Doing It Wrong #1

Tags

advice, beginner, Bonsai, mistakes, novice

How does a guy spend twenty years with bonsai and still feel like a beginner? By doing it wrong! I have been doing things wrong for so long, I’m an expert! LEARN FROM ME!

I have not laid out any sort of plan for sharing my misdoings (ironically, as you will see in a moment) but I am going to move forward confident that putting a “#1” in the title will be the right path. There could, no doubt, be many of these. So, what is number 1? 
I never refined a tree!

The experts do address this issue, in a way. I would distill the related ideas into two statements:

1. Every tree is in training.
2. A tree can’t always be show ready. 

The problem is, I took these ideas to the extreme and for two decades never even tried to get a tree to a refined state. What’s worse, I also wasn’t taking advantage of this time to properly develop thick trunks and nice branch structure. (If only!) I kept every tree either untrained (because I didn’t know what to do with it yet) or I pruned just to maintain a shape or size without any proper techniques for improving the design or ramification. Neither approach will make a great tree no matter how long you try!

Here’s my advice to avoid making the same mistake: Make a plan for each tree – a five or ten year plan if you must. What steps must you take to develop a refined, show-ready tree. Sure, you may have to adjust as you go along, but without a plan, you are just keeping a tree  alive. A good start, sure, but you can do better. 

Grow out of problems.

Tags

Bonsai, crataegus, hagedorn

I have shared before that, while I still feel like a beginner, I have been a bonsai enthusiast for a long time. It surprises me, then, when a new idea pops out at me. This may just mean I don’t pay attention well, or that I am a slow learner, but I digress. 

A recent post on Crataegus.com, one of the fantastic blogs I follow, included this little gem:

“One of my core beliefs with a tree that has faults like this is to grow it into the next size larger bonsai. Literally, grow it out of its problems.”

I have considered this approach with my own trees, but to hear it from Michael Hagedorn officially puts this strategy in my tool box. 

Thanks for the great post, Michael. 

Winter Winds

Tags

Bonsai, cold frame, deciduous, protection, wind, winter

We are expecting some nasty winter winds to arrive with a cold front this evening, so I will get the trees sheltered. I am far more concerned about the wind than I am the temperatures. We will be below freezing at night, but the trees can handle that. It’s the cold, dry winds that could desiccate branches and damage buds that have formed for the spring. 

We have actually had an extended period of mild weather this fall which is evident in the amount of green you can still see on the deciduous trees that will go into the cold frame for protection. When the wind gets going, I will close her up. 

Wiring

Tags

Bonsai, NVBS, wiring

Great bonsai society meeting today on wiring essentials. 

Thanks to Chuck Croft and Jack Fitzsimmons for presenting the information and to Gary Reese for making a number of practice stands for everyone to use. 

Once again, the meeting was extremely well attended. And many of our expert members were generous with their guidance. 

Glorified Cold Frame

Tags

Bonsai, coldframe, protection, winter

About this time last year I built a frame with shelves in a sheltered location on the back of the house. Storing all of this crap was not its intended purpose. 

This is just the mess I have let it become over the summer. Let me get this cleaned up so I can show what its really for.  [SNAP!]

Ah, that’s better. As you can see, this is intended as a sort of glorified cold frame that provides just a little bit of protection for a few trees in the coldest parts of our winter. 

Above, I have attached one plastic sheeting side. It is attached with Velcro strips on the lumber, and as you can see on the shelf, there, I can roll up these sides and store them during the growing season. 

Below, both sides are installed. 

I put these up for your benefit today. I won’t really need to tuck in my trees for the winter for another month or so. When really cold temps threaten, I will attach the door and close it up. 

Up against the house, the space will benefit from a little residual warmth, and the plastic barrier will protect these teees from damaging winds. 

Other trees, including evergreens, will not get closed up in here, but that’s a story for another day. In the meantime, I will start putting deciduous trees here after they drop their leaves. 

Indoor for the Winter

Tags

benjamina, Bonsai, ficus, indoor

My relationship with tropicals is a strained one. My oldest trees are ficus (longest in my care, anyway), but I don’t live in a tropical zone. It seems as soon as they really get happy and growing in the summer sun, it’s time to drag them back indoors to protect them from cooler temperatures. 

This f. benjamina had just a couple of longer extensions removed before coming inside last week. (Please keep all judgments regarding Benjaminas to yourself. Thank you.)

