The Bonsai News H of ouston

Transcription

1 The Bonsai News H of ouston A Monthly Newsletter of the Houston Bonsai Society, Inc. Volume 44 Number 2 February 2015 IN THIS ISSUE Upcoming Events Repotting Round Table Showcase of the Month Chinese New Year flowers February Bonsai Care John Miller Vice-President s Letter HBS Board Meeting January 2015 Protecting Your Tropical Bonsai in Winter With Portable Greenhouse Dormant Spraying Vietnamese Mai flowers are forced to bloom on time for New Year Day (Photo: S. N.) The next meeting of the Houston Bonsai Society will be on Wednesday February 4 th at the Cherie Flores Gardens Pavilion in Hermann Park, off of Hermann Park Drive, Houston, TX Refreshments at 7 PM, meeting starts at 7:30 PM. Wednesday, February 4 th, HBS monthly meeting: Repotting Round Table at the NEW Cherie Flores Gardens Pavilion in Hermann Park, on the site of the old Houston Garden Center. The parking lot C, which used to be accessible from Hermann Park Drive, has been replaced with a new lot located off the back street, Hermann Drive, with entrances at Crawford and Jackson Streets. Bring your tree, tools, wire, to repot. HBS will provide the soil. For Show & Tell with Ray, bring bonsai in bloom. Upcoming Events Sunday, February 1 st, Study Group with Rodney Clemons at Timeless Trees, 8 AM 4 PM, $85 per day or $160 for 2 days. Refreshments and lunch provided. Saturday, February 7 th, HBS Saturday Study Group at Timeless Trees, 9AM - Noon. Free, refreshments provided. BYO tools and trees. Saturday, February 14 th, Sweet Gum Workshop with Ken Credeur at Timeless Trees. 9AM 12 Noon, Sweet Gum is a southern favorite, a native but provides fall color similar to Japanese Maples. These trees were raised by Jason Schley in Florida for many years. Saturday, February 21 st, Trident Maple Club Dig at Mike Hansen s MBP Bonsai in Pflugerville, TX. HBS Board has agreed to rent a van to carry up to 15 people. Contact Brian Gurrola for more details. Saturday, February 28 th, Shohin Juniper Transformation with Jason Schley at Timeless Trees, 9AM 3PM, $175 includes tree, pot, soil, wire and lunch. Procumbens Nana Juniper is a terrific material that thrives in our climate but can be compacted by wiring under Jason s guidance. Just bring your tools. Saturday, March 7 th, Azalea Workshop with Michael McCluskey, the Azalea master in the Houston area. Timeless Trees, 9AM 1 PM. $35, BYO tree. He will share the wisdom he gained over the years with the many kinds of azaleas.

2 Chinese New Year Flowers February Bonsai Care What happens when you miss a turn in removing wire from your bonsai? You get a large swelling in the branch that destroys the smooth taper you are working for. The only rule for removing wire is to start with the end of the wire and work down the wire completely to the other end, no jumping from wire to wire. To do this you have a choice - you can untwist the wire or you can cut each loop. If you cut it is very easy to miss a loop. The only sure way is to develop a routine. Hold the tip with pliers while you cut the next loop, remove the cut loop, lay it aside keeping your eye on the cut end, hold the new cut tip and repeat. Do not get distracted and do something else. Following a routine keeps you on the job. February is the start of the active cycle for bonsai, first the repotting when new growth is first evident, then the refinement process starts as soon as the green comes, all the while tending to the tasks of watering, feeding, and watching for insects. Spring is a long drawn out affair and each species has its own time table in dealing with it. To be really successful in bonsai, then, you must know what each species you have will need and how it responds to YOUR OWN backyard climate. If you have kept your trees from freezing, they will want to start growing much earlier than those kept outside all winter. Typically, in my collection which stays outside, the elms will be first to show foliage around the end of February or the first of March, depending on the winter, along with the earliest maples. Then later in March, the rest of the maples and most of the others will follow suit. The deciduous oaks will come out around April 1. Out here in the country, they start 2 or 3 weeks later than when I was in town, 30 miles away. The timetable has to be your own, set by watching