Text Box: Southern Bonsaist Text Box: One very difficult “Spring” continues. Oh yes! I know the normal folk who love the constant blowing breeze, very low humidity, no rain and bright blue skies think this is a great spring and for them, it is. We are now a bit more than one foot of rain behind last year. We are setting records for dry weather. What does this do to your bonsai. If you are staying on top of your watering your bonsai won’t die but the growth is very slow with most species. I’m trimming the strongest but the back budding is weak. Spider Text Box: Mites can become a big problem very quick. Shake you branches over a white paper and see if the dots move. If the dots move, you got problems. Neem, a hard spray of water or a product sold just for Spider Mites will work but you must spray and then spray again about a week later. Spider Mites lay eggs that hatch after the first spraying so spray again. You will need to check every week all summer. I have used a huge amount of bonsai soil this year. Every pot has soil at least up to the top 1/3 of any exposed roots. Do not allow the soil level to drop below 1/2 the depth of any root Text Box: . Do not allow the soil level to drop below 1/2 depth of any root. Best to keep it up to exposing just the top 1/3 of the root. When you use good bonsai soil you can’t get too much soil in the pot, just too little. Bonsai soil drains well. Always sift the dust out of your soil and you will not have a problem. As long as we continue this dry weather do not prune your trees hard. Keep them healthy. When the rains come, and they will come you will have a chance to prune hard and get that good back budding. Dry days keep moss a hard to find item so collect when and where you can. Joe Day Text Box: The fresh soil will fall into the hole. Do not jab your chop stick into the soil. This will just crush the roots of your tree. Don’t get in a hurry. Just keep slowly pushing the chop stick in the soil, move it into a circle and repeat. If your tree in almost sitting on the bottom of the container it’s ok to pull it out of the container, put new screen over the holes if necessary, put new soil in the pot, place the bonsai back in the container, Text Box: When you go out into your bonsai collection to water and find one or more of your bonsai wilted when all the other bonsai are still moist and happy, you have found a problem. What to do when a normal repotting could over stress your tree? Put some fresh bonsai soil in the container, gently start pushing your chop stick into the soil and move it into a circle. Text Box: secure it with sting or wire then pour the new soil on top of the old soil and then work the new soil into the old soil and described. It’s necessary to work new soil into the old soil to keep the soil texture consistent. You don’t want the old soil to stay much wetter or dryer than the new soil. It’s always best to repot early in Spring, removing the old soil but it’s not always possible. Joe Day Text Box: Page # Text Box: Bonsai Pots Text Box: One difficult Spring for Bonsai Text Box: How to recondition your bonsai soil without repotting your bonsai Text Box: containers with one night of study but it can get you thinking the correct way. Don’t skimp on paying a reasonable price for the pot you need for your bonsai. Buy better pots and less junk food and you will be healthier and happier in the long run. Bonsai containers by good American artist are the future high dollar collectables of our art. Text Box: ACBS will have another bonsai container program next spring. If bonsai is a tree in a container, the container is 50 percent of what bonsai is all about. Containers combine shape, color, texture, to speak in a visual language. It’s complex but fun. Joe Day Text Box: It is now possible to get the exact bonsai pot you need for your show tree. It might take lots of looking but the selection is vast and the prices the best ever. Our April ACBS meeting was a great discussion, show and tell and presentation by President Joe Kuhn. No, you can’t learn all about bonsai Text Box: