BSD NEWSLETTER PAGE 1 Bonsai Society of Dallas NEWSLETTER PAGE 1 JUNE 2014 Bonsai Society of Dallas, P.O. Box 836922, Richardson, TX 75083-6922 • Bonsai Society of Dallas

BSD NEWSLETTER PAGE 1 JUNE 2014

Bonsai Society of Dallas, P.O. Box 836922, Richardson, TX 75083-6922 • www.bonsaisocietyofdallas.com

Bonsai Society of Dallas

Message from the President

Now that the convention and recent auction are behind us and summer has

unofficially begun, it's time to prepare for those long hot summer days! A

tall glass of lemonade or ice tea along with the turntable will be essential

for wiring up those deciduous, evergreen, flowering/fruiting, tropical and

juniper bonsai. Make sure to find a breezy spot under some shade while

the weather is still tolerable. In Howard's case, a nice cold air conditioned

place inside the house is preferable. Remember all those past newsletters

and the helpful hints we've given you to keep your trees cool and

hydrated. Don't remember? Then take a glance at our archives on our

website.

I hope you were able to participate in either or both of our local events on

May 10th

. As luck would have it, it was World Bonsai Day! The day

started with the auction of bonsai and related items by our friends in the

Ft. Worth Bonsai Society. The turnout was good and I think I heard that

just about everything sold. We had some lucky winners of many of the

raffle items too. That afternoon was the grand opening of Deep Forest

Gallery, Larry Leone’s new bonsai and art gallery in Coppell. It was a

pleasure to spend the afternoon among his beautifully landscaped gardens

with some of his unique rock/bonsai creations. Other artist’s work was

featured as well.

At this month’s program Howard and I will be your teachers at our

seasonal Study Group. We encourage you to bring your trees for advice

and questions. I’d highly recommend that you wire your trees ahead of

time so that we can help you set your branches. You'll be surprised how

much you can learn about tree design by doing this. And yes, we might

ask you to re-wire a branch or two so please bring your wire and tools.

Hope to see you at the June meeting!

Sylvia

June Program

Monthly Member Newsletter June 2014

IN THIS ISSUE:

Message from the President

March Program

Club Rio Vista Dig in Review

Upcoming Events

Events Elsewhere

March Bonsai – Tips and

Advice

January Meeting in Review

LSBF Convention Update

BSD BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Sylvia Smith, President [email protected] Paul Muraida, Vice President, Program Chair [email protected] Chuck Talley, Treasurer [email protected] Diane Lowe, Secretary [email protected] Jerry Riley, Member Relations [email protected] John Miller, President Emeritus [email protected] Les Porter, Newsletter Editor [email protected]

Mary Polk, Member at Large [email protected] Hiram Quinones, Member at Large [email protected]

Board of Directors

Sylvia Smith, President [email protected] Paul Muraida, Vice President, Program Chair [email protected] Diane Lowe, Secretary [email protected] Jerry Riley, Treasurer and Membership Chair [email protected] John Miller, President Emeritus [email protected] Les Porter, Newsletter Editor [email protected]

Mary Polk, Member at Large [email protected] Howard Smith, LSBF Delegate [email protected]

In This Issue

Message from the

President

June Program

Upcoming Events

June Bonsai – Tips and

Advice

Road Trip to California

May Program in Review

June’s To-Do List

Link of the Month

Beginner’s Bulletin Board

World Bonsai Day was initiated by the World Bonsai Friendship Federation (WBFF). This event is to honor the memory of Mr. Saburo Kato, the world

bonsai patron and founder of WBFF, who believed that bonsai has the power to unite people by acting as a bridge to international friendship and peace. World Bonsai Day is celebrated annually on the second Saturday of May. Want to know more? Check out the information provided by the North American Bonsai Federation, the U.S. delegate organization to this

worldwide effort. http://northamericanbonsaifederation.com/index.html

mailto:[email protected]

















http://northamericanbonsaifederation.com/index.html



Study Group

Bonsai Smiths

9:00 AM to Noon, June 7th

North Haven Gardens

This month is our summer seasonal workshop lead by the Bonsai

Smiths. Any material is suitable for work at this time of year. This

is the time of the year to focus on the tree’s structure and

refinement. Hopefully it was repotted earlier this year and the new

spring growth has emerged and started to harden off. It is time to

get/keep it under control and focus on the overall shape and

structure.