the trees themselves. All bonsai functions should be done when your trees tell you that the timing is right. Repotting can be done at any time during the dormancy but new roots are susceptible to freezing, so you prepare some shelter to protect them after repotting. If you don t plan to repot this year, you can control the weeds by removing the top ¼ of soil and replace it with new soil. The best time to repot the deciduous temperate zone trees is when the buds are just beginning to swell but before green is showing. Generally this will be before the last of the freezing weather. Trees like maples and elms leaf out early and can withstand a few degrees of frost. However if they are repotted, their newly growing roots should be protected. Sometimes, that means setting them on the ground. Some species such as the oaks and willows are naturally programmed to wait much later, so that there is very little chance to get nipped. The newer wisdom on azaleas is that you also repot them at this time. The roots will be reestablished by blooming time. This is much easier on the tree than waiting until after bloom when the temperature will be hot. Before blooming starts, you will be removing a lot of excess buds anyway, which will reduce the stress on the tree at that time. Remove enough buds to allow the remaining flowers to have room to fully open. This should be done in late February or early March on the early blooming species (Karume) but may go later in March for the Satsuki types. Refinement is the process that makes a well styled tree look great and develop fine ramification and smaller leaves. Part of the refinement starts as soon as new growth appears. Keep it pinched so you keep the internodes short and develop a compact set of twigs with small leaves on the branches. On alternate leaved species (e.g. elms) pinch when the shoot gets 4 or 5 leaves. Fingernails or shears can be used. If the twig gets too long, it will be tough and you have to use shears. On opposite leaved trees (maples), pinch the central shoot as soon as it can be distinguished from the two leaves. To do this really right, you need to use tweezers with a dull point. Development pruning is difficult for beginners. To develop thickness, allow the new branches to grow wild although that destroys the look of your bonsai. You also will have long internodes which will not produce buds at the right places, especially on the opposite leaved species. You need to do refinement pruning the first couple of times to

3 get some short internodes and then let the tips go wild. Spring flowering plants will have their buds set on last year s growth, so pruning them will remove some flowers. Those that bloom later in the year will generally bloom on this year s growth, so pruning them will reduce the amount of flowers. In some cases such as crepe myrtle, tip pruning of the branch will result in no flower at all. In these cases, you must decide which is most important, ramification or flowers. A compromise would be to prune the branches shorter than you normally would and then let it bloom on new growth at proper length, at least for the first flowering of the season. When the growth starts, the tree will need fertilizer, one with a small amount of nitrogen (the first number). The tree is naturally programmed to grow rapidly at this time, so you don t need to encourage it further. Feed lightly to maintain healthy green foliage. Ideally use an organic fertilizer which provides nutrients more slowly when the weather is cool. Trace minerals should be added to help with both the color of foliage and blooms. If you have not used horticultural oil to kill scale, overwintering mites, especially aphids and mealy bugs, time is running out. These bugs can also be controlled with fertilizers and an organic spray: 1 tablespoon each of liquid kelp, liquid fish emulsion, molasses and 5% apple cider vinegar to one gallon of water. Or buy a commercial mix like Garrett Juice, available in any organic nursery. Be careful not to allow oil to damage the tender new growth. If leaf spot, mildew or any other fungal problems appear, use a baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), potassium bicarbonate spray, or a commercial fungicide. An important job is detailing the trees. Start by checking the branches. Prune any that are out of place or too