Bonsai Society of Dallas

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1 BSD NEWSLETTER PAGE 1 0CTOBER 2016 Bonsai Society of Dallas Monthly Member Newsletter October 2016 Message from the President In This Issue Message from the President October Auction Upcoming Events October Bonsai Tips and Advice 5 th US National Exhibition September Program in Review October To Do List Member News Beginner Bulletin Board Link of the Month Board of Directors Sylvia Smith, President slysmith@tx.rr.com Greg Brewer, Vice President, Program Chair brewer1959@yahoo.com Diane Lowe, Secretary diane_lowe@live.com Jerry Riley, Treasurer & LSBF Delegate jafa625@gmail.com John Miller, President Emeritus bonsaimiller@aol.com Kyle Downing, Membership Chair flattrack75081@yahoo.com Todd Hang, Newsletter Editor tqhang@gmail.com Mary Polk, Member at Large doggiedigs2@att.net Bill Muto, Member at Large bmuto@aol.com Howard Smith, LSBF President bonsaismiths@tx.rr.com It's auction time! Get your things ready and head out early for registration and so you can preview all of our items up for auction before it starts. It's a great time for you to add new trees to your collection, get rid of those that you are no longer interested in, or even buy pottery and accessories for a good price. Read the detail and instructions in this newsletter for more information. We are going into our convention year in 2017 so it is very important this annual fundraising event help our treasury. A convention requires that we spend money well in advance of registration fees coming in, so thanks in advance for your generosity in making donations of items to sell and generosity of spirit while bidding on items to buy. Also in October is the LSBF Bonsai Convention in Corpus Christi on the 13 th 16th. Hope to see some of you there and consider showing a tree in their display area. The artists are Ed Trout, Jason Schley, Joe Day and Frank Mihalic. The Emerald Beach Hotel is located right on the beach with many opportunities to make this a mini vacation get away. Friends, food, fun, education and bonsai all in one stop. What more could you want for a quick vacation? Lots to do in October! See you all soon! Sylvia Trailer Available for Auction Purchases The Smiths will be bringing items for the auction in a trailer and don t intend to go home with it full. If someone would like to use it to take their items home or would be willing to make deliveries and return it to them, please let her know. It just needs to be someone with a trailer hitch on their vehicle. If interested contact Sylvia at

2 BSD NEWSLETTER PAGE 2 0CTOBER 2016 October Club Auction 8:30 AM to Noon, Octobere 1 st North Haven Gardens It s time for the annual club auction! It is the perfect time to share what you no longer need and perhaps bring home something new. It is also our annual fundraiser. Here is a reminder of the process. All items to be auctioned should be delivered between 8:30-9:15 a.m. at North Haven Gardens in the large meeting room inside the greenhouse. All items go on the tables to the right side of the room to be recorded. Please keep your items together and stay with them until they are inventoried and listed on our sheets. Howard Smith will once again be our auctioneer extraordinaire. The more he knows about an item, the better he can represent it to the audience, which should help you get the best price. Please use the form at the end of this newsletter to provide relevant information about a tree or item and attach it to your items before bringing them in. Everyone (buyers and sellers) must also register at the front desk and get a paddle to be used for bidding. Your paddle number is our only way to keep track of who wins an item. Once all the bidding is done, we ve got some bookkeeping to do to reconcile all the totals, so chill out for a bit and we ll handle the checkout process as soon as we can for all those who made purchases. We prefer cash or a check from members, although we also will take a credit card. Non-members can only pay by cash or credit card. If you are owed money after the auction, we will mail you a check within 7 10 days. We appreciate your patience as it takes time to coordinate schedules among volunteers to reconcile our totals. Here is a recap of the rules: You may either donate items for sale with all the proceeds going to the club, or you may split a portion of the proceeds with the club for any items valued over $50. Items worth more than $50 are sold on an 80/20 split. This means the seller gets 80% of the bid price, the club gets 20%. You decide your reserve price (the minimum you will accept for an item). Your reserve price must be at least $50. If you wish to split proceeds of a sale greater than $50, you must be a club member. If your membership has lapsed, you can easily join the club that morning for $25, which allows you to sell at the auction and also enjoy the benefits of membership through the end of Items under $50 value are considered donations to the club - no splits. No items may be sold prior to or after the auction unless prior approval from auctioneer. Thanks for all your help making this club fundraiser the best one yet! Upcoming Events October 1 st Annual Club Auction November 5 th Study Group with Bonsai Smiths December 3 rd Japanese Landscape Design / Holiday Party / Member Swap Meet January 7 th Stucy Group with Bonsai Smiths Events Elsewhere October 8 th Carolina Bonsai Expo Asheville, NC October 13 th 16 th LSBF 2016 Convention Corpus Christi, TX October 13 th 16 th Puget Sound Bonsai Association Convention Olympia, WA October 14 th 17 th National Bonsai and Penjing Museum, 40 th Anniversary Celebration and Autumn Festival Washington, DC October 15 th 16 th European Bonsai-San Show Saulieu, France October 27 th 30 th Garden State Bonsai Federation Annual Convention & Show Sacramento, CA October 28 th November 13 th National Bonsai and Penjing Museum, Autumn Bonsai: The Colors of Nature Washington, DC February 3 rd 5 th, 2017 Noelanders Trophy XVIII Brussels, Belgium

