President: David Nassar

Phone: Barry 0422 619 641

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CLUB DETAILS

Next meeting at 7.30pm, Monday 13 November 2017.

www.bonsainorthwest.com.au

PO Box 1091, Niddrie Victoria 3042

Meetings are held at The Aberfeldie

Community Club, Batman St Essendon,

7:30pm on the first Monday of the month

(no meeting in January)

Established:1973 A-19332L

Sponsored by:

Bonsai Northwest Exhibition and Sale – 11 & 12 November 2017

OLOGY

PLEASE NOTE MEETING DATE CHANGE TO MONDAY 13 NOVEMBER. This month we’ll be having a workshop night which will be a very busy night especially as it is right after our exhibition. Just a reminder on how workshops are conducted: if you bring along your tree, remember to bring your own tools and wire so that you can work on your tree once the experienced person or designated helper has given you instructions/ ideas/advice on what to do. The Library will be open from 7.00pm and will close at 8.00pm. Remember it is FREE to borrow from the library, however if you are late returning the items then you will be charged a $2 late fee.

Electronic Newsletter

Supplying specialist potting mix components for Bonsai growers.

Currently in stock. Mount Sylvia Diatomite, Zeolite, 5-7mm Pine nuggets, Pumice and Sphagnum moss.

Our aim is to save you time and money.

Ology.net.au Damian 0412 698 259

To receive your newsletter electronically email bonsainorthwest@hotmail.com. Extra cost of $20 if you want a hard copy posted. Exceptions apply.

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Ology.net.au - Damian 0412 698 259

http://www.facebook.com/bonsainorthwest

Bonsai Northwest Inc.

Sponsored by:

Our Show is only a few days away now and hopefully you all have picked out some of your trees to put into the display!!! This is EXTREMELY important to have all members display their trees as this is a club exhibition. Thank you to all the members who have volunteered their time to helping out at the show. Please review the roster attached to confirm your spot and we still need more people to help, so please volunteer your time. Also please make sure to put up the flyers and hand out the postcards wherever you can. Important information about timings for the show are listed below: FRIDAY 10 November Setup

- Volunteers to help setup at the FCAC to arrive after 3pm - Display trees to arrive after 4pm and before by 6pm - Sales trees, with sales sheet filled out, to be delivered after 4pm and before by 6pm - Sales area will be open to members ONLY for the opportunity to buy items, around 6pm and no selling

beforehand - Please NO Buying/Selling in the car park as this behaviour does not support the Club. Sales commission

paid to the Club helps to cover costs associated with putting on the Exhibition. Saturday 11 and Sunday 12 November Start times

- Helpers to arrive at 9.45am for 10am start. Sunday 12 November Clean up

- All hands on deck to help pack-up from 4pm.

Contact David 0418 127 262 or Barry 0422 619 641 for more details. If you are intending to sell any bonsai related items then please use the sales sheet attached. Please note ALL

ITEMS MUST BE CLEARLY LABELLED. Please follow the instructions on the sales sheet when filling out.

178 Forrest St. Ardeer, VIC 3022

Melway ref. 26 A12

Tel: (03) 8390 0942 Mob: 0425 795 352

Open: 9am – 5pm, 7 days

After hours please contact by phone

Club videos on YouTube Demonstration night videos can now be found on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/BonsaiDavid/videos

Newsletter November 2017

Sponsored by:

178 Forrest St. Ardeer, VIC 3022

Melway ref. 26 A12

Tel: (03) 8390 0942 Mob: 0425 795 352

Open: 9am – 5pm, 7 days

After hours please contact by phone

We had our very own Joe Morgan-Payler demonstrate on a cedar at our October meeting. Joe is one of the leading bonsai artists in Australia and very highly sought after on the AABC Visiting Tutor Program.

Last Meeting – Joe Morgan-Payler

Demonstration

Coming Events

Goldfields Bonsai Society Exhibition, 4 & 5 November 2017, 10am – 4.30pm, Old Tea Rooms Botanical Gardens Rd Castlemaine Ballarat Bonsai Society Exhibition, 4 & 5 November 2017, Robert Clark Centre, Botanical Gardens, Ballarat Geelong Bonsai Show, 11 & 12 November 2017, Sat 9am – 6pm, Sun 10am -4.30pm, Geelong Masonic Centre, Regent St, Belmont Satsuki Exhibition at Bonsai Art Nursery, 18 & 19 November 2017,

236 Old Dandenong Rd, Heatherton.

Clip and Grow, the Lingnan School by Ian Barnes Lingnan is a geographic area referring to lands south of China’s Nan Mountains. The region covers the modern

Chinese provinces of Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan as well as modern northern Vietnam. Areas south of the mountains are tropical in climate.

Macro regions of China. Ramification produced by Lignan “clip and grow” technique.