long. Remove unnecessary wires and those set in place. Treat any jin and shari with lime sulfur. Then move down to the pot to remove all lime deposits or grime. Steel wool works. To help keep the mineral deposits from forming, give the post a coat of light wax polish such as leaf shine, Then check the soil, making sure it covers the outer roots. The surface of the soil must be clean of any debris. Now, if they look good, you might as well take them to a show. A bonsai vendor on the way to the New Year Flower and Bonsai Market. (Photo: T. Dan) Vice-President s Message John Miller John Miller, who writes a monthly column for the Bonsai Society of Dallas and Fort Worth Bonsai Society, has agreed to share his column with us. We need to make adjustments for our warmer and damper climate, with earlier springs, longer summers, late fall and erratic winters. A Vietnamese New Year display of a forest on rock (Photo: T. Dan)

4 HBS Board Meeting Minutes January 7, 2014 I. Call to Order The President, Hurley Johnson, called the meeting to order at 6:35 p.m. Hurley asked that we all welcome the new members to the Board: Dean Laumen, Nandita D'Souza, Vern Maddox, Clyde Holt and Ron Ahles. II. Roll Call Present: Hurley Johnson, Scott Barboza, Dean Laumen, Eldon Branham, Anthony Cutola, Nandita D'Souza, Vern Maddox, Clyde Holt, Brain Gurrola, Ron Ahles, Alan Raymond and Barbara Adams. Also present were Pete Parker, Terry Dubois, Donald Green, Ray Gonzalez, Quyen Tong, and Keith McNay. A quorum was present. III. Read and Approve Meeting Minutes Minutes for the meeting of December 3 were read and approved. IV. Treasurer's Report Anthony Cutola presented the Treasurer's Report: Expenses reimbursed: Donald Green for Club Christmas dinner $ Hurley Johnson for Club Christmas dinner $ Hurley Johnson for stamps and supplies $ Brian Gurrola for Fall Show artist s dinner $ Scott Barboza for Fall Show artist Boon's hotel expenses $ Total Expenses $ Deposits: Fall Show Pedro workshop fee $ Membership payments (22) $ Total Deposits $ A motion was made to accept the Treasurer's Report. The motion was seconded and all voted in favor. Anthony reported that the check to the City of Houston for sales taxes still has not cleared. Anthony inquired as to whether he should pay the storage facility bill for January in that we intend to find cheaper rates since they've gone up substantially on their monthly fee. All members agreed that he should pay the bill. V. Expenditures Expenses needing to be paid include two invoices from the Hermann Park Conservancy for January and February meeting room expense - $45.00 x 2 or $90.00 and Barbara Adams for refreshments - $ A motion was made to pay these expenses. All members voted in favor and the motion passed. An Ixora at a New Year Flower Exhibit. (Photo: T. Dan) VI. Unfinished Business The audit of the Club books has not yet occurred. The committee needs to meet and review the books. Eldon Branham reported that the Pay Pal account has been set up. All that is needed are signature cards from

5 Anthony and Hurley. Eldon Branham is also set up on the account. Quyen Tong said that he would get the account set up on the website. Hurley asked if the Board members approved of the Hermann Park meeting site. All members agreed that the space was acceptable. A motion was made that we continue meeting here for the rest of the year. The motion was seconded and all voted in favor. A member asked if we would get a discount if we paid the next 10 months in advance. Hurley said he would check with Linda Black. trees back. MBP charges $25 per caliper inch diameter measured at the widest section of trunk. Members will meet at 6161 Washington Avenue and parking will be available inside a locked fence. IX. Adjournment A motion was made to adjourn the meeting. Motion was seconded and all agreed. The meeting was adjourned at 7:20 p.m. Minutes of the meeting were taken by Barbara Adams. VII. LSBF Activities Pete Parker reported that the LSBF members will be meeting at Hurley's conference room this month. He mentioned that the first person scheduled for the artists' tour is Owen Reich. They have scheduled our club for Friday and Saturday of the July 4th weekend since we specifically asked for a weekend. All members agreed that this was not acceptable. Pete will ask them to reschedule to another date. Pete