3 BSD NEWSLETTER PAGE 3 0CTOBER 2016 October Bonsai Tips and Advice By John Miller Some years October here is quite warm with temperatures in the 90 s while other years may see some frosts. All you can do is have your area ready and watch the forecasts. If you have not checked your wiring yet this fall, you had better look at it. The fall growth can make the tree swell up and get bad wire marks in a hurry. If the tree/limbs do not stay where you want them, then rewire it placing the new wire in a slightly different path. When removing wire, you should follow one wire from one end down the branch all the way to the other. If you jump from one wire to another it is very easy to miss a section. That would cause the branch to have a large swelling. Then the only solution would be to cut the limb off and grow a new one. A long repair job. Cut back on the watering now that the temperature is a little lower but don t allow the trees to dry out. Trees require less water during the shorter days and lower temperatures. However, you need to remember that the wind can still stress the trees so water by checking the soil and not just on a given schedule. Insects will continue to be present. Cooler (but not cold) days mean a resurgence of the aphids. Mites will also still be around. Scale also can be a problem. Evergreens and any deciduous trees whose foliage turns can be treated with a horticultural oil which will kill the adults and also wipe out the eggs and overwintering pupae. Be sure to cover all the cracks in the bark to get to the eggs. Feeding of deciduous trees should be discontinued for the winter. Evergreens and conifers will benefit from a low nitrogen feeding. One such mix might be 70% cottonseed meal and 30% bonemeal. Being organic, this will breakdown into nutrients more slowly as the season gets cooler and the trees activity slows also. As the trees lose their foliage, you can study their trunk lines and branch structure. Any faulty styling and the general design features can be observed more easily and corrections planned. Look for crossing branches. Cut vertical growing twigs both growing up and those growing down. Reduce long internodes by cutting back and growing new extensions. Clean out heavy branch clusters that make the tree look too dense. Be particularly attentive to the formation of heavy branches in the top part of the tree where faster growth often occurs. Work can be done now or later during the winter at your leisure but it is too easy to forget about it when the tree is in winter storage. Some may repot in the fall but I feel that it is counterproductive to do so. It has been stated that the key to safe repotting is to minimize root disturbance and to exclude severe pruning. This seems to me to be a recipe for developing root problems, poor drainage leading to root rot and the inability of the soil to hold enough water to last all day. No heavy pruning will lead to the lack of refinement and a top heavy tree. I would recommend that you do the above paragraph this fall and repot at the proper time next spring. Tropicals are the group that give most people trouble. If you do not have a greenhouse you have to find a place that does not freeze, has enough light, and will allow you to water properly. Florescent lights on shelves in the garage could be a solution. The lights should be within six inches of the plants for best results. If you try to keep them in the house, just remember that most houses are very low humidity in winter and that the sun coming thru the glass can be very hot and scorch the leaves. Some plants like the pyracantha and crepe myrtle will grow outdoors in the ground in this area but the roots are not cold hardy. Those plants I try to let have some cold but get them protected before a freeze. Usually they get set on the ground with a light mulch for the light freezes (to 25 or so). Deciduous trees should be getting ready for winter. You should be holding back on the nitrogen fertilizers now so that you discourage and new growth. Flowering and fruiting bonsai may be given some phosphorous and potassium if you desire. Insect damage is minimal at this time and is usually only cosmetic. If you have had scale problems, use a horticultural oil spray to keep them from over wintering on your trees.

