Inside This Issue President s Notes 1 Agenda 2 President s Notes for June President's Message June 2012 2012 ABS Meeting Schedule 3 June Bonsai Care 4 Our spring bonsai show was outstanding thanks to everyone's help. Gerry did a great job organizing everything and the many contributions of our members resulted in our best show to date. The quality of the trees was a major step up this year and that speaks well of the growing skills of members. Show Photos 5-6 The June meeting is outlined in Brian's program notes. Remember we have Swap and Shop at every meeting and trees for the Night Show. I think it would be helpful for you to bring in trees that are still in early development to show how you are guiding the tree to completion. JOE DAY WORKSHOPS SATURDAY JUNE 16 AND SUNDAY JUNE 17: Visit Us On The Web At AlabamaBonsaiSociety.org Saturday will be a free all day workshop. We will be taking ALL the non-sale trees in the lathe house and have you work on them under Joe's guidance to take these trees on a directed path to being pre-bonsai. We have a lot of useless stuff taking up space with no direction. I think it would be interesting to all to see how to modify material to put it on the way to become pre-bonsai. We will not be STYLING bonsai just trying to turn something into usable material. We will need everyone's help. If we have time in the afternoon we may be working on some of the Pavilion trees at the potting shed to spruce them up. Sunday: there will be 8 workshop slots in the morning and 8 in the afternoon so Joe can help you with your trees. Each slot will cost $25. Sign up will be available at the meeting and on-line at the website. The club has purchased another pallet of lava rock, and it should be here in time for the Joe Day workshops. The lava rock will be $2.50 per 7-lb bag, payable to the ABS See you at the meeting, Jack
Page 2 June Meeting Agenda ABS Officers Jack Pierce President Brian Van Fleet Vice President Belinda Waldo Treasurer Marge Wirth Recording Secretary Marty Bostick Media Manager Meeting Agenda: 6:00-7:00 Board Meeting and Swap & Shop. Bring your club tree project if you'd like to show, discuss, or ask questions! 7:00-7:10 President's announcements 7:10-7:30 Evening Show and Tell 7:30-8:00 Evening lecture: Defoliation/Candle-Pruning pines Cindi Stehr Corresponding Secretary John Walker Membership Coordinator Directors: Gerry Fuller 2012 2013 Tomasz Szul 2012 2013 Upcoming Events Joe Day Workshop June 16 and 17
Page 3 2012 ABS Meeting Schedule
Page 4 June Bonsai Care June Bonsai Care Some like it HOT Spring has come and gone, what seems like months ago. Now what? By now, our feeding programs should be in full-swing and the trees are taking daily watering and slowing down a bit in the heat. Here are some June tips: 1. Watering is a daily chore now, and it s important to pay close attention to the trees that are drying out faster than others. Are they trees that were repotted this spring and not recovering? Are they trees that didn t get repotted this year, and will definitely need to be repotted next year? It will be important to plan for a shadier location for these trees soon, and consider if it will need a new pot for spring. Keep a running list of trees that will need new pots; pot-surfing is a good pastime in the winter! 2. Continue to feed well, using plenty of Nitrogen and supplement with foliage drenches of fish or kelp fertilizer. Organic feeds tend to be milder, and have lower N-P-K numbers (macro-nutrients, Nitrogen-Phosphorus-Potassium). Chemical fertilizers (Miracle Gro, Peter s, in general, the blue stuff) are salt-based and should be used with some understanding of the implications: Fertilizer burns caused by chemical, salt-based fertilizers are really caused by osmosis, where the water in the relatively lower salt-concentrated-roots will move to the fertilized soil with higher salt concentrations, thus dehydrating the roots. This is why it s important to follow mixing directions properly. Organic feeds are not salt-based, and typically will not burn trees. Organic feeds have lower N-P-K numbers because they actually feed micro-organisms in the soil, whose bi-products, in turn, feed the trees at levels actually higher than the N-P-K on the bottle. 3. Look for pests. Red spider mites are active on junipers now. If junipers appear dull in color, shake a branch over a sheet of white paper and check for movement. If tiny bugs are running on the paper, it s likely spider mites. Spray insecticides every 7-10 days for 2 months to eradicate and break the life-cycle. Spider mites like hot, sunny, dry conditions, so moving junipers to a bit of shade, and misting the foliage a time or two each day is often enough to keep them healthy. Aphids can be found on just about everything. They like the tender, juicy new growth and aren t too tough to spot, since they multiply quickly; you ll rarely see just a few! Ants are larger, and often found herding the aphids, so if you see ants on your tree, look for aphids. 4. Azalea lace bugs are particularly annoying, and more readily attack azaleas sited in full sun. They hide on the undersides of leaves, sucking the leaves dry, as evidenced by pale upper sides of the leaves. More shade is a deterrent, and some mild preventative insecticides now are a good idea.
Page 5 Pines candles are mostly open by now, candle-cutting starts at the end of the month, and is a 100- day process. Feed pines heavily to prepare them for the coniferous equivalent of defoliating. An article chronicling the development of a black pine is here: http://www.nebaribonsai.com/ Nebari_Bonsai_112109/Projects_files/Candle-Cutting%20071011.pdf. We ll discuss and demonstrate this process, along with defoliation at our June 11 meeting, be sure to join us, and be ready to swap and shop! More at: http://nebaribonsai.wordpress.com/ Show Photos
Page 6
Page 7