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Small Meeting ? |
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The
September meeting evening was affected by the fuel crisis. Everyone was
being careful with what fuel they had and it was no surprise to find that
our speaker had to cry off. Making a long journey without the knowledge
that replacement fuel could be obtained was not going to be a practical
proposition. The
Society could not be certain that there would be any sizable attendance
at the meeting, but a few hurried phone calls made by the Chairman at
least ensured that the audience would hear some presentations. As the
topic of the evening was to be Mame bonsai, the Chairman's call said “If
you can't bring any Mame then bring something small”. Surprisingly
there was quite a good attendance, which just goes to show that whatever
the situation, our members do make every effort to attend the meetings.
Our Chairman Peter, explained the situation and we settled down to what
some members thought would be a short meeting. Instead it turned out to
be a very full evening. Setting
a good example, Peter gave a brief introduction to mame bonsai, explaining
the size of 6 inches and the objective of trying to create a miniature
tree even if some practical limitations meant that the tree would not
be a perfect image of a larger bonsai. He proceeded to produce several
boxes of his efforts to create Mame. He admitted some examples were only
at the first stages of development but this gave the audience a chance
to see how Peter had used air layering techniques to start with a good
trunk. The audience were kept busy viewing Peter's examples as they were
passed around. There were a good variety of species, many created from
native trees and garden shrubs. George
carried on with the theme by producing a lot of mame examples, many of
which had been collected as seedlings of native trees. He pointed out
the variety of pots suitable for mame of different shapes and sizes. He
produced a stand suitable for displaying mame as a group. In completing
his display he filled the stand with mame of different species and in
pots which varied in shape and size. By doing this George showed why he
had been awarded a first class certificate for mame bonsai display at
several of our summer shows. To complete his presentation George held
up a stand intended for miniature ornaments which he had purchased on
a foreign holiday and pointed out that there are many items that can be
used to display mame bonsai. John
showed a mame Lonicera Nitida, commonly known as Japanese honeysuckle.
He explained that when he worked in a garden centre he was able to obtain
plants that were not fit for sale. Using such a reject he cut it down
to make the mame displayed in an appropriate mame pot. Although John was
modest about the top foliage he thought the trunk and bark were attractive
for him. Roy
had lost most of his small mame bonsai when the polytunnel in which they
were sheltered for the winter was damaged during a period of extreme weather.
He had brought two mame common geraniums just for a bit of fun. One was
about 1 inch high in a thimble pot with a couple of attractive leaves
but had not yet flowered. The second on was in flower and was potted in
a mame cascade pot to balance the length of the flower stalk. The size
of the flower with respect to the size of mame illustrated that flowers
and fruit cannot be reduced in the same way as leaves. He also showed
a Juniper Prostrata slightly taller than a conventional mame. It had not
been suitable as a cascade because of a straight length of trunk. By cutting
back to make a bonsai that looked like a small tree it had been made into
a root over rock style. Following that it had spent two years in a large
plastic pot before being potted into its present long shallow rectangular
pot two years ago. Keith
displayed a Juniper Prostrata that was being developed in the cascade
style. Keith reviewed the pattern of branches and the apex explaining
why he considered some of them needed removing and others needed developing.
Changing his subject to a topic still relevant, he talked about having
a feeding plan and taking a disciplined approach to putting it into effect.
He suggested “high nitrogen” feed in the Spring to stimulate growth, a
general fertiliser for mid season finishing with a “no nitrogen” feed
as Autumn approached. Keith preferred liquid fertiliser because he considered
that it allow a greater degree of control over dosage and regularity. Mick’s
contribution was definitely not a mame as his hawthorn tree was about
18 inches high. He explained his philosophy of pruning which entailed
observing but doing nothing, thinking about it, looking again and then
pruning those branches he was sure needed action. As always the audience
was only too willing to offer advice. Two
frequently asked questions were about the size of soil particles and how
to keep mame bonsai alive through Summer heat and Winter cold. The consensus
about soil was finer than normal soil mix with extra peat. As one member
of the audience put it “Perhaps we should use the residue from sifting
that is normally thrown away”. Suggestions about treatment ranged from
immersing pots in sand, grit or peat and placing the mame out of hot sun
or wind in partial shade. The
evening must have set some members thinking about mame and if inspiration
comes, perhaps we shall see more mame bonsai at Society Shows.
A member of the audience thanked those taking part for stepping
in at the last moment to provide an informative evening. ********************************** Automatic
Watering
As
my collection grew and represented a greater investment of time and effort,
I came up against the problem of keeping them alive whilst on holiday.
After trying various approaches of friends and relatives, I decided that
the only option was an automatic system.
My
system is based around the Gardena micro drip system, but Hozelock make
an almost identical system which, whilst some of the connector sizes are
slightly different, is apparently interchangeable with the Gardena.
The heart of the system is the controller which is a battery operated
valve that attaches, via a screw thread to your tap. As far as I can see,
the cheapest controller is adequate for the job and the only reason for
buying the other models are if they allow different volumes/times for
morning and evening watering - mine doesn't.
The rest of the system consists of a filter which also reduces
the pressure, some large bore tubing (in practice I found I needed much
less of this than I bought), small bore tubing, drippers and mist spray
heads.
To
set my system up on the patio takes about an hour and involves getting
as many trees as possible as close together as possible and to put extra
shading, on bamboo canes, over the top of most of them.
(Remember, for my needs appearance doesn't matter as there is nobody
there to see it!) The trees need to be placed so that all the important
trees, or those in the shallower pots get a dripper each. As some trees
are up on the bench, others can be placed underneath so that they catch
the drips - and therefore don't need drippers.
When
designing a system, remember to space out the drippers at irregular intervals
to cope with different sized pots. I use two mist heads that spray up
and under the shading to help get as moist an atmosphere as possible.
Most of the pines don't get their own drippers but survive from the sprays
alone. The drippers deliver
a stated 2 litres an hour. This
is a lot of water for a bonsai pot so I now run my system for 5 minutes
at 8 am and 8 pm, but remember that another requirement is a good free
draining compost. All but
my two large groups get just the one dripper to a pot.
I
have no intention of using an automatic system all the time. Much as I
frequently curse the need to water my trees every day, I really do believe
that this frequent checking of them, and the ability to modify the amount
of water for different trees, is an important and inherent part of this
addictive hobby. My system is designed to look after my trees for up to
three weeks. Its function is to keep them alive. They may not flourish,
but they have survived some extremely hot weather. If anyone is thinking
of setting up a system, I would be happy to advise, just contact me at
a Society meeting evening.
********************************** Programme
for 2001
At
the end of the September meeting, the Chairman invited members to voice
their opinions about the content of next years programme of meetings.
Trevor gave a general review of the arrangements that he was negotiating
with possible speakers and reported that he was making good progress.
There was still time for members to influence a few dates not yet filled.
Several possible suggestions were discussed and would be considered by
the Committee.
********************************** Bring and Buy Sale. After
the AGM there is to be a bring and buy sale for anything to do with bonsai.
Here is your chance to sell your surplus bonsai items. Too many trees,
then why not sell some of them! Bonsai books or magazines that you have
finished with then put them up for sale! After our evening on mame bonsai
you could have some customers if you have seedlings or cuttings for sale! ********************************** Next Meeting. Hear
the Committee reports and have your say on the running of your Society. |
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