4 BSD NEWSLETTER PAGE 4 0CTOBER 2016 U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition Rochester, New York By Sylvia Smith I was very glad that Howard and I could attend the 5th National Bonsai Exhibition in Rochester, New York last month. By far this has been the most competitive and impressive year in bonsai display ever! The level of bonsai has definitely increased by leaps and bounds throughout the United States and it was evident in the almost 300 trees on exhibit. The trees on exhibit range from very Classical to New Age with almost any tree being up for an award depending on the judges on hand. Yes, that's how good they all were! Itoigawa is very fine, so having a tree this full is a great accomplishment in horticultural knowledge. Twenty entries were accepted from Boon's students this year, confirming Boon's excellent teaching skills as well! Suthin Sukolosovisit won the Finest Overall Bonsai Display award, although it's unfortunate that we cannot see the entire display in this picture. This Colorado Blue Spruce is beautifully composed and added to this hand carved stone! This incredible Mountain Hemlock Forest composition by Michael Hagedorn, took the Finest Evergreen Bonsai award. Note the companion is a clay hut made in Japan, something we don't see very often. In the backdrop was the runner-up for the Creative Bonsai Display. This too is becoming a trend in American Bonsai and certainly something to consider when thinking of showing off your trees. It may be kitchy but done in an elegant way it seems to work. And this is a partial look at the Finest Shohin Display. Why only partial pictures and no head on pictures, you ask? Well, because photos were not allowed in the show. All of these photos were provided by the official photographers from Bonsai Empire who will be printing the official show book for the National Exhibit. Be on the lookout for it! My teacher, Boon Manakitivipart humbly took the award for Finest Medium Size Bonsai with this Itoigawa Juniper. There were many beautiful trees in the exhibit that could compete, but none were shown without wire like this tree was, showing it's many years of bonsai training. Also, the foliage on an This Kokenoe Japanese White Pine on the left came in very close to winning Best in Show but the winner was. continued

5 BSD NEWSLETTER PAGE 5 0CTOBER 2016 U.S. National Bonsai Show continued this Mountain Hemlock Best in Show Last but not least was the coolest win of the day! Our Houston neighbors Dr. Hoe Chua who won for Finest Tropical Bonsai and his wife Soon for Finest Accent Plant! Soon will be our guest artist in March and will be helping us make companions as centerpieces for our convention dinner tables, so please keep your calendars open for that one. Overall, pictures are louder than words when summarizing this historic event!

6 BSD NEWSLETTER PAGE 6 0CTOBER 2016 Tip of the Month Fall Work - How much is too much? Here are a few rules of thumb: 1. Never repot in the fall. 2. If your trees are not draining well, do a top soil change even if you plan on repotting your tree in the spring. 3. Do not trim deciduous trees before they change color for winter dormancy. 4. Adjust water as needed when temperatures begin to cool off. 5. Do not wire deciduous trees in the fall 6. Conifers CAN be wired in the fall but must be protected from sudden freeze at least 5 weeks after wiring. 7. Begin purchasing supplies or arranging space for winter bonsai housing. Club Dig 2017 We are just 3 4 months away from the optimal time for collecting trees. However, we need to source potential new dig sites now so that we can walk the land to determine if it has potential as a good site. This is especially important to do while the leaves are still on the trees to help identify what species are prevalent. Does anyone know of someone who will let us look at their land to determine if it is a good site? Ideally it is being grazed or previously grazed by cattle, as years of cattle chomping usually yield trees with stunted growth and gnarly trunks. Hopefully it is near the DFW area, no more than a couple of hours away. If you know of someone, please contact Sylvia at slysmith@tx.rr.com. She can arrange a scout party to look at the land to evaluate if it is a good site. Perhaps you could use Facebook to reach out to your network of local friends to find a potential dig site? Please try, as digs are a great way to increase your collection and they are great fun too!

7 BSD NEWSLETTER PAGE 7 OCTOBER 2016 September Program in Review The Expert Three Stooges Did it Again By Mary Polk (with her fun flair and my thanks) The September meeting was excellent. The Boys rode in on their blazing saddles and roped each and every bonsai specimen brought in by all the brave souls needing advice as to what the Stooges recommended. The owner of each bonsai got to sit right up front looking each expert right in the eye. You know, kind of like when the Cowboy looks his horse in the eye, they study one another, they think about the situation, re-think it the Expert Cowboy Stooge mounts that horse and off he goes heading off to the west, or the east, or the south, or, well, anyway if you were there you know each Stooge had his own opinion of which direction to take. All directions being proper ones, of course, as our club has the best Stooges this side of the Mississippi and probably the other side as well. You cannot beat our club for having the most willing members to help one another. Not a meeting goes by that does not educate people on the art of bonsai in a more friendly and helpful way. We have some truly talented people in our arena and I would like to thank each of the THREE STOOGES (Dave Schleser, John Miller and Howard Smith) for their valuable opinions and helpful suggestions. I am sure everyone at the meeting thoroughly enjoyed the ride with them and those of you missing the meeting missed a fun time. One more note as to appreciating the club talent Thanks to Diane Lowe for doing such a great job on the newsletter each and every month. I know she needs someone to take over the task sometime soon. So, if you are that person please step up and let her know you can relieve her when she is ready. I know she will gladly help the transition to you. Happy Bonsai Trails to all. Photos courtesy of Chris Scholz

