Jan 2013 Volume 3, Issue 1 The Corpus Christi Bonsai Club, Inc was organized in 1976 and is a member of the Lone Star Bonsai Federation, Bonsai Clubs International and The Corpus Christi Area Garden Council Inc. Individual Membership is $15.00 per year (students $5. 00). Membership for couples is $20 per year. Method of Dues Proration for new members is detailed in the Bonsai Club Yearbook. Early payment of dues is appreciated and allows your name to be included in the club yearbook available in January. Meetings are held on the 4th Thursday of each month, January through October, at the Garden Senior Center, 5325 Greely Dr, Corpus Christi TX Inside this Issue 1 Pres. Message October s Meeting Min. 2 October s Meeting Min. Cont Backyard Tour Photos 3 Backyard Tour Photos Cont 4 John Miller s Article 5 John Miller s Article Cont January s Program 6 A Word of Warning by Mary Miller 7 Ads Contact: djfalcon87@gmail.com to submit articles, photos, comments or suggestions, CorpusChristiBonsai ClubNewsletter Message from the President Versie Marks, President January is here, I waited in June, July and August for cooler days. Now I have been cold two or three times, I need 70 degrees and sunshine. All of my plants are in their winter homes. Nice little groups, waiting to be covered if needed. It is nice not to have to water every day. I have cleaned pots, made soil and cleaned out the pot house so I can move around in there when I do start to repot. Problem is I have almost all tropicals. Two elms will get repotted in February, every things else will wait to be repotted in April and May, some not till June or July. We got the new yearbook at the Christmas party. Looks like a very busy year. Our first dig is January 26; therefore the first program is on native trees and digs. The convention in early April will be great fun. The convention will be at the Convention, not a hotel. We are looking into renting a condo for the three days we will be there. Yvonne will be one of the Artists. She will work on Natal Plums. They have been her head ache for seven or eight months now. We are trying something new this year. We will have a group work at each others yards to repot and in general whatever the member needs. To have help in your yard you will need to work at two or three other member s yards. Yvonne, Beverly and Linda will be first, we should have a good idea of how this works and if it works at all. CCCBC October 2012 s Meeting Minutes Joanne Dawkins, Secretary Linda May called the meeting to order at 7:07 pm. Thanks to Yvonne and Linda for tonight s refreshments. September s Meeting Minutes were approved as written in the newsletter. The treasure s report was approved as read by Rick Smoll.... 1
January 9 th January 24 th, Thursday Upcoming Events: Wednesday Workshop Garden Senior Center 7p.m.-9p.m. Monthly Meeting Garden Senior Center 7p.m.-9p.m. Program Native Trees - Dig OLD BUSINESS: o Nov. 3 rd will be our Backyard Tour starting at 9 am at Jesse and Sonja s house. Then we will head to Jorge s home and end at Yvonne s house. We will have lunch and a workshop at Yvonne s. Please bring a chair to sit in and any extras you may have. Don t forget a plant to style. See you there! o The yearbook will be up to date after tonight s meeting. If you have any changes in your personal info, please let Rick know tonight. Your 2013 dues need to be paid by tonight to get your name in the yearbook. NEW BUSINESS: o We are missing some books from our library. Please check your homes and return any library books before the end of the year. Thanks for looking. Speaker Tree Display Yvonne Padilla Native Trees o Yvonne & Versie attended the LSBF meeting on Oct. 13 th. The 2013 State Convention will be held in New Braunfels, TX. We will get registration forms in Jan. 2013. More info later. The meeting was closed at 7:30 pm for refreshments. Jorge Mendizabal gave the lecture /demo on a Natal Plum. The tree was raffled and won by Sam Ramirez. Congratulations Sammy! Dates to Remember: Tuesday January 8 th - 10:00a.m. Council Meeting Business CCCBC 2012 Backyard Tour Photo s Sunday January 13 th Work @ Yvonne s Saturday January 19 th - 1:00p.m. LSBF meeting - TBA Saturday January 26 th - Dig - Location to be announced... 2
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January Bonsai Tips and Advice By 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. On New Years Day many people make resolutions as to what they want to do or to not do or what to change or etc. I do not care to do this as such but I like to take the time when a project slows down to review its progress and to check to see if it is still a viable option or does its direction need to be altered. In bonsai we need to evaluate both our trees and ourselves. Wintertime gives us a good opportunity to do so, especially for the bare deciduous trees. The coldest nights usually come the last two weeks in January, but don t bet the farm on it. Just watch the forecasts and check the lows (ignore the highs. They are for people not plants). Have some plans in mind in case we have some extreme weather. Your primary job in cold weather is to be sure your trees are well watered before going into a deep freeze. They will be losing water to evaporation but will not be able to replenish it if the soil is frozen. Protection from high winds is also necessary so the tops will not dry out. Sunlight is not necessary on deciduous trees when they have lost their leaves. In fact, it can be bad for the tree because it will heat up the trunk and soil and that could make the tree come out of dormancy too early. Tender or tropical trees that are kept indoors will be using more water to offset the lower humidity. Soil will also be losing water faster through its surface. Be sure to watch the indoor trees for insect problems. Most plant insects love a controlled atmosphere like the indoors. Spider mites seem to get the most attention here because they do great in a low humidity and the lack of foliage spraying. Scale can