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JANUARY BONSAI TIPS

 January's cooler weather means that your
bonsai will more likely be subject to drying out due to
wind and low humidity rather than temperature. A
windy day with low relative humidity can evaporate
just as much moisture from your bonsai as any hot
summer day, so remember to check your bonsai's
moisture daily before.
You might consider starting some of your
heavy pruning later this month. This would give the
tree about a month prior to repotting to start healing
before the roots are disturbed, thus increasing its
likelihood of survival. Keeping this delay in mind will
help you to plan your potting schedule. Actually, this
is a case where patience is prudent and the heavy
pruning and repotting should probably be done in
s e years except with young, vigorous material.
Since potting season in southwest Louisiana
starts next month, this is a good time to be sure that
you have your potting materials ready. Study your
trees and make your choices for containers. Order
the pots right away to make sure you have the right
pot at the right time. Get your rooting stimulant and
any time-release fertilizers you might want to use in
your soil mix. Prepare your potting soil making sure
to screen out the fine particles to avoid soil
compaction which can cause poor drainage and root
rot later in the year. Get your soil components such
as hadite, coarse sand (eg. #2 blasting sand),
Turface, small pea gravel, aquarium gravel, clay
garden soil, humus or leaf mold, and sieved pine
bark or redwood bark. See the article on
Rudiments of Repotting by Jean Smith on pages
5-7 of the January 2003 issue of BONSAI NEWS for
more on this topic or the article on Bonsai Potting
Mixes or the Real Dirt by Don Waitkus in this issue.
As I mentioned last month, you should
remove the majority of the flower buds on your
azaleas as they develop, keeping only two or three
per branch. You will not be able to do this in a single
session, because the buds don't emerge at the same
time. Grasp the bud firmly at the base with your
fingers or tweezers and give a quick twist to the side.
Don't pull them off, because you may lose more than
you bargained for. Also, remove spent blooms
immediately after they fade, so that your azalea
doesn't sacrifice the vitality it needs for development.
Keep your azalea healthy and robust, feed it well into
What used to be the hottest and brightest part of part of the day may now be the shaded part of the day. Look
over your deciduous trees and turn weak sides
toward the south or southeast, so that the dormant
buds in these areas will be the first to break dormancy and grow in the spring.

Plan a field trip to collect bonsai material.
Perhaps you will find a good spot to lead other club
members. Let us know if you have access to an
area where a small group of club members could collect.