also mentioned that they are still working on the Texas Artists program which involves members presenting demonstrations at different clubs to promote local talent. LSBF will reimburse $100 to each club for the first demonstration. Pete said that scheduling people for this has been difficult. Some members want travel expenses paid and others refuse to travel altogether. The LSBF members are also working on scheduling a 1 and 1/2 day seminar this fall which will preclude any state convention this year. Howard Smith is trying to find an appropriate location that will be either free or fairly inexpensive. Space is needed to accommodate 100 people approximately with a separate room or space for vendors. Mercer Arboretum is a potential location as well as the Memorial Arboretum. VIII. New Business Hurley Johnson asked for members' thoughts on the possibility of paying members for conducting demonstrations at the monthly meetings. This subject was brought up at the last meeting and tabled at that time for further consideration. There was quite a bit of discussion concerning this matter that followed. It was decided that the Club policy would be that we pay any expenses incurred by members in preparation for demonstrations but we would not pay for the labor itself. A motion was made to make this decision official. The motion was seconded. All voted in favor and the motion passed. Hurley mentioned that Quyen Tong has volunteered to be our current web designer/updater. Making this a Board member position was discussed in the September 2014 meeting. Brian Gurrola said that he'd booked a 15-passenger van for the February 21st club dig. On that date he will drive to MBP Bonsai Studio in Pflugerville, Texas for the dig for Trident maples. He will provide a trailer to bring the Bonsai adorning government buildings for a whole month for the New Year celebration. (Photo: The Internet) Protecting Tropical Bonsai in Winter with a Portable Greenhouse We live in Southeast Texas, Zone 9. Winter is relatively mild but we do have freezing weather every now and then. All it takes is one hard freezing night, and the tropical bonsai will say good bye.

6 As I am writing this post, weather forecast warns of arctic assault freezing temperatures for the next four nights. I use portable greenhouse to overwinter my tropical bonsai such as ficus, Fukien tea etc. I leave pine, juniper, elm, azalea etc. outdoor. Over the years, I have used two brands of portable greenhouse. I found the white 10 x 10 King Canopy product is much superior than the green one I bought on ebay. The King Canopy is now in its 6 th winter, and still good, while the green canopy degraded and became flaky after the 3 rd season. I think the King Canopy has a better UV stabilizer, the plastic material is thicker, 6 mil thick, and has better tear resistance due to reinforcing webs running vertically and horizontally embedded in the plastic. Replacement canopy can be purchased if needed. Set up is quite easy. I usually set it up myself, of course a second person would be helpful. The metal tubes are heavy duty and slide into fixed angle metal joints for the pitch of the roof. The canopy comes in one piece, all I need to do is put it over the metal frame, tie it down to crossbars located near the bottom of the frame with bungee cords. I anchor the metal poles with camping stakes, and use cinder blocks and heavy flower pots to hold down the extended flaps on the ground. During bad weather, I make sure to zip up the front entrance and back window flaps. This prevents a sudden gush of wind entering the tent. If the wind has nowhere to go or cannot escape fast enough, the canopy would be lifted upwards like a balloon. So zip up on windy days. On sunny days, I open both openings to allow for air circulation. The bottom cross bars keep the metal frame steady and hold down the canopy with bungee cords. When night temperature drops below 35 F, I light up a 1,500 BTU propane gas tank top heater. It keeps the greenhouse at least 10 F warmer than the outside temperature. The objective of over wintering in a greenhouse is to keep them warm enough and out of the cold wind. For people living in colder regions, a higher BTU or double tank top heaters might be needed. Will the wind blow it away? I have not experienced it yet, although we often have 20-25mph wind.