be an easily overlooked source of trouble. The flat green kind can be hard to spot on the underside of leaves or tight against the stem. Indoor trees need to be fertilized regularly and will require periodic trimming as they continue to grow through the winter. Be careful that plants in a sunny window do not get their leaves scalded. Greenhouses are much the same as indoors. However, most greenhouses are kept more humid. The higher humidity is to the liking of aphids and fungal diseases. It may also result in your keeping the soil too moist with associated root problems. Use you standard insect controls that you used last summer. I use my organic foliar spray all winter. Back to the outdoor trees. Any long warm spells during the month could activate some of the insect problems but as a rule there are no special needs to look for in January. Check trunks and branches for tiny scales. Spraying with a dormant oil spray will kill adults, nymphs, and eggs of any trying to over-winter on your trees. Some dormant sprays can be used on new growth but better results overall will be obtained if you do it before Valentines Day. A weak lime sulphur dormant spray will also get fungal spores and should be done before Feb 1 and not at all if any green is showing. Just be careful with the lime sulfur follow label directions closely. 4
In January I would not recommend any feeding of outdoor trees. Any feeding might cause them to start spring activity before the end of the bad weather. After tending to the daily needs of your trees, take time to study one or two thoroughly each day. January is an excellent time to start and remodeling projects that may be necessary. While the trees are dormant you have better view of the branch structure. Do any need to be moved or removed? Do any coarse branches need to be cut back to a smaller side branch for refinement? Any long straight branches need wiring to give them motion? Does the tree really need a drastic redesign? Also trim the twigs back while you have them there. Styling can be done at this time but no repotting unless you are going to keep the tree from freezing after that. Repotting initiates new root development which is usually not very hardy. Get a calendar of bonsai events in your club, city, and state. There are many opportunities such as LSBF sponsored events, the Shohin Society which meets 5 times in Austin, possibly a suiseki group being formed, etc. so that you need to plan which ones will give you the most help in your interests and at you level of development. The lecture events and books give you knowledge but without the practice under the guidance of a good teacher at the various workshops it will remain jut that: knowledge without producing any results. The workshops develop the ability to foresee what will happen when you remove and relocate branches and to have to confidence to go ahead and do it. January Program By: Yvonne Padilla A request for a proper dig was included in program suggestions for 2013 therefore a dig is scheduled Saturday January 26th, the location will be announced at the meeting. A discussion is scheduled on what to take to a dig and how to dig. It will include tools, containers, soil and several other ideas for digging. There will be handouts for those interested in digging. Since the program is on native trees, a Texas Ebony will be designed and raffled. Also a small Kidneywood donated by Andy Graham will be raffled. TREE DISPLAY: Native Trees This year I am hoping members will pay more attention to bringing trees for display. Doing so gives other members ideas for designing trees and what kind of trees do well in our area. So let s show up this month with native trees, either in a bonsai container or pre-bonsai container. Yearbooks For those who did not get their yearbook at the Christmas party, books will be available at the January meeting. 5
A Word of Warning -- A Lesson Learned (aka The Stuff Article) By: Mary Miller Website: http://www.bonsaimary.com/ It s been over 25 years since I began creating bonsai. During the early years I found it necessary to buy many plants to make sure I didn t miss out on anything... species I had never tried, specials I saw at garden centers, bargains at club auctions. It was seemingly endless. Somewhere along the way I also decided I should have one of every tropical with any bonsai potential, and expanded the hunt. Of course, not all the plants I bought were "bonsai-ready", but I could grow them on. After a few years, I started selling some of the plants I had gathered and rejected. The selling became a business. It grew and so did my habit of buying. How did I get so much stuff? I sold lots of my plants and watched others make decent bonsai out of them. It took about 15 years to discover I had lots of plants, I had few good bonsai. Those of you, who have known me for any length of time, must think my backyard has a magic multiplier mechanism. I was beginning to wonder myself. Where did the time go? After 20+ years I finally figured it out. I had so much stuff, I had no time to develop it or even take care of it properly. It is not an easy habit to break, but I think I ve managed. Now that I don t have the business, I have a little more time. Things are changing. I finally used the lesson I teach... taper, taper, taper and cut off the huge branches on an old Bougainvillea. I root pruned several small Ficus and placed them in the shallow pots I always recommend. I tossed or sold everything without a decent trunk as per bonsai lesson number one. I cleaned up the dead wood and painted lime sulfur on the Conocarpus (buttonwood). Even the weeds are almost under control. For those of you just getting started in bonsai and some of you old-timers who have similar buying habits -discipline yourselves! After 25 years of neglect, your stuff will be nothing but old stuff. Old stuff does not go to shows, receive accolades or end up in magazines. No matter how old it is, stuff is stuff! 6
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