MIDORI BONSAI CLUB NEWSLETTER. In this issue: November 2012, Vol. 38, Issue 11. Picture of the month. President s Message 2.

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1 MIDORI BONSAI CLUB NEWSLETTER November 2012, Vol. 38, Issue 11 In this issue: Picture of the month President s Message 2 JT s Tree Tips 2 Editor s Note 3 Midori Member Profile 5 October Meeting Pics 6 Club Calendar 11 NorCal Bonsai Events 11 Very old sakura (flowering cherry) tree, in Kyoto, Japan Photo by: Adam Butterfield Don t forget to visit us at: Midori Bonsai Club Newsletter -- November 2012, Vol. 38, Issue 11 Page 1 of 13

2 President s Message October was a very busy month! Our annual show went off without a hitch! Thanks to everyone for their participation. Every year our show seems to get better. This year we added the Beginner s Workshop. We had 8 people start a bonsai with us. Several people also signed up for Juan Cruz s beginner s class, which started at the last meeting. Speaking of Juan, he will be doing a demonstration at our November meeting. His demo piece will be raffled, which means we should have a raffle table to make things more interesting. Please bring in a few donations to the table. Mehrdad won a twin trunk olive off the raffle table at the last meeting. He proceeded to carve it up and get it started as a bonsai. He also did a real nice presentation at the 3rd Thursday meeting on his carving techniques, along with explaining his tools and equipment. Thanks for the great presentation! After our meeting and the show, I attended some of the other club shows in the area, then it was time for the convention. I was asked to show a couple of trees in their California Natives bonsai exhibit, and I entered one in the judged bonsai exhibit. So it s been busy busy! There s no formal topic for the 3rd Thursday meeting this month, so just bring in a tree to work on. We ll have a sign up sheet at the 1st & 3rd Thursday meetings for our annual holiday potluck. Along with the potluck, we ll have our election of officers, then it will be right into the auction. The December auction is one of our big fund raisers for the year, and it s all by donation. We get a pretty good amount of stuff to auction, and it s always a lot of fun! Larry White J T s Tree Tips November is a time when you can work on practically everything style, wire, pluck needles. The growth that has been coming on since summer should be hardening and will no longer snap like a bean if you bend it. But try this exercise the branch before you bend it. By this I mean pre bend it, using Midori Bonsai Club Newsletter -- November 2012, Vol. 38, Issue 11 Page 2 of 13

3 cutting will cause the tree to bleed excessively. the fleshy part of your fingers and palm supporting and twisting the branch in the direction you wish to ultimately bend it before actually putting the wire on. Trust your fingers to tell you if you have gone far enough. They are actually more reliable than your eyes. You can get much more acute bends this way. If it still resists you may need to use raffia to support it. Spray the bent branches with an anti transpirant like Anti Stress 2000 or Cloud Cover. This is an ideal time to fashion those branches before they harden off totally over winter. Deciduous trees should be wired when most of the foliage has fallen off but before they become brittle later into the winter dormancy period. Remove the foliage when about 75% of the foliage has turned color. If you wait until December, any You can still style and transplant those junipers (they really love fall transplanting) and early flowering trees but protect them from frosts if we get some cold weather. For most trees, now is the time to clean off the top layer sphagnum moss we had on during the hot summer season and the top soil that has accumulated weed seeds and is growing seasonal moss. Get rid of this moss now and make sure it doesn t get up into the bark of your trees. Clean off dead leaves and remove weeds. Add some super phosphate to the top soil and any transplanting that you do. At this point discontinue the regular feedings of nitrogen fertilizer. Be sure to clean out the foliage in the crotch areas and allow the sunlight into the interior to stimulate new buds and expose bugs If the pine needles have hardened, clean out the old needles on your trees to let the sunlight in. Leave on more needles on the bottom branches 10 to 15 pairs and 7 to 10 on top. At this point we want to encourage as much sun as we can. Later we ll thin out more. But watch that you don t damage tender needles that haven t hardened. Use tweezers. Days are getting really short and cooler. Remember to make your first application of dormant spray at Thanksgiving. Ultrafine oil, Neem Oil, copper and lime sulfur sprays do well. Do not mix them together! Midori Bonsai Club Newsletter -- November 2012, Vol. 38, Issue 11 Page 3 of 13

4 Water your trees when they need it. This means that you should wait until the upper soil has dried and is lighter in color before watering. Then water thoroughly. Don t keep them too wet and remember that as they slow down their growth they use less water. If too much water is accumulating in the pot, tip the pot up on one side with a board to help drainage. Whatever shade cloth you had for your trees can be eliminated at this point. The hours of sunlight and angle of the sun are approaching their minimums so the trees need all they can get. Also, tropical species have to be protected as the temperatures get down below 40. John Thompson Editor s Note As I m sure a lot of you do, I follow quite a few bonsai blogs, and a lot of them are actually from hobbyists and professionals in Europe. Unfortunately, there has been some sort of bonsai crime wave happening over there as every month or so I see someone post about stolen trees. A recent post by Walter Pall (walter pallbonsai.blogspot.com) showed two azaleas that have recently been stolen. Seeing these azaleas made me think of the azaleas I often see in Japan. For those of you that don t know, my wife is from a small town in Yamagata Prefecture on the northwest side of the main island. It s pretty common to see some pretty decent trees, comparable to those reported stolen or even better, just sitting right in front or people s houses. It s almost like people put them out there like they re just any kind of potted plant you might have on your front porch over here. These are trees that have either been in a family for a while or were taken on from another relative or neighbor who just didn t want to take care of them anymore. It s actually kind of sad to see some of these trees, because often the only attention they Midori Bonsai Club Newsletter -- November 2012, Vol. 38, Issue 11 Page 4 of 13

