch, and grown outside the overall shape of the tree. Now wire any branches into their correct position. Remember that refinement is an ongoing work on your trees. Being deciduous it just makes it easier to get to.

This will pay dividends over the years with great ramification, which is just as important as your summer look.

There is nothing more stunning than a elm or maple that has hundreds or even thousands of tiny little branchlets in winter. Believe me this wont happen naturally, it takes time, pruning, fertilizing and vision. By vision I mean seeing the future shape of the tree, by starting at each individual branch.

Most people are a little timid when it comes to pruning their deciduous trees. It is really important to be quite hard in cutting them back. Especially with trees such as elms, you need to be fairly savage. Remember to cut to the bud that you want the branch/branchlets to grow in.
By doing this you will create shorter internodes (the distance between the buds) which will give you better ramification. If this is not trimmed or pruned each year, you will gain a mass/mess of little twiglets that will not produce the fine even growth you are trying to achieve.

Pines also can be pruned quite hard now also. Remember to take out the larger candles at the top, and the smaller candles lower down as they are dominant in their apex. If this is not done then the tops will grow at the expense of the lower and inner branches.

By cutting back this way smaller buds will form at the base of the cut which will produce next seasons branchlets, which in turn will need to be thinned. This will help produce those elusive smaller needles and compact growth.

CLEANING CONIFERS
As your conifers begin to slow down in growth, you will notice that as the weather cools that you will get “die back” inside your tree. The reason for this is that sun is no longer penetrating this area so the tree stops producing new growth underneath. This leads to lots of small brown needles which if allowed to stay, will produce the ideal living place for lots of bugs (if it already hasn’t.) Much of insect infestation can be avoided by keeping your trees well groomed and clean.
The best way to remove these old needles is to use something like a chopstick to loosen all the old matter. After you have done this is then worth going over the tree and shortening all the smaller branchlets that have grown over 25mm in height above the branch. By doing this you will allow light to penetrate inside the tree which is imperative for health, good growth, and short compact ramification. This is how these lovely compact clouds are developed.

BONSAI EUROPE
The latest edition of bonsai Europe is also now available for sale at the nursery. Again the quality is magnificent. Bonsai Europe has now combined with Bonsai today to produce and even bigger magazine. This is a real plus for bonsai nuts. These magazines really inspire, help you understand what is happening around the world and give great insight and tips to help you grow in bonsai.

Newsletter March 2007

Looks like Autumn has dawned, caught most of us unawares, but here it comes. It really is a glorious season, all the colour, anticipation of great ramification you will see on your deciduous trees, and an end to frantic watering! (which is a lead in for this newsletter)

WATERING
Yes I know watering again, but this time its for a very good reason. As you may or may not know we have 75% of our dam filled at the moment. BUT in the governments wisdom they have brought down huge water restrictions. Brisbanes dams are very low but they have included Gold Coast in this, yet we have had RECORD rainfalls all over Australia (Al Gore has a lot to answer for, this is one of the most deceptive Presidential campaigns yet!) Someone sternly told me the other day we just recorded the hottest day in March since 1965! So are you telling me it was HOTTER in 1965? If you care to read anymore click on the below link.

APC: United Nations > Articles > There is No Global Warming
I don’t want to use the newsletter as a place of debate, but hopefully people will be challenged to do some research for themselves.

If anything Bonsai will grow dramatically as people always want to have some sort of trees to look after and admire.

So I thought I would take the opportunity to help you with watering under the new guidelines. At least we are coming into winter and watering has already started to slow down.
One way of watering a lot of trees yet using very little water is done by submerging your trees for a short period of time.

What you need is a container that will take your largest tree, it doesn’t matter what its made of.
Starting with your small trees first place them in the bottom of the container and begin to fill the tub until the water is about 40-50mm above the trees ground level. Do this gently so as not to disturb the pebbles or moss.

Leave the trees in the water until all the bubbles have stopped rising to the surface. Different trees will take longer, depending on the density of the root ball. (5-15 mins)

Whilst you are doing this, you can also add your favourite liquid fertilizer to the water. This will seep through the whole rootmass. Fertilising can be continued now until the night temperatures drop to about 12 Cel. This only needs to be done every fortnight though with the fertilizer!
You can keep using the same water, obviously you will have top it up depending on how many trees you are doing, and correspondingly add more fertilizer.

You can even put a tray on top of the tub and let the water drain out and save even more especially when it is using fertilizer.

A word of caution, you wont need to water like this everyday as you have perhaps been doing when you hose. The reason is that this is a very deep watering, and much more water gets to the trees roots, and will sustain it for 2-3 days. You will just need to check your trees individually, but you will soon get the hang of it.

You will probably find your trees become a lot more healthy. It will also promote more even root growth rather than new roots just forming on the extremities of the rootmass. The reason is more often than not we water and only the outside of the rootball gets watered.

Using a gravel tray is another option for keeping your plants hydrated. This is done by using a shallow tray with the bottom covered in sand or gravel. Fill this with water until the sand or gravel is just covered. Now when you place your trees on this they will be “watered” by the evaporation that takes place. Now this is not to replace watering but will prolong the time between watering. (this is a great option during very hot weather, or for very small “mame” bonsai) Again you will need to check your trees individually. What actually happens is that the water contained in the botoom of the tray will continue to evaporate, misting the leaves of your trees. Trees can absorb moisture in this way also. One word of warning, make sure that your trees are not sitting in the water. Roots on trees such as swamp cypress are ok, but keep everything else above the water line.

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.

Another thing to remember at the moment is to not do anymore trimming on your azaleas. All your new flower buds will have formed, and if you cut them you wont have any flowers!
In regard to flowers and fruit, don’t forget to start using liquid potash once a fortnight (can be used with your new watering system) to produce an abundance of beautiful fruit and flowers come spring.

Its also time to move your deciduous trees into more sun. This will give greater colour as autumn approaches.

In the valley we are experiencing cooler nights already, and colour is really starting to show. My liquid amber is really starting to turn, (see picture) its going to be a great autumn!!

Happy Bonsai-ing, and remember henny penny was wrong!!