Bringing a fully wired tree to this workshop would be a good way

to learn how to set branches and develop pads. Also, if you'd like to

develop your trees further, it is suggested that you pick at least one

tree to bring to each of the three seasonal workshops so that we can

walk you through each stage if development. If you prefer to bring

different trees for styling suggestions, then this is fine as well.

Remember that these workshops are geared to help you better

understand your bonsai material and how to develop it into a

beautiful bonsai tree.

In case you are new to the club, this is a program where you bring

one or two trees in for work, under the guidance of Howard and

Sylvia Smith. Bring your tools, wire, and up to two trees. These

programs are held three times a year and ideally you should bring

the same tree(s) each time so they can assist you in the development

of that tree. Before and after photos are a good idea too, so bring

your phone or camera and be sure to get a picture before work

begins. If you don’t yet have a tree to work on, come and observe.

Listening to advise given to each person is also a good way to learn.

June 7th

Shohin Society of Texas Meeting

Austin, TX

June 24th – 29

th

Tropical Bonsai School – Pedro

Morales / Timeless Trees

Rosenberg, TX

July 11th – 13

th

Nashville Regional Bonsai Expo

Nashville, TN

August 15th – 17

th

37th

Annual Mid-America Bonsai

Exhibit

Chicago, IL

September 20th

Shohin Society of Texas

Austin, TX

September 13th – 14

th

4th

US National Bonsai Exhibition

Rochester, NY

October 30th

- November 2nd

Bonsai Visions of the West

Sacramento, CA

September 26th - 28

th, 2015

Artisans Cup of Portland

Portland, Oregon

Events

Elsewhere

Upcoming

Events

Saturday, June 7th, 9 – Noon

Study Group – Bonsai Smiths

Saturday, July 5th, 9 – Noon

Member Tree Advice / Three

Stoogies

Saturday, August 2nd

, 9 – Noon

Guest Artist – Rodney Clemmons

Saturday, September 6th, 9 – Noon

LSBF Guest Artist - Peter Tea

Howard and Sylvia in consultations



January Road Trip – Bay Island Bonsai Annual Exhibit

Oakland, CA

Club members Howard Smith, Chuck Talley, Mark Bynum, and Scott Rae attended the 15th Anniversary Bay

Island Bonsai Show headed by Boon Manakitivipart. Many of you know of Boon as one of the best bonsai

artists of our time, as well as a wonderful teacher. Some of his students include Howard & Sylvia Smith,

Michael Hagedorn, John Kirby, and Peter Tea – just to name a few. The theme for this special celebration was

"Made in the USA". All of the trees on display were grown from seed or cuttings here in the United States.

This Ashe

Juniper belongs

to our friend

John Kirby

Photos courtesy of Howard Smith



June Bonsai

Tips and Advice

By John Miller

Get your trees prepared to take on the Texas

summer. Remember that the biggest stress on

potted plants comes from the soil being heated,

especially by the late afternoon sun slanting in under

the shade cloth and foliage. The low humidity in the

afternoon does little to stop the heat. You need to

provide good shade on the west side. Two

waterings are sometimes needed; one about 2:00 pm

to cool the soil and provide for evaporative cooling

and another later about sundown to get the soil temp

back down and to allow the plant to be able to rest at

night.

Leaf pruning should not be considered a yearly task.

It should be done only as needed and only on very

healthy trees. Broadleaf evergreens would not get it.

If you think you need to leaf prune, you probably

can still do it but need to be careful, it could turn hot

in a hurry. The tree needs time to replace the energy

used to grow new foliage. I have done it on

Shumard oaks successfully. Again never leaf prune

the atropurpeum varieties of Japanese maples, they

don’t re-bud very well.

