by George Buehler

I want to thank Owen McKinney for submitting the article on his rain tree and the problems he experienced. Owen is new to the club and was willing to write about what he went through with his first bonsai. I hope there are others out there who are willing to share their experiences. Owen's article starts on page 2. I also want to thank Lee Squires for his timely article on root washing. Lee's article starts on page 5.

There are also several other items to bring to your attention in this issue. On page 6 there is some information regarding Dave Bogan's Open House for his new bonsai business. I plan on attending to try to get a couple of new pots and to see Dave's new bonsai business. If you plan on going over to Dave's, this would be a great opportunity to stop by Greg Hollander's place to pick up some new trees - check with Greg to make sure he is not working at his day job on March 8 (I will try to confirm that Greg will be available in the next issue). Also on page 6 is an opportunity to get a complete set of Bonsai Today (Issue 1 through 108) from a raffle being held by the American Bonsai Society. This is your chance to win the complete set and help the ABS.

Here it is February already. If you haven't started repotting, rewiring, etc., you better get with it soon. Before we know it, the deciduous trees will be budding and we will be thinking about putting them outside. Well, perhaps not putting them outside yet, but at least thinking about putting them out. I have looked at my trees and decided which need major work on them and which only need some minor things done. The trees that generally bud first are the ones that will be done first. However, if a tree buds first and needs repotting, it is the first to be done. I think you get the idea.

I have my soil mixes ready to go. When I repot, no matter what the age of the tree, I generally will take all the old soil out and replace it with new. I know several of our members only remove the soil from the outer area of the root mass, but I think that if I'm going to the trouble of repotting, fresh soil throughout is best. If you are repotting a pre bonsai, it probably doesn't matter too much since you will be repotting again probably next year or the year after. However, if you are transplanting a mature tree, you probably won't be doing it for another 5 to 10 years. Therefore, why would you not want to replace the whole thing? See Lee Squires' article on the right.

In discussing transplanting, let's think about what is needed for a successful transplanting. The first would be sharp tools. If you do root pruning, the tools definitely need to be sharp in order to make a clean cut rather than crushing the root. When a clean cut is achieved, the root will heal quicker and there is less chance of the cut root rotting. With rapid healing, the root will have a greater tendency to grow and divide as it hits a sharp piece of soil.

What about the soil - should you use large grained material or small or a mixture? I believe this depends on the tree size. If I am working on a shohin, I size the soil to about 1/16 to 3/16 of an inch. Larger trees get the 3/16 and greater sized soil. The reason is that the larger the size of the soil, the better the drainage. In addition, since the roots are generally more profuse and somewhat larger in the larger bonsai, they have more opportunity to grow into the larger voids of the larger grained soil. It should also be pointed out that the larger the particle, the faster the soil dries out (everything else being equal).

Proper placement of the tree and the angle the tree is placed in the pot are also important. Once again if we are going to the trouble of transplanting, we should take the time to position the tree correctly. The tree should be off-set from the centerlines of both the horizontal and vertical lines of the pot. Spend the time to make sure of it. Also, when the tree is secured to the pot, take the time to get the proper angle for the tree. Likewise, make sure the front of the tree is showing properly. I personally have gotten in a hurry in transplanting and found that the tree was not showing the front properly. I should have taken the time to reposition the tree but didn't and later regretted it. The next transplanting, this particular tree got the needed time to position it correctly.

I have always used aluminum wire to secure my trees to their pots. I have read about using twine but determined that in order to get a sufficient amount of "tie-down" force, special twine would have to be used. I would imagine something like a nylon twine. Perhaps someone in the club has tried this and would send me their results. I have also seen another method where a clear polyethylene wrap is used to hold the tree. This material is purchased at an office supply store and is called cling wrap, stretch wrap, or banding film. It is about 2 to 3 inches wide and is normally used in the packaging industry. If you have ever purchased a tree from a bonsai supplier where the tree had to be shipped, the tree was probably wrapped in this material. The shipper wrapped the tree to keep the soil from being spilled out of the pot during transit and to help maintain moisture. If, when a tree is transplanted, and is not entirely secure, the tree could be wrapped - temporarily - with this material to help hold it in place until the tree settled in. It could also be used to hold a root to a rock while the root was getting established on the rock. A word of caution here is that this material is impervious to water. Therefore if it is used, adequate care needs to be used to ensure that the whole top of the pot is not covered, otherwise no water will get to the tree. Wrapping the film around the trunk and then once around the pot should be adequate since it is only being used to temporarily help hold the tree in place.

Once the tree is transplanted into the pot and sufficient soil is worked into the root system, it is time to water it. Do we dunk the pot, or put water on the top of the soil? My personal preference is to water slowly from the top until water comes out the bottom. I then stop watering and wait for all the excess water to drain out. Then I will slowly dunk the pot into a tray with water, lowering the pot until the water level is to the top of the pot. Finally I will raise the pot out of the water to let it drain and dunk it the second time. The first watering is to moisten all the soil and to help wash out any fines in the soil, while the dunking is to help seat the roots in the new soil and to help seat the soil itself. Even though I always sift my soil, it is surprising how much dark water I get out of the pot on the first top watering. Once I have gone through my watering routine, I purposely tilt the pot to get any excess water out of it. I then watch the condition of the soil and let it dry slightly before I water it again.

The tree is placed in a protected area - usually at this time of year back in its winter storage place until the weather warms up.

I will also start wiring my deciduous trees in late February or early March, depending on the weather and whether the trees are budding. I prefer to wire the deciduous trees just as they start budding. I start doing some trimming at the same time. When wiring at this time, care needs to be taken to prevent knocking off the leaf buds. Some people like to wait until the leaf buds come out more; but in my opinion, it is easier to do it when the buds are small. I can manipulate the wire around the branches easier when the leaf buds are small, and I knock off less this way than when the buds are coming out. Once again, this is just my preference.