Contacts: Albury Wodonga Bonsai Newsletter January 2017 President: Ian Bransden, Ph: 0357 522 678, Mobile: 0432 530 934 Email: ian.bransden@southernphone.com.au Treasurer (and newsletter editor) Neil, Ph: 0260 271 557 Email neil@shibuibonsai.com.au Secretary Theo, Ph 0418 568 601 Email: bonsaialburywodonga@gmail.com Club website Les: Email: firekitty0@gmail.com Web address: http://www.alburywodongabonsai.com/home.html Fees: Fees for 2017 have been set at $25 per member or $35 per couple. You can pay Neil at a meeting or post subs to Neil at P.O. Box 135, Yackandandah, 3749. Next Meeting: Tuesday, January 24, 2017 at Harry s Hut, Olive St. South Albury from 6pm to share a meal and a chat before the meeting proper at 7:30 pm. For those who have not been before, Harry s Hut is the meeting room at the Gardens beside Brown s Lagoon. Entry off Olive St., opposite the end of Nurigong St., South Albury. Members and visitors are always welcome to bring a tree (or 2 or even more) to our meetings if you want to show off your successes (or failures!), to work on a tree, or to ask about a problem. 1 P a g e
Topic for Next Meeting: Figs The hotter months are the best time to work on many natives and ficus species are among the best native trees for bonsai. Learn more about how to prune, repot and shape figs. Bring along your ficus bonsai to show, work on or just get some advice. Other native plants are also welcome. January is also time to prune other bonsai species so bring anything you d like to show off or get help with. If you want to try a fig, Neil has some available. Just phone or email neil@shibuibonsai.com.au to remind me to bring some to the meeting. Format for the night will be a short talk then hands on for the rest of the evening so bring something to trim, wire, repot or ask advice about. You are welcome to come for the earlier start (from 6pm) for a chat, dinner and/or drinks before the meeting. BBQs outside, microwave and stove inside if you want to cook. BYO everything. Mossies are pretty friendly near the lagoon so insect repellent is recommended for summer meetings. Last Month: We focused on bonsai tools, both traditional and improvised. There are a number of companies that sell traditional tools so search the internet for options when you need new tools. Theo has had great service buying direct from Kaneshin bonsai tools in Japan. Ian showed a number of the tools he uses regularly that are repurposed from his carpenter s toolbox so you don t need to fork out for special tools to get started. Basic bonsai tools: 1. Branch cutter: has curved cutting blades to cut close to the trunk. 2. Bud shears: long handled scissors to cut small shoots. Florist shears or even sharp scissors can be substituted. 3. Wire cutters: Proper bonsai wire cutters cut right to the tips which is useful for removing wire that is very close to the branch. Side cutters are OK but don t cut as close to the tip. 4. Root shears: Wide bladed scissors with large handles to cut through tough roots and potting mix. Old secateurs will suffice but make sure they are sharp. Not to be confused with Root cutters which are pincer like tools for cutting larger roots. 2 P a g e
5. Root rake or Root hook: Helps comb out roots and remove old mix. Some people prefer the 3 or 4 tined models. Neil prefers a single tined horse hoof pick and Ian has some table forks with the tines bent at right angles. Commercial bonsai tools are like any other tools. You can buy cheap or expensive models. Like other tools, the cheaper ones are usually poor quality. Good quality bonsai tools should last a lifetime for most people. Bonsai Events: Bonsai Week 2017: National Bonsai and Penjing Collection in Canberra. Various activities including workshops with visiting UK bonsai expert Tony Tickle. Monday 20 March Sunday 26 March. Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 February 2017: Australian Plants as Bonsai Exhibition, Canberra botanic gardens Saturday 4 and Sunday 5 March 2017: 6 th Symposium on Australian Plants as Bonsai to be held in Melbourne. Includes a native bonsai show open both days. The6thSymposiumonAustralianPlantsasBonsaiwilbeheldinMelbourne+4thand5th Sunday 5 March 2017: Ausbonsai Sale Day see the flier at the end of this newsletter BFA calendar of events: - https://teamup.com/ks55bf2733e25865a6 Business: Olive dig (autumn) Membership Fees Any activities members would like for the coming year Proposed 2017 program: January: Figs and Natives. Note that we do need to work out subjects for the coming year. Your ideas and requests are welcome. Ideas for next year s program can be emailed to Theo. 3 P a g e