When night temperatures stay above 60 degrees you

can think about repotting some of the tropicals. I

would wait another month though for the

buttonwood.

However, some tropicals can be leaf pruned all

summer. The Ficus nerifolia especially benefits by

leaf pruning and can be done more than once each

summer. That will develop the heavy twiginess you

see in the Ficus bonsai from the Far East.

As the summer progresses, the growth of deciduous

trees will sometimes slow. But you still need to

keep an eye out for errant shoots on your refined

trees. Keeping a clipper with you when watering

would let you take care of most of them. Just like in

the spring a shoot too long will thicken the twig too

much. The major pruning chore is now transferred

to the tropicals.

Tip pinching on some flowering species like the

crape myrtle will result in fewer flowers but if you

let it go they get out of shape. I prefer to try to

balance the flower/design question by pinching

early. This provides more growing tips to divide the

energy and the resulting flower is shorter. It is less

showy but more in scale.

If you have fruiting bonsai, you should reduce the

number of fruit on the tree. The number one goal of

the tree is to provide seeds for reproduction and it

will starve itself in order to do so. Most fruit are too

large to look good on a bonsai anyway.

Some days may be relatively cool to you, but the

sun can still make the pot pretty hot. Not only does

this dry out the soil very fast but the tree roots do

not like a hot soil. A temperature I have heard given

is that 120 degrees will kill roots on most plants. I

cannot give you a precise to-do list since your

backyard is different from mine but you should be

sure that the sun does not hit the pots directly.

Notice especially where the hot afternoon sun, from

2 pm to sundown, hits your bonsai area. If you use a

cover of any kind be sure that the side of the pot is

protected also. A loose weave cover is preferable to

solid paper or foil. Chopped sphagnum moss spread

on the soil surface will reduce evaporation and help

keep the soil cooler.

Get to know you trees like your children. Which

ones use more water and which ones stay moist

between waterings. If some are difficult to keep

happy you can try moving those to a cooler location

(but be sure they get their sunlight). Another trick is

to group these together so that you can hit them with

a shot of water twice a day and not have to spend the

time going thru all your trees.

Extended damp weather (if we have it) is good for

fungal diseases like black leaf spot and mildew.

Treat weekly with potassium hydroxide, or sodium

hydroxide (baking soda), or a 1% hydrogen peroxide

solution. Watch moss on the pots. It should be

kept away from the bark on the trunk.

Also watch for signs of insect problems. The spider

mites will always be near. Others to look for are

scale of various forms, aphids, and mealy bugs.

Continued on next page



June Bonsai (Con’d)

I use the organic foliar feed (1 Tablespoon each fish

emulsion, liquid kelp, molasses and cider vinegar

per gallon water) to control all these. You can use

some of the other organic controls or

a chemical according to label

directions. Always read the label

directions carefully and never apply

oil based chemicals to buttonwoods.

You should do controls on a regular

basis.

If ants, or any other creature, are

building nests in the soil, the tunnels

and cavities will prevent proper

watering and result in a loss of roots. After you get

rid of the ants, be sure to grab your chopsticks and

work the soil down and eliminate any holes. You

will probably need to add a little more soil on top.

The best way to fertilize bonsai is by using fertilizer

cakes. The cakes provide a slow constant feeding

each time you water. Cakes made with a cottonseed

base will provide as acid ph when

they break down which we need in

any city water system I know of.

Making your own is easy and much

cheaper than buying them. I use

chemical fertilizers such as Miracid

or Peters a couple of times a month

also. My main problem with

chemicals is not knowing how many

bad salts that may accumulate in the

soil and also I know that each time I water I am

washing the chemical fertilizers out on the ground.

Organic Foliar Spray

To one gallon of water add

one tablespoon each of:

Fish Emulsion

Liquid Kelp

Molasses Apple Cider Vinegar

Tip of the Month

Fertilize, Fertilize, Fertilize………Continuously

Can't afford Biogold or Rape Seed Cakes from Japan? Don't like the work involved in making your own fertilizer cakes? Try tea bags! You can get 110 tea bags from Amazon for under $10 with shipping. All that's left to do is fill each bag with cotton seed meal or whatever works for you. And don't forget the generous portion of Cheyenne Pepper to keep the critters from taking off with your bonsai food! You can use toothpicks or wire clips to keep the bags in place.



