Club News - October 2018
Meeting - October 13, 2018 @ 7pm
Workshop - Designing a Bonsai from Nursery Stock Material
"...one real test of bonsai knowledge is to independently design a quality bonsai from raw material."
David De Groot, former curator of the Pacific Bonsai Museum and author of Principles of Bonsai Design
At our October monthly meeting, we will take on this challenge.
Members, from seasoned veterans to bonsai novices are encouraged to bring a raw nursery plant to start the process of transforming it into a bonsai. This can be raw material you purchased on the Calaveras Nursery Field Trip or any tree you have that is ready to develop. If you don't have a tree, we will have some available to work on or you can help other attendees. All of this will happen with the assistance of our more experienced members, so don't be shy if you don't feel your knowledge is up to the task. Come, roll up your sleeves and experience the fun of "finding the bonsai within."
NOTE: we will not be repotting any of the trees at the meeting, but you will want to bring your bonsai tools if you have them. If not, we have plenty to share.
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: October Tasks
Calaveras Nursery Field Trip, October 13
Club Members Only: Meet at St. Mark’s parking lot and leave at 9:00 AM. It takes about an hour to get to the nursery. We will spend a couple of hours and then head back, planning to arrive home at about 2:00 PM. Bring a sack lunch, gloves, hat, water and chop sticks to check for nebari.
Richard and Lynne have volunteered to drive. If you want to car pool with either of them, please contact Richard to ensure there’s room for everyone plus the plants we purchase. If you want to take your own vehicle and can take additional passengers, please let Richard know. There’s no need to “register” for this event, but it would be helpful to know how many people we should expect, so please contact Richard if you are planning to participate.
Before going on this field trip we encourage you to read the short article Finding Bonsai Material at the Nursery by Jerry Carpenter.
East Bay Bonsai Show
October 13-14, 2018 Oakland
The East Bay Bonsai Society always has a great show, so we want to encourage members and friends to go check out their show.
It will be held at the Lakeside Garden Center, 666 Bellevue Ave. Show hours are 10 AM - 5 PM on Saturday and 11 AM - 4 PM on Sunday. Jonas Dupuich will perform demonstrations from 1 - 3:30 PM both days. He will be using a 35 years old Shimpaku Jumpier and the Hornbeam (shown below). The show will feature over 50 tree varieties and will also feature a plant sale and raffle. Additional event information can be found at EastBayBonsai.org
Recap of Our September 18 Meeting
Jerry Carpenter and David Muir had lots of props to use as they walked us through the process of creating a tanuki. While Jerry focused on the specifics of tree and dead wood selection, David showed us the different tools that could be used.
What is a Tanuki?
Tanuki is a technique for joining a living plant to an interesting piece of deadwood so that over time the joined plant appears as a natural part of the deadwood. Westerners sometimes use the term Phoenix Graft as a recognition that this technique seems to be making a dead tree live again.
Selecting Your Deadwood
Dead wood will rot over time, especially any that touches the soil. Soft wood rots faster than hard so it is better to start with wood that's really hard. Remove any rotten wood by sawing it off. Generally you’ll want to remove all bark remaining on the trunk.
Selecting Your Live Tree
Junipers are the only species that Jerry recommends using when creating a tanuki. Find a whip that has flexibility and a trunk that does not clash with the bark on the deadwood.
Matching the Live Tree With the Dead Tree/Wood
Junipers have lifelines (or water lines) that connect the roots to major branches. They’re the tree’s arteries. Each lifeline will protrude slightly compared to the rest of the bark. Each major branch is connected to a major root. If that root is removed or the lifeline is cut the branch usually dies. In other species the connection between specific roots and branches isn’t as strong and so the lifeline isn’t as distinct.
When making a tanuki you need to identify where the lifeline was when the tree was alive – and reproduce that with your new tree. Otherwise it will be more obvious that your tree is a fake. Because we are usually only attaching a single new live tree you need to find the biggest, most dramatic lifeline because that is where you will be inserting your new tree.
Prepping the Dead Tree/Wood
Next you’ll be creating a big groove where that lifeline is. It may seem counter intuitive to be removing the lifeline you just found, but only a portion of the new tree will be visible as the “new” lifeline.
The new tree needs to be partially buried within the trunk of the dead tree so that it won’t pop off later and so that it looks natural. Imagine how large the lifeline should look when the tree is finished and make a groove that is deep enough to contain about half of it. Otherwise, the new lifeline will protrude too much and look unnatural.
You can cut the groove using hand tools, such as a wood gouges and chisels. But cutting will go faster if you use electric tools such as a Dremel or the more powerful die-grinder. Gordon Deeg recommends an electric chisel because it’s easier to use than a die grinder. In any case, always wear safety glasses. Wearing gloves can protect you from cuts.
Next, treat the deadwood except the groove, with a wood hardener such as PC Petrifier or Min-Wax Wood Hardener. Both materials soak into the wood and reduce future rot. Don't treat the channel/groove because you want the live tree to adhere easily to the dead material and that will prevent future rotting. Both can be found at paint or hardware stores, or online.
If you leave some of the original bark you will have to treat that bark periodically in the future. Exposed wood that doesn’t touch soil won’t need to be retreated, or only occasionally.
Preparing for Potting
Because the dead tree doesn’t have roots we need to create a substitute to keep the tree upright and stable in the pot. Jerry used a wooden two-by-four but other materials, such as a small concrete paver, can also be used.
The piece of lumber should be an inch or two longer on both sides of the base of the tanuki in order to secure the lumber into the pot.
Leave the two-by-four untreated so that the lumber will rot over time as the live tree develops more roots and is able to hold the tanuki upright by itself. Use wood screws thru the bottom of the two-by-four into the dead tree to secure it. Carve a channel/groove thru the lumber just below the lifeline so that the new tree’s roots will have space to grow.
Attaching the Live Tree to the Deadwood
Decide which portion of the new tree will be buried in the groove and which portion will be exposed. Remove all the branches on one side that will go into the groove.
Use a grafting knife to peel off some of the bark and all living material on the back side to create deadwood to abut the dead tree. Jerry recommends removing 120-degrees of live material vs. a full 180-degrees. Take it down to the hardwood center section.
Starting at the bottom, attach the tree into the groove – bare wood to deadwood. To hold large diameter trunks use steel screws thru the trunk into the deadwood. Smaller diameter trunks can be held using thin wire nails (i.e., finishing nails). Map nails or push-pins also work well when you want to go through thin foliage of the live tree. Never use anything made of copper - it's poisonous to plants.
You can also use corks held by bonsai wire to press the live material close into the groove.
Potting
Don’t worry about putting your tanuki into a bonsai pot at this stage. It will take a while for the live tree to develop. Use a large pot to give the tree the opportunity to do this faster.
In Closing
However you choose to create a tanuki, take your time and do not rush as you could easily damage the live tree when working with so many tools.
The club thanks Jerry and David for a most informative and fun evening.
Good job guys.