8 BSD NEWSLETTER PAGE 8 OCTOBER 2016 Bonsai Smiths Upcoming Classes Full Day Workshops - $75 February 13, 2016 Japanese Black Pine Session 1 (Spring Work) February 27, 2016 Deciduous/Maple Workshop Session 1 (Root Refinement & Grafting) and Rock Planting Workshop June 18, 2016 Deciduous Tree Ramification June 25, 2016 Juniper Workshop / Japanese Black Pine Decandling November 19th - JBP and Juniper Winter Series Workshop We also offer soil mixes Soil Prices (tax not included) APL Mix - 5 gal. - $75, 1 gal. - $18 Akadama - $40 per 20 liter bag, Lava - $20 per 5 gal. Bonsai Trees Bonsai Pots Pre-Bonsai Material (Shown by Appointment) Bonsai Wire Bonsai Tools Potting Mediums Local Bonsai Gallery and Store Centrally Located in the DFW Area Now Open Thursday through Saturday 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM 404 Southwestern Blvd., Coppell, TX Contact information: deepforestgallery@gmail.com or

9 BSD NEWSLETTER PAGE 9 OCTOBER 2016 October s To-Do List This is a simple monthly checklist for those enthusiasts who have the knowledge and skill required to perform the tasks listed. It is intended to tell you what to do, not how and why to do it. Want to know more? Send in any questions you might have or come to any monthly program to discuss further. All Species Adjust location if needed with change of sun position Adjust watering schedule because of cooler nights Deciduous Slow down feeding Trim to silhouette Evergreen/Conifer Wiring can be done Light pruning and thinning on junipers Slow down feeding Link of the Month Although the 5 th U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition has passed, this interview with Bill Valavanis provides insight into all the work that goes into this show and some beautiful pictures of past winners. Bill has devoted his life s work to the study and promotion of bonsai in the United States. Thanks to his dedication and the quarterly publication of his magazine, he has had a great impact on our knowledge of and appreciation for this lovely art form. Flowering/Fruit Light trimming to silhouette Slow down feeding Tropical Begin to prepare for winter housing Topsoil changes can be done now if needed Light fertilization Previous winner Suthin Sukosolvisit Beginner s Bulletin Board There are no dumb questions when you are a beginner at any new endeavor. However sometimes beginners are reluctant to ask a question in a monthly meeting. Got a question? Send it to Diane at diane_lowe@live.com for an individual response. Your question may also appear anonymously here in a future issue so that others can learn. Question: I know I need to plan for over wintering my bonsai, but I m not sure where to start. I have a couple of junipers, a black pine, a hackberry, a couple of elms, maples, an olive, a boxwood, and a ficus. I know the ficus needs to come inside but where and how do I protect the others during winter? Answer: It is a good thing you are thinking about it now, so you can make a plan. That is much better than rushing around in the cold, trying to find last minute protection before a freeze. To some extent, the answer depends on your own backyard environment as well as what type and size of pot the tree is growing in. First think about your trees by category - conifer/evergreen, deciduous, semi tropical, and tropical. In essence you just need to plan for four different sites at the most. The primary reason you can t keep them all together is they need different levels of light and temperature protection. Let s assume your trees are in bonsai pots and let s look at each category: Conifer/Evergreen Your juniper, pine, and boxwood are part of this group. They need plenty of sunlight during winter, or their overall health will decline. That puts them in a stressful situation and the familiar pests like spider mites and scale will appear. As our sun moves into the southern sky, you may be noticing that the sunlight in your yard is shifting. Notice where you get the most continued