May Program in Review

Tool Sharpening Workshop

By Les Porter

Last month, we had to tremendous educational opportunity to

see, hear, and work with Bill Boytim. Bill currently lives in

Austin but is in the process of moving to the Houston area. He

has had a circuitous route for his interest in bonsai and tools. He

first exposed to bonsai during college and then has had a slow

increase in interest over many years. During this time, he worked

in wood fabrication and this exposed him to the importance of

sharp tools. He then transitioned to being a safety officer in the

manufacturing / fabrication environment. These unique interests

and his intrinsic interest in science have lead him to study

extensively about metal, cutting edges and the maintenance of

bonsai tools for optimal function.

Bill began his lecture with a short educational session that presented information on: types of steel,

nomenclature of the parts of a cutting tool, the preparation of grinding surfaces to be truly flat. Bill then

discussed the management of curved surfaces and how different surfaces meet or bypass. After this basic

orientation, we began to examine and critique our tools and had his assistance to address their issues.

There were several global teaching points that we all would benefit from remembering:

It is far easier to maintain a tool than it is to initially get it working

properly or repair a damaged tool. So, incorporating this into your

activities whenever you are working on your trees actually saves you time

in the long run.

Clean any tool after use with alcohol. This also should be done between

trees (which I confess I have the hardest time doing).

Check for damage or if the cutting edge needs to be freshened and address

this at the time the tool is cleaned

After the blade has been renewed with a few passes with a stone or other

sharpening tool, wipe the tool down with mineral oil.

Return to its usual storage site ready for the next use.

Tools should not be stored in a damp or wet environment. Many of our

tools are carbon steel which is very hard and holds an edge very well but is also very susceptible to

water (liquid or vapor) causing rust. Some of the stainless steel tools can also rust but are more resistant

Stainless steel tools are much more resistant to rust but are generally a softer steel and due to this, will

need more work for maintenance of the cutting edge.

Possibly the most important aspect of this workshop was beginning to understand that our tools are not

static objects. They are in fact, dynamic objects that change every time they are used, similar to the dynamic

nature of our trees. Due to their being dynamic objects, they require attention for care and function similar

to what our trees require. The difference being that a tool can have errors that are repaired where as an error

with a tree may result in a “finished Bonsai.” This idea actually makes working on my tools easier. I can’t

kill a concave cutter.

Photo courtesy of Jerry Riley

Photo courtesy of Lance Williamson



Beginner Bulletine Board

There are no ‘dumb’ questions when you are a beginner at any new endeavor. However sometimes beginners are reluctant to ask a question in a monthly meeting. Got a question? Send it to Diane at [email protected] for an individual response. Your question may also appear anonymously here in a future issue so that others can learn.

Question: What is meant by reverse taper and what causes it?

Answer: With bonsai we are constantly working to create the right proportion of taper within each tree. This is critically important in

order to create the illusion of a large, old, beautiful tree. Taper must appear in our trunks (wider at the base and narrower at the top) and also in the branches (wider near the trunk and narrower at the tips) to give the viewer that image of an old tree. This applies to the entire branch structure, to include secondary, tertiary, etc. branches. We must create this taper in the overall space envisioned for your ‘finished’ tree.

Reverse taper is when the trunk or branch taper actually gets thicker, instead of thinner, as it extends upward or outward. It is a very undesirable development. It happens when multiple leaves/branches emerge and grow in the same area. The more branches, the faster the reverse taper develops.

Our focus on tool sharpening at last month’s program prompted a brief conversation on tempering metal. John B. shared this video on the process of how one man takes a chunk of steel and turns it into a fine shaving instrument. It is a long video but it makes you appreciate the work that goes into creating some of our tools. The end shows a good series of shots on honing a knife. Could it be your grafting knife?