7 I had used electrical heater before. Several years ago, we had a severe winter storm, the power went out in the middle of the night. The heater went off and some plants suffered freeze damages. After that, I switched to propane gas heater. Heating is not interrupted during power outage. When storing bonsai in a greenhouse, one should not pack it full. I leave walking space so I can check the bonsai during watering. I now use two 10 x 10 King Canopy, and have been happy with them. Around mid-march, after our last frost date, I take down the greenhouse. In our hot summer, I set up the metal frames and put a 50% shade cloth over it to filter out the sun. Thus two uses: A greenhouse in the winter and a shade tent in the summer. One summer, I found a hawk perching on the shade tent! Hoe Chuah Posted on 01/07/2015 Dormant spraying There are two classes of dormant chemicals in common application. They are both very useful, but have quite different purposes and the timing of application is important. The first class of dormant sprays are dormant oils that are used specifically for insect control. The second class is dormant season fungicides such as lime sulfur that are used primarily for disease control. Some plants can be damaged by these oils so make sure to read the list carefully on the label. It should be applied as a fine mist, so buy a good quality sprayer and coat the entire tree including the trunk. Pay particular attention to thick barked trees as insects like to hide in the bark during the dormant season. You'll want to coat all of the nooks and crannies. Lime sulfur spray is used to control fungal and bacterial diseases such as leaf curl, fire blight, scab, and anthracnose. The time to control such diseases is in the early spring, when the buds are swelling as fungi come out of dormancy at the same time the plants do. If you spray too early in the season, the spores will still be dormant and the lime sulfur will not be effective. When applying both a dormant oil and a fungicide, you want to be careful about the timing of when you spray. There needs to be a space of about 4 weeks between the time you apply a dormant oil to control insects and the time you apply a fungicide for disease control. Since our Houston winters are only about 6-8 weeks long, that doesn't allow much time for dawdling. Apply your dormant oil as soon as the trees are dormant, around mid-january and apply your lime sulfur when buds begin to swell between late February and early March. Don't bother if the buds have already opened as the fungus will have already entered the bud and the dormant spray will be quite ineffective at that point. As with dormant oil, you'll want to thoroughly coat the tree, getting in all of the nooks and crannies. Reducing the overwintering population of pests and diseases during the dormant season, means that you'll have far fewer problems in spring you'll need to try and control. That means healthier trees and less spraying of dangerous pesticides and fungicides during the growing season - a good thing - and a far lower impact on the beneficial insects we'd like to encourage in our garden. Remember that these are still chemicals, so use the appropriate protective gear for application and read the label thoroughly. By all means, use those wonderful January and February days to get a head start on spring pest and disease control. Scott Barboza Dormant oil spraying is one of the most effective insect management tools we use to control overwintering insect populations. These are essentially highly refined petroleum products that are formulated to spray on trees and shrubs. The term "dormant" refers to the timing of application - they need to be used while the tree is dormant and before bud break in the late winter to early spring. Also, if the temperatures are too high or below freezing, the application may not be effective. A 24-hour period of temperatures in the 40s and 50s is ideal. There are 3 types of insects that may be controlled with dormant oil: scale, mites, and aphids. Even if you don't see any insects, they are there and waiting for spring when they will make their presence known. Dormant oils work by coating the insects and blocking the spiracles (a small opening used for breathing). Colossal hollowed out obelisk with a forest of native trees at a New Year Bonsai exhibit. Photo: T. Dan

