Watering. Again?
Yes. Here
I am again…preaching to you about
watering. Bully pulpit? I guess I need to cloth myself
in religious garments because I speak so often of the
two commandments of Bonsai care – lots of light
and lots of water. This
time of year we really do need to keep an eye out
for your Bonsai drying out. It’s hot and
depending on your climate…quite possibly
dry. This means you need to check your Bonsai daily
to insure it has adequate moisture in its root area.
Remember, we use a very porous soil – so the
roots can and will be subject to more times when
they will require watering. Here in Dallas we are
watering twice daily now…in the morning before
we go to work and in the late afternoon when we return
from work. This routine takes only a few minutes
so don’t get lazy or procrastinate – do
it.
Whats New?
We have
a lot of new and exciting items here at Dallas
Bonsai Garden. We just got a container in from
Japan. Some of the items we got are:
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Many
new items in the tool line. |
| • |
Many
new Masakuni tools – and we’re
buying in such large quantities now that we
have gotten a better discount – which
we are passing on to you. |
| • |
.8
mm wire for those tiny branches you’ve
needed to wire. |
| • |
Japanese
Zeolite is back in stock |
| • |
A
new sand/gravel – Oiso Sand. It’s
a beautiful larger brown gravel that will be
excellent as a top dressing or to incorporate
into your soil mix. |
| • |
The
Juniper book is now back in stock. |
| • |
Bud
Ripping tweezers |
| • |
Jin
Knives – 9 and 12 mm |
| • |
Jin
Graver for mini Bonsai |
| • |
Bonsai
Graver (tsurukubi) |
| • |
Black
metal jin graver |
| • |
Black
metal jin graver for our left handed hobbyist |
| • |
Hand
Made saws |
| • |
New
knob cutter |
| • |
New
narrow rounded blade concave cutter |
| • |
Non-stick
coated twig scissors |
| • |
Non-stick
coated twig scissors for azaleas |
| • |
Mini
Bonsai Scissors |
| • |
14” wire
cutter |
| • |
28” professional
branch bender |
| • |
a
new pruning compound that comes in larger sizes…200 gram…500 gram…and
1 kilo sizes. |
Sorry,
we couldn’t get the pictures up for
this email. We do apologize for that. They will be
ready for viewing very soon. Bookmark our new
items page. They will be up there as soon as we can get
the images ready.
We are
excited by these new
items…and
there are more coming!!!
Stay tuned…
Helpful
Hints and Tips!
Here are the
tips and tricks we received last month:
Marcia
Cash
Traveler in Thyme
http://www.travelerinthyme.com
Here are my tips for growing
trees native to your area as bonsai:
First,
use the soil indigenous to the area, which
in my case means black clay mixed with limestone
gravel (caliche) and horse manure. Not
your typical bonsai mix, but great for Texas Hill
Country trees. When
I sell a tree, I send along a bag of native dirt
so it won't get homesick.
I water with rainwater
from a cistern, which really helps keep things
healthy.
Plants
know the difference between rain and tap water,
for sure. Especially
in Texas, where the well water is hard and alkaline.The
wild things live on dew fall & fog----
we
get 30 inches of rain a year, but it comes
all in three flash floods, the
rest of the months are very humid without any
real precipitation.
I
seem to have more bugs on my native trees than
on the imported stock, so
I make sure never to place them under a Real tree
of the same species. For
instance, any oaks in pots should not be under
an oak tree, or
the little caterpillars will drop down and gobble
them up.
We live in an organic
garden, so spraying is not an option.
But
the yaupons, junipers, and maples do fine in some
oak shade, since
we have more problems with heat and too much sun
here, than
might be the case in milder climates. This
is my first year attempting maples & fir trees, which
all made it through the winter just fine, we
will see how they like the summers, which are deadly.
I
tend to overpot my trees, giving them a bit deeper
dishes, just
to keep them from baking dry in half a day. Bowl
containers seem to be growing the healthiest specimens,
I
don't know why. Our
soil is very shallow and rocky, so the wild trees
grow in rafts. If
you knock one over, the roots are wide but don't
go very deep.
So
many of our local species to make great bonsai...junipers,
live oaks, spanish oaks, yaupons, hawthorns, rough
leaf dogwood. Live
oaks are a pain, I've only gotten a few good ones
from dozens of seedlings.
The
real trees in the surrounding forest all look like
giant bonsai, twisty
and bent where they were crowded by the junipers
we cleared. But
the baby trees look like Q-tips for 10 years before
they start to fill out. I
have hope, though!
The
best place I've found for buying tiny trees is
to join the
National Arbor Day Foundation. You
get 10 trees for your $25 membership, plus
a catalog of all sorts of tempting varieties. Everything
I've received from them, down to the scrawniest
twig in the mail, has
really grown nicely.
One
more hint: cheap
training pots. For
new seedlings I use plastic microwave dishes as
pots. Just
make a crack in the bottom to let the water drain, and
use the lid as a saucer underneath. These
are great for heeling in bare root stock from the
Arbor Day catalog. Then,
if your little seedling shows promise in a year
or two, you
can buy it a nicer pot from Dallas Bonsai.
You
guys are the greatest!
Thank you very much.
Thanks Marcia! We really enjoyed your advice and
information! You really have some great tips here.
Especially the National Arbor Day Foundation. Bonsai
Enthusiasts all over the country should make use
of that. Thank you for sharing them with us and
our readers!
Note:
Some gardening purists believe that
native soil is living and thus can harbor diseases
and insects that can harm your plant, however indigenous
species are usually accustomed to native soils. The
only sure way to know that a native soil is safe
to use is to bake it in the oven until the inner
temperature is over 200 degrees Fahrenheit.
The
ideas and opinions expressed are not necessarily
the views and opinions of Dallas Bonsai Garden.
Do
you have great bonsai tips, tricks or ideas
that you would like to share
with other Bonsai Enthusiasts?
As a service to the thousands upon thousands
of our loyal customers who receive this
newsletter monthly, we are starting a Helpful
Hints and Tips column
on our website and in this newsletter. We
ask you to forward any idea, information,
pointer, tip, trick or item that
you think might be helpful to other Bonsai Enthusiasts.
We will be happy to attribute these ideas
to you and we will use every item that's
fit to print. Everyone,
everywhere has some unique and useful suggestions that
can be very beneficial. Share
your thoughts. Please help your fellow
Bonsai friends. We
will be happy to showcase these Helpful
Hints and Tips as a way of giving
back to this exciting and fulfilling hobby.
Plus, you might become known as a Bonsai
Master. :)
Send all tips and tricks to dallasbonsai@comcast.net
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