5 get is watering and a rough cut back when they start to get overgrown. Some people even think of the trees as a nuisance and just plant them in their yards when they get tired of watering them day in and day out. Recently my mother in law was telling us about someone she knew that decided one day to uproot all their trees and toss them in the garbage! It s strange to think what someone would consider trash is the same thing someone else, somewhere else, would risk going to jail for. Just goes to show you that one man s trash really is another man s treasure. I actually have quite a few azaleas over in Japan that belonged to my wife s grandfather. There were terribly overgrown and were crammed so close together on benches that all the growth shot straight up, long and leggy. I only get to work on them once a year when I m over there so, right now they re on the very slow road to recovery Adam Butterfield Midori Member Profile This Month: Ray Stagner 1. Name and your age Ray Stagner, I'm How did you get involved with bonsai? While working weekends, I was approached by some selling bonsai from the back of his van. I purchased a tree. It lasted about 2 months, then died. He showed up again, I purchased another tree. This time it lasted almost 4 months. After that loss, I went on line and started my quest for knowledge. Well that s how my love for bonsai started 3. How long have you been doing bonsai? 4. How many bonsai do you have? Like many others in the club, too many and not enough time to work on them. I have just a few that are at times show ready. 5. What is your favorite specimen? Maples, I love all maples, the seasonal colors, the different shapes of their leaves. 6. What is your favorite bonsai style? I do enjoy the cascade style, full or semi Who is your favorite bonsai artist? I started about 15 yrs. ago Midori Bonsai Club Newsletter -- November 2012, Vol. 38, Issue 11 Page 5 of 13

6 I don't know how to answer this question. There are so many wonderful artists in bonsai, to pick one would be hard. 8. How much time are you spending on your bonsai in a week? I have to say it varies...the season will dictate the time I spend. 9. What is your special skill in bonsai? I m still a newbie at 15yrs...each time I spend with someone, a new skill could be presented to me How many yamadori (collected trees) do you have? I have just a few trees that I've collected. 11. Why are you doing bonsai, what does bonsai mean to you? I enjoy watching nature take its course. Creating bonsai, from a seed, a cutting or even collecting, to spend the time and watch your creation develop, both challenging and yet relaxing at the same time. It s hard to describe to someone not involved in our art, only we in the bonsai community can understand why we chose this art form. 12. Any other information? Only to be open minded so much to learn. October Meeting Pics Saikei demo by Larry White Larry gave a great demo and talk about saikei. The arrangement came out fantastic and was raffled off at the end of the evening. Midori Bonsai Club Newsletter -- November 2012, Vol. 38, Issue 11 Page 6 of 13

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8 Carving demo by Mehrdad Chavosh Mehrdad gave us a great carving demo at the last third Thursday meeting. He gave a great little talk about the kinds of tools he uses for carving, and brought in several trees he s carved already. After that, he got to work, and sawdust was flying everywhere. The tree came out looking really good! Midori Bonsai Club Newsletter -- November 2012, Vol. 38, Issue 11 Page 8 of 13

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11 Midori Bonsai Club Calendar DATE TOPIC/PRESENTER FORMAL TREE DISPLAY REFRESHMENTS SET UP 3 rd THURS. TOPIC Nov. 1 st & 15 th Juan Cruz Tim Rostege Don Lintz & George Shoptaw General workshop Dec. 13 th & 27 th Holiday party No tree display Everyone General workshop Refreshments and Set Up/Clean Up Duties Please check the above chart to see if it is your turn to bring refreshments to the General Meeting on the First Thursday of each month. Please show up ½ hour early to help with the set up of the meeting and stay to help clean up afterward (This includes both the First & Third Thursday meetings). If you can t be at the meeting, please check your club member roster and find a substitute. We are counting on you. Larry white Northern California Activities November 9 10, 2012 Ross Marin Bonsai Club: Fall Show at the Marin Art & Garden Center, Livermore Pavilion, 30 Sir Francis Drake Blvd. Friday hours are 5:30 9:30 PM, demonstration by Bob Hilvers, silent auction, raffles, sale. Saturday hours are 10 AM 4 PM, with several demos, vendor and club sales, show critique and raffles. Admission free. More information at or Alison Seaman, Monthly Workshops: *John Thompson s For JT s 2nd Saturday workshop, call John at Midori Bonsai Club Newsletter -- November 2012, Vol. 38, Issue 11 Page 11 of 13

12 Club Meeting Location Location: Social Hall, St. Edward s Episcopal Church Union Avenue and Highway 85, San Jose, CA Midori Board Members Larry White President , whitel@iname.com Jack Christiansen Vice President , Jackchristiansen@sbcglobal.net Debe Kahn Treasurer debekahn@juno.com Meetings: First and third Thursdays each month at 7:30 pm. For more information contact any club officer Did You Know? You can download Golden Statements from the Golden State Bonsai Federation website? John Thompson Pat Gee Fund , jtbonsai@earthlink.net Gerry Fields Membership/special events , gerflds@hotmail.com Diana Ellis Library , diana.a.ellis@gmail.com Jennifer Beck Meet & Greet, Secretary , jenkbeck@aol.com Ray Stagner Facilities , raystagner@gmail.com Jim Wallace Webmaster wallace_jim@yahoo.com bonsai.org/gsbfmag.html Adam Butterfield Newsletter Editor/Distribution adb707@yahoo.com Midori Bonsai Club Newsletter -- November 2012, Vol. 38, Issue 11 Page 12 of 13

13 MIDORI BONSAI CLUB P.O. Box San Jose, CA Midori Bonsai Club Newsletter -- November 2012, Vol. 38, Issue 11 Page 13 of 13