Razor Making Overview, From Start to Shaving. https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tvFO3TqhDj0

Link of the Month

Facebook

Are you a Facebook user? Our club has a Facebook page and now so does our Lone Star Bonsai Federation organization. Please consider

using them more often to post pictures, comments, and questions for our group. Let’s get active and let more people know about our great organization.

June’s To-Do List

This is a simple monthly checklist for those enthusiasts who have the knowledge and skill required to perform the tasks listed. It is intended to tell you ‘what’ to do, not ‘how and why” to do it. Want to know more? Send in any questions you might have or come to any monthly program to discuss further.

All Species

Fertilize trees dependent on species’ needs

Protect from extreme heat

Check wire requirements

Treat for insects as needed

Deciduous

Cut back shoots and re-wire branches

Feed moderately throughout summer months

Do not let shoots become too strong, unless you are thickening a branch

Evergreen/Conifer

Decandling begins at the end on the month for medium to large Japanese Black Pine only. Other pines are treated according to species and cork bark black pines are decandled ever other year. Wiring can be done within one week after decandling.

Junipers can be thinned and wired as needed, "pinching" on refined trees to maintain shape

Flowering/Fruit Cut long shoots and wire trees at the end of the month to

set flowers for the following year Azaleas should be thinned to two leaf buds on strong

areas and three leaf buds otherwise; whirls should be trimmed to two side branches.

No more pruning until late June

Tropical Continue repotting through first week in June

Beginner’s Bulletin Board


https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tvFO3TqhDj0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tvFO3TqhDj0



Learning Opportunities

Bonsai Smiths

Upcoming Classes

January 25, 2014 - Japanese Black Pine Session I

February 8, 2014 - Repotting and Root Refinement

May 31, 2014 - Maple Tree Ramification and Refinement Session I

June 28, 2014 - Japanese Black Pine Session II / Juniper Workshop – Full

July 12, 2014 - Maple Tree Ramification and Refinement Session II – Full

November 15, 2014 – Japanese Black Pine Session III – Full

We also offer soil mixes. Our APL mix is now available! Soil Prices (tax not included)

APL Mix - 5 gal. - $59, 1 gal. - $15

Akadama - $35 per 20 liter bag, Pumice - $4 per gal., Lava - $3 per gal.

www.BonsaiSmiths.net

Tropical Bonsai School

By Pedro J. Morales

Year 1

May 27th – June 1st

Classroom portion

Tues, Wed and Thursday

Evenings 6 PM – 9 PM

Hands–On work

Friday, Sat. and Sunday

9 AM – 5 PM

Year 2

June 24th – June 29th

Classroom portion

Tues, Wed and Thursday

Evenings 6PM- 9PM

Hands–On work

Friday, Sat. and Sunday

9 AM – 5 PM

Held at “Timeless Trees” in Rosenberg, TX.

Six days of intensive instruction, lecture, videos, and hands-on work with the world renowned

Bonsai artist Pedro Morales. All supplies included, and Lunch on Fri, Sat and Sunday.

The best instructional value in the U.S.

$375.00 per class

Contact Hurley Johnson to sign up, 832-526-5962 or [email protected]

http://www.bonsaismiths.net/



www.benttreebonsai.blogspot.com

www.timeless-trees.com

www.bonsaismiths.net

Howard and Sylvia Smith

www.BonsaiSmiths.net • Cultivators of fine trees [email protected] • Collection maintenance Tel# (972) 754-9883 • Private instruction Fax# (972) 661-0694 • Classes, lectures & demos

www.hfimports.com

http://www.benttreebonsai.blogspot.com/

http://www.timeless-trees.com/

http://www.bonsaismiths.net/

http://www.hfimports.com/

Documents

BSD NEWSLETTER PAGE 1 Bonsai Society of Dallas NEWSLETTER PAGE 1 JUNE 2014 Bonsai Society of Dallas, P.O. Box 836922, Richardson, TX 75083-6922 • Bonsai Society of Dallas