Text Box: P.O. Box 9591 Mobile, Al 36691 E-Mail..ACBSbonsai@aol.com Web site azaleacitybonsaisociety.com Text Box: Azalea City Bonsai Society Text Box: Text Box: Text Box: Text Box: Text Box: Phone:251-344-5873 Fax: 251-342-6431 Text Box: Dedicated to the art of bonsai Text Box:

The Small Window

Spring is the big window of opportunity for bonsai artist. The daylight hours will grow longer each day, the days will get warmer, the winds will die down and the threat of damaging cold decreases with each passing day.  Growing days until the heat dormant time can be up to 150 days. Fall  (September to ? ) is the small window. The daylight hours grow shorter each day, the days get cooler, we go into our (normal) driest months of September and October and the days until the first frost can be as short as about 45 days. The last 5 or so years we have not seen frost until late November or into December but  you can’t bet  on it.  To take advantage of this small window you must stay of top of all your bonsai horticultural duties every day. As soon as each species starts pushing new growth feed it  a bit, give it the correct amount of sunlight and keep it moist. Do not just prune off the new growth. Take time to prune considering  the exact design t he tree is to grow into. When spring comes the buds you leave and the direction they are growing will be the starting point of the explosion of growth spring brings. If you prune without considering this critical point you will probably just have to prune away all your spring growth and start again later in the spring, loosing all that great development, your time and effort.  Fall new growth has to be watched daily with an eye to fungus problem and bug problems. Spray for both as needed. Do not get greedy and push your bonsai too hard. They need to greet the first frost with little or no tender growth. A low nitrogen fertilizer will give the bonsai enough energy to put on new growth without pushing it to grow to excess. The Fall plan should be to fill in area’s not fill out the form. Camellia, Azalea and Trident  Maple can be severely damaged if they are exposed to frost when they have tender growth exposed. It’s best not to do any severe pruning on these species after middle August.  Ask Joe or Fred if you have questions about fall work on any species you are not sure of.  

                                                                                                                  Joe Day