I don’t have anything better than a bright office window to make this, and a half dozen other ficus happy for the full six months of every year they need to be inside. Inevitably, the trees are weakened and the growth unattractive by the time spring temperatures are reliably above 50 degrees Fahrenheit at night. I try not to move them back and forth too much for those few days in between (like the warmer weather we have this week). 

I have briefly considered getting rid of them, but I have had the tree pictured above since 1997, and I have a couple of F. Retusas I started as cuttings in 1996. I can’t just throw away (or give away, or sell) that kind of history. 

Japanese Black Pine

Tags

Bonsai, jbp, needle, plucking

My twenty-year-novice status is no more evident than in the Japanese black pine I am about to share with you. I grew this from seed about 15 years ago, and since I am just now figuring out what I am doing, this is far less of a tree than it might have been in more capable hands. 

I have never been brave enough or informed enough to do what should be done with black pine. Do you see how insanely long the needles are in this picture from earlier this year? They can and should be far shorter!

This is the first time I have ever done proper shoot removal. In the past, I have only pinched new candles to limit how long they extended, but the needles on those candles would grow to full size. What I should be doing is removing the entire shoot of new growth in the summer forcing the tree to push out a second, smaller round of growth. I have on good authority that the best time to do this in my area (Virginia, USA) is the first week of July. There are a number of variations on this process, but this being the first time for me and this tree, I removed them completely, and all at once. The photo above was just before removal, and below, after. This photo, then, shows last year’s (very long) needles this year’s shoots lined up across the bench in front. 

This is all well and good, and the tree did its part and pushed new buds, but I think I missed a step sometime between July and now (October) when I was supposed to make sure there were only two new buds on each growth tip. There were a few places where as many as four new shoots grew like in the image below. 

This new growth is still quite strong, as you can see, even when four shoots were growing from the same point.

I honestly don’t know if it was the right thing to do, but today  I decided to reduce these to two where needed.  I also plucked last year’s needles so the only growth that remains is the growth that has occurred since July. I did make an exception on a few weaker spots where I left old needles to strengthen the growth at that point in the spring. Here’s what she looked like before and after the work. 

It doesn’t look like much, but I don’t consider this tree to even be styled yet. I’m just really happy to be practicing this process so I can begin to understand how to refine a black pine!

Larry Jackel

Tags

Bonsai, Larry Jackel, NVBS

Fantastic morning session with the Northern Virginia Bonsai Society. We had the priveledge of hearing from Larry Jackel, Colorado bonsai expert and Rocky Mountain tree collector. 

I sat next to a “potential new member” who became a definite new member as a result of the quality of the information Larry provided. Society meetings really are a fantastic way to grow your understanding!

Larry also brought a number of collected trees along, mostly Colorado blue spruce and Ponderosa pine. He offered these for sale to members, and ran a workshop in the afternoon where he encouraged any and all members to hangout out, listen, learn and ask questions.

Thanks, Larry, for your willingness to share your wealth of knowledge!

What’s with the Name?

Tags

blo name, Bonsai, INXS

As I’m sure you surmised, the name Bonsai Iterate is based on the lyrics from the 1987 INXS hit song, Mediate. Sing it with me! 

Love your mate, don’t suffocate on your own hate, bonsai iterate, a one world state as human freight…

Eh… You know, I’m not even sure that’s the pronunciation I prefer. What if it rhymed with “literate” (as in, I hope to become bonsai literate)? The first pronunciation would be a verb, right? Would the latter be an adjective, like “literate,” or would we prefer to think of it as a noun as we might use when we say, “this guy is a bonsai illiterate!” 

(Or a little rhyme) “Bonsai Iterate? More like bonsai idiot!”

You know what. I don’t care. Can we at least agree that bonsai is an iterative process? If we do it right, each iteration will be a little better than the last. Right?

Now sing me out with that little fading echo before the instrumental part…

Deviate. Reinstate.  Iterate, to iterate, to iterate…

Meadowlark

Tags

Bonsai, Meadowlark, NVBS, PBA

It’s been a bonsai-filled day at Meadowlark Botanical Gardens inVienna, Virginia. This is the final day of the Northern Virginia Bonsai Society Fall show.

 The Potomac Bonsai Association fall auction took place in the pavilion on the Meadowlark grounds. 

And there were many visitors to the exhibition throughout the afternoon. 

All-in-all, a pretty great day! Many thanks to all of the folks who pitched in to help, and a special thank-you to Gary Reese, Leann Duling and other PBA members who organized the auction, and to Steve Miller for serving as our auctioneer. I look forward a continued partnership and future events at Meadowlark.