by Lee Squires

Fall is a great time for our bonsai trees. The hot rigors and water stress of summer are over and most of our trimming issues have been completed. Watering may be cut to every other day, depending on your trees and soil. You can pull a few weeds and see which pots are holding too much water, which is a good indicator of what you need to re-pot next spring. Sit back and prepare for winter storage issues in November.

We should have some interesting meetings into Fall. On September 19th, bonsai expert Dave Bogan, from Lynnville, Indiana did a demonstration for us at Jumbo's Buffet. He will have completed the demo before you get this newsletter and I know you all enjoyed it!! On October 10th, we have geared a meeting for new members who seem to be a little lost on "what to do next." It will be held at Cave Hill maintanence shed. You can bring a tree or trees for critiquing- no trimming or potting now, but good advice will be plentiful. There will also be a short course by various members on bonsai maintenance topics. Now, most importantly, you can select potential bonsai from our vast stock of plants from our Hollander Collection. They are all stored at Cave Hill for your perusal and purchase. On November 14th at the Bon Air Library, Tom McCurry will give a Powerpoint presentation on the New Orleans BCI Convention and over-wintering issues will be discussed. The Christmas Party will be held on December 12th at Jumbo's.

Being well-connected to industry introductions, I received an e-mail from a large horticultural supplier last month. A soil amendment introduction from the Garrick Corporation, called Hyd-Rocks came well documented. You are aware that we have tussled with the lava rock issue for some time and cannot get a good supplier/trucking combination. Hyd-Rocks could be our answer to our soil amendment needs. It is an expanded, high-fired clay product with small to larger granules in the mix. It is extremely light, lighter than Kenlite, and is a decent gray to tan color. It is clay but harder than SoilMaster Red, Terra-Green or Kanuma. It comes in 1 cu. ft. plastic bags, 60 per pallet, for outside storage, and , trucked to Louisville, will cost about $9.00 per bag if we purchase 120 bags. It will be cheaper if we buy more. We need it. We will discuss this more in the future. Our soil mixing meeting is held in early winter. Our soil is the most important link to bonsai survival, and we should not scrimp and buy or use cheap amendments for the sake of price. We need the best for our trees’ health.

I hope to see you all at future meetings.