Club News - July 2022

Meeting – July 15 @ 7PM – In-Person and via Zoom

Juan Cruz - An Introduction to Shohin Bonsai

Our July 15 program is by Juan Cruz, member of Midori Bonsai in San Jose. He will be giving an Introduction to Shohin - bonsai that are less than 10” tall. Smaller bonsai present unique challenges – in how they are cared for, the pots used and how they are displayed.

Juan is a native of Sacramento who moved to the Bay Area in 1995 and joined the Midori Bonsai Club. At Midori, he took workshops from Kathy Shaner and became inspired to pursue the art. He further developed his skills in Japan at Mansei-En bonsai nursery in Omiya Bonsai Village, near Tokyo. Juan is currently active with the Golden State Bonsai Federation. Some of you will remember seeing Juan at our November 2020 Zoom meeting when he demonstrated creating a bonsai on a slate slab.

Meeting Presenter Juan Cruz from Midori Bonsai Club

Monthly Tasks

Each month there are a number of tasks you need to do to your bonsai – from repotting, to fertilizing to spraying for pests. We have put together a checklist, customized for the San Francisco Bay Area to help you. This checklist is adapted from earlier work by Mitsuo Umehara.

This month: July Tasks

Photos from 2022 Show Now Online

If you didn't get a chance to visit our April 30 / June 1 show in Palo Alto you can still see many of the trees that were on display. Go to Club Show - 2022.

Recap of Our June Meeting on Azaleas

Gordon Deeg gave a very informative presentation on azalea bonsai. Gordon started by talking about azaleas in Japan, azalea books he recommends and types of azaleas that are desired for bonsai and those that grow well in the Bay Area.

Gordon then moved on and talked about “Best Practices” one should follow to be successful in creating and maintaining healthy azalea bonsai. There are three times of the year that are best for working on azaleas. Those time frames are the Spring, after they bloom in June, and then the Fall.

Spring Care

Repotting closer to March is best but repotting can be done as early as January. You can also refresh the surface of the soil if you aren’t going to repot the tree. When doing a “refresh”, make sure you remove all the crust to improve watering.

Spring is also the time to do all the heavy pruning; your tree must be healthy to do the drastic cuts.

To force branching further back on a branch with a long internode, remove all five branchlets from the cluster (located at the end of the branch) leaving only the base where the branchlets grew from. That should cause a latent bud further back on the branch to pop and create a new side branch.

After the Bloom Care - Usually in June

Cut off all the flowers and cut back lightly to keep the shape of the tree. Best time to do this is when the flowers look their best. Remove the seed pods also. Letting the tree flower and/or letting it develop seeds really weakens the tree.

Fertilize with a time-release fertilizer - Gordon said he is currently using Osmocote Plus Granules. Fertilizer in the granules will leach out over time. The fertilizer then seeps further into the soil when you water.

Then he adds a systemic treatment for thrip. Gordon uses Bio-Advanced ALL-IN-ONE Rose & Flower Care - good for almost a year. Get the soluble pellets - not the liquid - which comes in a blue jar. Make sure it says it works for thrip if you purchase something else.

Gordon recommend covering the soil with Yamagoke Japanese mountain moss which you can get from Jonas Dupuich at his nursery or online via his online Bonsai Tonight store. Moss is great for surface roots which azalea’s have.

The problem with sphagnum moss is if it dries out, it is hydro-phobic which means it’s really hard to rewet

Critters like to dig in the mountain moss, so Gordon then covers the moss with a screen.

Starting in July and August, you get the new growth including next year’s flower buds. So don’t prune it. Just enjoy it!

Note that a best-practice is to only let your azalea bloom every three years. Gordon said that azaleas are always shown without flowers in Kokufu-Ten, which is held in February in Japan.

Azalea Care in Late Fall

Older leaves will turn yellow and brown before falling off. Remove big leaves.

Remove foliage not needed or wanted; for example, foliage that is growing upward/downward or has simply gotten too big.

New branchlets usually grow in clusters of five. Thin out by cutting back to two branchlets within each cluster. Gordon recommends we remove the biggest one and the two smallest. You want to keep two branchlets that are growing in a horizontal direction.

Azaleas can be wired almost any time of the year; use aluminum wire, wire loosely and don’t leave the wire on the tree very long because wire scars on an azalea will be permanent.

Even if you don’t plan to let the tree flower next year, don’t remove those buds at this time. They should be removed in the Spring.

Other Best Practices Regarding Azaleas

Pot azaleas in a deeper pot versus a shallow one.

Keep in open shade - no wind. Wind will dry them out really fast. Azaleas really prefer lots of humidity.

Azaleas are an understory plant - they grow under other trees in nature. So keep your azalea bonsai in open shade.

Cuttings of azaleas are easy to root.

Azaleas really prefer lots of humidity and will dry out quickly by the wind; so keep them protected from the wind.

Books Gordon Recommended

"Satsuki Azaleas" by Robert Callowhand - out of print but 2nd edition possibly in the works. Gordon said this was the definitive book on azaleas in his opinion.

“A Brocade Pillow” written in 1692, translated in 1970 into English

“Satsuki” by Alexander Kennedy

“Floral Treasures of Japan” by Alexander Kennedy

“Japanese Satsuki Bonsai” - now out of print - all in English. If you see this book, buy it.