8 It s time to stock up on bonsai soils, pesticides, tools, fungicides and fertilizers for the year. Bring sick plants in for diagnosis by the Plant Doctor. Don t forget to ask for a 10% HBS discount. Gift giving for the bonsai lovers on your list or yourself is easy with Pineywoods Easy-Care artistic conifers, tropicals, flowering and fruiting bonsai. Simply ask Larry and Judy to send you photos of their selection to choose from. Shipping available. Visit jrnnursery2.com to view flowers, orchids, fruiting and rare tropical bonsai as well as exotic house plants, bonsai pots, Asian gifts and Japanese garden accessories. 10% discount to HBS members. Calendar of Events 2014 JAN 31- FEB 1 Study Group with Rodney Clemons at Timeless Trees, 8 AM 4 PM, $85 per day or $160 for 2 days. Refreshments and lunch provided. Check out timeless-trees.com and get on the mailing list for weekly classes and workshops offered by very knowledgeable artists. Huge selection of tropicals, conifers, evergreen and deciduous pre-bonsai and bonsai as well as supplies and soils. Visit artist Andrew Sankowski at the Mossrock Studio & Fine Art Gallery for the finest gifts and custom bonsai pots in any shape, form and color. FEB 4 FEB 8 FEB 21 and FEB 28 MAR 4 HBS monthly meeting: Repotting Round Table at the Cherie Flores Garden Pavilion at Hermann Park. Bring your tree to repot. Refreshments at 7 PM, meeting starts at 7:30 PM. Saturday Study Group at Mercer Arboretum & Botanic Gardens, 9 AM 12 Noon. Free. Trident Maple Club Dig at Mike Hansen s MBP Bonsai in Pflugerville, TX. HBS Board has agreed to rent a van to carry up to 15 people. Contact Brian Gurrola to sign up. Saturday Shohin Society Of Texas hands-on/follow up workshop to work on previous workshop trees at Persimmon Hill Nursery, Austin, TX Call Terry & Sheila Ward for directions. Shohin Juniper Transformation with Jason Schley at Timeless Trees, 9AM 3PM, $175 includes tree, pot, soil, wire and lunch. Just bring your tools. HBS Monthly Meeting at the Cherie Flores Garden Pavilion at Hermann Park. Refreshments at 7 PM, meeting starts at 7:30 PM. Andrew Sankowski Oak Ridge Drive Direct (281) The Woodlands, TX Fax (281) andy@mossrockstudio.com MAR 7 Azalea Workshop with Michael McCluskey, the Azalea master in the Houston area at Timeless Trees, 9AM 1 PM. $35, BYO tree. MAR 14 Saturday Study Group at Maas Nursery, 5511 Todville Road, Seabrook, TX 77586, 9 AM-12 Noon. Free, refreshments provided.

9 Houston Bonsai Society, Inc. P. O. Box , Houston, Texas HBS Board Members President Hurley Johnson 1 st Vice President Scott Barboza in charge of Education 2 nd Vice President Dean Laumen drlaumen@bechtel.com Secretary Barbara Adams adams.barbara1@embarqmail.com in charge of Membership Publicity Eldon Branham elmo4635@aol.com Treasurer Anthony Cutola acutola@gmail.com Member at Large - O Nandita D Souza ndas27@gmail.com Member at Large - O Vern Maddox vmaddox1@comcast.net Member at Large - O Wayne Malone wayneamalone@gmail.com Member at Large - O Clyde Holt cmholt11@comcast.net Member at Large - E Brian Gurrola bgurrola@gurrolareprographics.com Member at Large - E Ron Ahles carolahles@sbcglobal.net Delegates Past President Alan Raymond amraymond@suddenlink.net LSBF Delegate Peter Parker peteparkerbonsai@yahoo.com LSBF Alternate Terry Dubois tdubois1@comcast.net BCI Ambassador Donald Green donald.green12@att.net TTSBE Representative Alan Raymond amraymond@suddenlink.net Refreshments C.J. Everson c.j.everson@comcast.net Website/ Gary Teeter houstonbonsai@gmail.com Newsletter editor Shawn Nguyen hbs.news@yahoo.com The Bonsai News of Houston is a monthly publication of the Houston Bonsai Society, Inc. Copyright The contents of this publication may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the consent of the editor or a member of the Board of Directors. Exceptions exist, however, for certain not-for-profit and non-profit bonsai organizations or associated bonsai and bonsai nursery newsletters, including without limitation the American Bonsai Society. HBS participates fully with reciprocation of contents and material between other LSBF member organizations and others. Authors who submit articles for this newsletter thereby give permission to such organizations to reprint, unless they expressly state otherwise. Space for advertising in The Bonsai News of Houston can be requested by contacting the newsletter editor or a member of the HBS Board. The rates for a business-card-size ad (approximately 3 1/2" x 2") are $6 per month, $30 for 6 months and $50 per year (12 issues). A full-page ad is $25 per month. Rates are subject to change without notice. 3½" x 2" classified ads are run free of charge for one month once per 12-month period for non-commercial members. For special requests or questions related to The Bonsai News of Houston, contact the newsletter editor or a member of the HBS Board.