Seasonal Notes from Shibui Bonsai This month the theme is HOT. Up until new year the weather was relatively benign but I am now finding that both gardens and pots are getting dry quite quickly on sunny days. Watering effectively is not as easy as it sounds. Small pots dry out quite quickly and dry potting mix is notoriously hard to get wet again. For many years I would lose trees every summer but I often did an autopsy to check what the problem was. I many cases I discovered the outside edges were damp but the centre of the root ball was bone dusty dry because I was not watering effectively. When you water, some soaks in a little but most just runs around the edges and out the bottom. I have found that double watering is far more effective. Water as normal then come back later and water again. The first watering pre wets the edges of the rootball and soaks in a few cm. The second watering soaks into the wet section and then penetrates further and seems to wet the whole root ball much better. Another trap is trees that have not been repotted for some time. In this case, roots have filled all the spaces in the mix so it is even harder for the water to penetrate into the mix. Pay even more attention to older trees that have not been repotted recently. If in doubt, or if you are having trouble with trees too dry, a weekly soak of the whole pot and root area will properly wet the mix and give you more leeway for the coming week. Dunk the whole pot into a container of water and leave for 10 min overnight. You could even make the soaking a fertiliser bath to make sure your tree is getting adequate nutrition at the same time. Pruning and pinching has also been a constant task at Shibui Bonsai. Trident and Japanese maples just keep growing new shoots that need to be trimmed every few weeks. December was pine decandling month. All the well developed trees that I am trying to get good ramification and smaller needles were decandled around mid December. By early Jan they have started to produce tiny new buds. More on this as the year progresses. I also cut some of the developing pines at the same time. In most cases these are cut much harder way back to the older needles to force new shoots closer to the trunks. Earlier in December I started repotting my native bonsai. Most natives seem to prefer to grow new roots when they are actively growing in the warmer months. I think I have killed 1 allocasuarina and a Leptospermum rupestris this year but the other native trees (around 100) I have root pruned and repotted are growing strongly. Here are some images of repotting my large callistemon bonsai. Note that I have removed quite a large proportion of the roots. The remaining space is mostly rock. 4 P a g e
The root ball After cutting the roots from above 5 P a g e
And from below Repotting completed By mid January, when I am writing this, it has lots of new shoots and looking strong. 6 P a g e
Keep feeding developing trees all summer if you want them to grow and thicken. Fertilise every 2 weeks for good health and growth. I try to use different fertilisers to ensure that the trees get a full range of nutrients but any fertiliser is better than none so use whatever you have available. This year, on advice from a Japanese bonsai professional who was spending time in Canberra, I have reduced the fertiliser for my older bonsai to try to reduce internode length and leaf size. Time will tell if that has been effective. Check any trees that you have wired. I ve recently found a few that I had wired in winter and forgotten about. The branches have grown thicker and the wires were starting to mark the bark already. It has only been a few months but all have stayed in position after the wires were removed. Wire marked branches are unsightly at best so try to get wires off before the tree is permanently damaged. Neil Newsletter If you can t get to a meeting (or even if you can) why not email Neil neil@shibuibonsai.com.au with a question or a comment or even a few photos to go in the newsletter? Does anyone have anything for next month s Members and visitors are always welcome to bring a tree (or 2 or even more) to our meetings if you want to show off your successes (or failures!), to work on a tree, or to ask about a problem. 7 P a g e
2017 Membership Fees for 2017 will be due in March. Please forward your payment to Neil. We also need to confirm members contact details to keep club records up to date. Please complete this membership details form and lodge it with your payment. Name: Postal address: Telephone: Email address: Membership type: Family Individual Concession 8 P a g e
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