10 BSD NEWSLETTER PAGE 10 OCTOBER 2016 Beginner s Bulletin Board - continued southern exposure of light and plan to place your conifers/evergreens in that area over the winter. As a matter of fact, you can begin moving them there if their current spot in now in the shade. Once you pick out the location, now you need to think about how to keep the pots draining well and keep the roots from freezing. Draining well is taken care of by placing the pots on a hard surface rather than directly on the ground. That might be elevated on a couple of bricks, on stones, placed on a wooden board, or a concrete surface. This is very important as roots will rot if left in soggy wet soil. Next, how can you provide warmth to the roots during our coldest temperatures? Packing mulch or compost around the sides of each pot is an easy option and relatively inexpensive. It tends to stay in place if mounded properly. An even cheaper option is to use fallen leaves and pack them around the pots. Winds during the winter can blow these away, so creating a temporary low fence out of plastic fencing is a good option. Another option is the use of Styrofoam boxes, cut down to the right height for each tree and drainage holes drilled into the bottom, then pack with either mulch or leaves. There are many creative ways to accomplish this so you need to figure out what works best for you. Be careful not to tuck them under the eave of a house or they will likely not get enough water from our winter rains. Moist roots are especially important before a freeze. As John M. has warned us repeatedly, more trees are lost over the winter than other time during the year due to lack of water. Deciduous Your hackberry, elms, and maples fall into this category. Their growth slows over the winter months so they don t need sun. As a matter of fact, we do not want them to have any sun in the late winter. A warm sunny winter day can cause a potted tree to bud out earlier than its large counterpart in the ground. This would potentially expose new tender growth to a hard freeze and it will lose its spring growth causing stress. The average last freeze in Dallas is March 13 th. Again stress is an invitation to pests to invade. So after you have enjoyed the fall colors of the leaves, put them in a shady spot in your yard, perhaps under existing trees or along a fence line that protects them from direct sun. The same advice applies to keeping them elevated off of the ground and protecting the roots from freezing. Semi-Tropicals Your olive is part of this category here in North Texas and it should be noted that some semi-tropicals lose their leaves in the winter and some do not. They benefit from continued sun exposure and from cool nights with even a light frost, but when a hard freeze is coming it is time to protect them even more. If you have a greenhouse, the answer is easy; move it inside before a hard freeze. If no greenhouse, the next best thing might be a garage with a window or grow lights. Other alternatives might be temporarily wrapping it with burlap or frost cloth, placing a plastic trash can over the top of it and securing it with a few bricks until the freeze passes, wrapping it with a sheet, etc. The idea is to try to protect the foliage from a hard freeze. This requires a bit of effort each time a hard freeze is expected. At some point during the winter you may wish to find its best protection for the rest of the season and know you may need to baby it a bit more than the others. Bringing it inside for the full winter season should be avoided as the lack of humidity in our heated homes is too dry for it. If that is your only alternative, at least place it near a bright window on a humidity tray. You can buy these or just make one tray/container, layer of pebbles or rocks, and water to just below the rock surface. Tropicals As you know, your ficus is a tropical. That means they will continue to grow throughout the winter months if given the right conditions. Think about what it is like in the tropics warm, moist, and somewhat breezy. A greenhouse is the easy answer but if you don t have one, then inside your house is the only other choice you have. Get it ready to come inside several weeks before our evening temperatures fall below 50 0 by moving it into the dappled shade now. This allows it to get used to less light while still thriving in our outside humidity. Selecting your location inside is important. Select a spot near a window with southern exposure to light. Try to keep it away from direct sunlight, a blowing furnace vent, check for watering often, and provide a humidity tray underneath. How often it needs water depends on your unique conditions and what size/type of pot it is in. Misting it often is also a good thing as spider mites are never far away. It may drop some leaves during this time but it should bounce back in the spring once placed outdoors. When placing it back outdoors, again place it in a shady area for a week or so until it gets used to the bright light again. As mentioned earlier, the type of pot and the size of the pot may make these guidelines less critical. In other words, if you have a collected tree in a large wooden box, it may not need the same freeze protection as a refined bonsai in its suitable pot. Please take all of these suggestions as guidelines, but try to err on the side of caution to avoid losing a tree. North Texas winters can have both extremes, which is why it is so much harder to keep them alive and healthy here, than in many other parts of the United States. Hope this helps and your trees survive the winter stress-free.

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12 BSD NEWSLETTER PAGE 12 OCTOBER 2016 Auction Information Sheets Please Print Origin of Tree/Item: Date Collected or Repotted: History/Items of Interest: Origin of Tree/Item: Date Collected or Repotted: History/Items of Interest: Origin of Tree/Item: Date Collected or Repotted: History/Items of Interest: Origin of Tree/Item: Date Collected or Repotted: History/Items of Interest: