by Lee Squires

Bonsai Grafts & Skin Grafts

Our meeting on Saturday, February 20th at Bon Air Library should be an interesting one. My good friend and plant propagator, Chris Summers, will be on hand to give us a seminar on grafting. Sometimes you have a tree that needs a branch in a particular place but one will not sprout from the trunk. This is the ideal time to graft on a branch in that location. This process could make a mediocre tree into a great one. Chris will demonstrate & explain techniques and will give us a chance to try our skill at grafting too.

by George Buehler

It is getting close to that time of year again – repotting season. I hope you are getting all your tools, wire, soil, etc. ready. At the soil workshop, we had a large group and mixed up several batches of the basic soil mix. Lee went over the do’s and don’ts of using this mix. In a recent ABS Journal article, a comparison of soil mix that is used by a number of people around the country was given. It seems that successful bonsai artists tailor their soil mix to their climate and particular tree types. For instance, the mix used in Seattle differs from the mix used in the southwest. The reason is that Seattle gets much more rain than the people in the southwest, so the mix used in Seattle has to allow for less water retention than the mix used in the southwest where they have less rain. Therefore the mix in the southwest would have components that hold more water than the mix in Seattle. Brian Schanding brought several copies of the article and passed it out to the attendees. You might want to look back at some of the soil articles we presented in this missal over the last several years and compare those to what you can find on the web. When you compare soil mixes used by people around the world, you have to keep in mind the area they are in. What works for one area may not work in another.

by George Buehler

We are fast approaching the time of year when probably the most important bonsai task will need to done – repotting and root pruning. Because this task is so important, we need to review how it should be done and why it should be done.

Why repotting is essential to bonsai?

When plants are grown in the ground, they can have a root system that extends a considerable distance beyond the canopy. The root systems become larger and more extensive in the plants’ never ending quest for water and nutrients to supply the expanding foliage.

Unfortunately for our bonsai, due to the pot size, there is only a limited amount of space for the roots to expand. The problem is that the roots on bonsai continue to grow in tandem with their leaves and branches above ground. After a period of time, which varies between different plants (more on that later), the roots eventually fill the pot and the tree becomes “pot bound”. As this starts to occur, the fine feeder roots that are responsible for the uptake of water and nutrients stop growing. The soil porosity becomes lower (slowing the soil drainage), causing further problems with the feeder roots. In general, when a bonsai becomes pot bound, the tree starts to suffer, and thiscan even lead to the demise of the plant.

by George Buehler

As I sit here, the sugar plum fairies are still dancing in my head because Santa hasn’t come yet. Perhaps he will bring me a new bonsai tool or two. Or perhaps he will bring me a book that will tell me how to keep a pine alive for longer than two seasons – a lot of you know that I have had trouble growing pines (among others – sigh!). No matter what you put on your Christmas list, I hope the jolly fat man brought it to you. For my part, I know that no matter what he brings me, I will be thankful.

If you missed the Christmas party, I have included on page 7 a few pictures that I took during that event. We had a good turnout, everybody got a bonsai present from our jolly fat man – sorry Lee, I couldn’t resist – and of course everybody left with a satisfied appetite and hopefully a feeling of camaraderie.

At the bottom of this page, I have listed the officers for 2010, including four new board members. At the last board of directors meeting, it was decided to increase the number of board seats by four. The four elected at the Christmas meeting were Brian Schanding, Don Mougey, Mike Pfeffer, and James York. They were elected by the members present. I know that they will be excellent contributors to the GLBS board.

by George Buehler

With our trees put to bed for the winter, January is a good time to do some of the menial things that haven't been taken care of during the growing season. One of the things that should be done is maintaining our tools. Tools can be relatively expensive and should be kept in top condition. If a tool is not sharp, rather than cut the branch cleanly, it can crush the limb cells, potentially leading to damage to the limb or diseases.

We will divide this article into two parts – care and sharpening.

CARE

One of the keys to keeping your tools in top notch working order is the normal care you give them both in use and in storage. It’s quite easy to finish a tool task and throw it back into your tool box. If you give your tools a little TLC after a session of use, they can last a lifetime. Probably the most important factor in tool upkeep is cleaning. As you cut branches or roots, the tool edge is coated with the sap/resin from the tree. If this is allowed to remain on the tool, it hardens over time or picks up dust and grime, making a sticky mess. In addition, the sap can get into the hinge, making the tool hard to open or close. Actually, if the sap does get into the hinge and is allowed to ‘set up’, the hinge can be frozen so that the tool doesn’t work properly.

by George Buehler

It doesn't seem possible that 2009 is coming to an end. We had some unusual events in 2009, and I guess this year was the "official" start of the economic melt-down the world is currently undergoing. In looking back, I hope many of us can say that we (and our bonsai) came through relatively unscathed. I think I learned several new things this year that I can use in the future. But let's look ahead.

As mentioned before, the 2010 calendar has been set and I hope that you have marked your home calendar with the dates so that we can have a large turnout at each event. Lee and other board members have tried to set up a variety of events - for the beginner and the more advanced members. Lee says that we are going to try to keep the dates as firm as possible.