by Lee Squires

The Bjorn Event

We had a great demo, dinner, and workshop with Bjorn Bjorholm on April 9th & 10th. I hope as many of you all could attend as wanted to and sorry if you had to miss it for whatever reason. Bjorn is a talented young bonsai artist with a specialty in wiring, design and redesign of tired old plants. Maybe we can have him back in the future for a PowerPoint presentation of his Japan experiences.

Scale?

Many pine growers are bothered by pine needle scale. I’m sure you all have seen it, as it resembles white paint flecks on the needles of, mainly, Mugho Pine. I fight it off and on since I do have a few Mughos. Timing a spray is difficult because the crawler, larval stage, is only out from underneath the protective white shell for a 5-7 day migration cycle to other parts of your tree. Last year I found a fairly new product that is easy to use and effective on scale, spider mites and other piercing/sucking insect pests. It is Bonide Systemic Granules, with Di-Syston as the active ingredient. It can be applied directly to potted bonsai and other plants in the ground. I use from one to four tablespoons per pot, depending on pot size. Just sprinkle it on the soil surface and water it in. Don’t let your dog drink the dripping drainage water!!!  I had an infestation last Fall and applied some in October. This Spring around 2/3 of the colony was brown and the white ones were starting to dry up. I reapplied it to all of my pines this year as a precaution. It takes five days to dissolve and be absorbed by the root system and transported into the leaf and branch tissue of the plant. It acts systemically and as the insect sucks plant juices it gets a cocktail of D-Syston, a deadly concoction more potent than tequila shots! Bunton’s and other garden centers may carry it, and it costs $22.00 for a four lb. container.

Art in the Arbor

Our club will be participating in the Art in the Arbor show again this year on May 8-9 at Thomas Jefferson Unitarian Church. See details elsewhere in this newsletter and plan on helping.

Editor’s Note: As with all new (or new to me) garden chemicals, I ran a Google search on Di-Syston to see what I could find. Now most chemicals, even the ones that have been around for a while, generally have a lot of warnings about handling, ingestions, etc. However, when I found Di-Syston at the Bayer web site, I checked both the MSDS and label and want to express my concern in using this chemical. Most garden chemicals list all kind of dire results if you drink, eat, or breathe them. But what caught my eye was the precautionary statement that it causes irreversible eye damage. I only found this on the Bayer site; and in most instances, when using a powder, if normal safe handling techniques are used, it shouldn’t be a problem. However, as with all chemicals, safety glasses and protective gloves should be used when handling this chemical.

I also found one site that stated when shelf quantities ran out, this would be a restricted use chemical – which means only a professional, can use it. I also saw that this chemical should only be applied twice a year at six month intervals.

Follow the instructions on the label carefully!