Chinese lingnan penjing is said to embrace Mother Nature. It is praised as an art that “Springs from Mother Nature,

Exceeds Mother Nature”. Lingnan penjing artists prune their trees with the “Clip and Grow” method. Instead of bending by wires, the branches are clipped as they grow. Every clip creates a new turn. Eventually, as the tree

keeps growing and being pruned by this particular method, it will taper from the base to apex, the proportions between the trunk and branches will be greatly developed, with branches full of turns and twists. The technique is

favoured by the long growing season in southern China and the vigorous growth of a wide variety of tropical and subtropical species.

The pruning technique minimises any trace of cutting and pruning. The aim is to show the structure of the trunk and branches. Lingnan style needs ramification (or splitting of branches and twigs) and transition of the branch size is a

must, but it is kept in a sparse manner. The style is focused on the drama and emotion portrayed by the tree and its major concern is the transition of the branch sizes from main big branch to the secondary branch, to the small tertiary

branch. (If the ramification was extended further, the focus would shift from the trunk and branch drama, to the

twigs). Lingnan style penjing are usually defoliated when shown in exhibitions to show off the branches.

An excellent penjing can touch its audience with resonance, as if bringing its audience to the scenery that is presented in the pot. Penjing artists often give a title to their works and compose a short poem, to add a thematic or

soulful element to the composition. A great title brings life into the penjing, suggesting another perspective of the

penjing to its audience, inviting the audience to view the penjing in another way, to understand the thoughts and emotions of the penjing artist that may be hidden inside the art. The title must be relevant, natural, and elegant.

The Clip & Grow Method The clip and grow method is the simplest and easiest method to train a bonsai tree. It only requires basic shears to do. The method combines subtraction (pruning away unnecessary material) and addition (allowing new branches to

grow and form the shape of the bonsai). It emphasises the acute angles between branches and trunk, and also encourages a rugged or aged effect. However for a tree to develop correctly, you must follow some basic techniques:

Work with suitable species – deciduous trees; trees with vigorous growth; trees that bud back well, especially

on old wood (ie, the trunk); eg, Elms, Figs, Fukien Tea Trees, Sageretia, Murraya, Bougainvillea. Black Pines

and Junipers use different training methods (eg, wiring). Let branches grow out. Letting a tree’s branches grow out long will thicken the branch and will ensure that

the branch has wood developed inside, which will allow the development of new buds.

Observe the colour of the branch. Branches develop over time with the newest growth at the end of the

branch and the oldest closest to the trunk. The point where the branch turns from brown to green indicates that wood has developed within the branch. Cutting at the brown location will ensure that new buds will

develop at that spot. Prune the branch to between 2 and 4 nodes away from its base. A node is basically any point where a leaf is

attached. The space between each node is called an inter-node. Once the terminal bud (the growing tip) has

been removed, the nutrients that were being consumed by the terminal bud will back up and cause the lateral

buds in the nodes to shoot. The direction in which the new shoots grow is not random, they are governed by the position of the nodes, and the new shoots will always initially grow in the direction in which the node

points. Leave a stub above the bud you want to grow. The stub forces the new growth away from the branch. If no

stub is left the new growth will grow along the path of least resistance and continue to grow straight.

As a new shoot develops, the first set of leaves is always the smallest, the next set are slightly bigger. At

about the fourth set the leaves will have reached maximum size. Remove the outer two sets leaving the

smaller leaves. Also remove any new shoots that are growing incorrectly. (In the Lingnan technique each of the small branches is treated as a separate tree, and each is trained in its desired shape or direction by well-

considered pruning). Make cuts at the back of the branch whenever possible to reduce visual scars.

You can speed up the entire growing process by defoliating trees once or twice during Summer, but this must

only be done on healthy trees.

Prune branches once wood has developed. Leave a stub above the bud you want to grow.

The drawback with the clip and grow method is that it takes time, and a lot of it! It may take 10 years to produce a

good tree using this method. With wire you can produce a lovely tree in an afternoon; however the Lingnan tree will generally be superior in many respects.

The “cut and grow” technique can also be used to grow trunks

for bonsai. Allow the plant to grow for a few years, until the

trunk is about two thirds the desired girth. Then cut the tree down to one third of the desired final tree height. After the

cut, there will be a flush of new shoots. Select the shoot in the best spot, wire it up in a natural curve to the original trunk, and

remove all the other shoots. Let it grow again until it is about

two thirds of the trunk just below the cut. Cut back and repeat, until a naturally tapered trunk is obtained. Make cuts in

late Winter; the energy stored in the roots will be used to grow a new leader.

The Hedge Cutting Method When I started out in bonsai, I was told that to obtain the best possible ramification on deciduous trees, I needed to pinch out new growth. The idea being that immediately after the first bud break, the new shoots are pinched back to

one or two buds, and that shoots that don’t grow suitably are removed. The goal is to avoid long internodes and to force the tree to produce visibly smaller buds and tinier leaves with its second flush. With that, the tree is said to

reach a fine ramification over many years.

But it now seems to me that a tree is badly weakened by the removal of the early new growth. As a consequence, it

can only build weak “starvation” buds, which indeed will grow smaller shoots. This second flush is then pinched out again, and the tree is weakened even more. Eventually, the tree will become so weak that it might die. This seems

to me to be a very questionable horticultural practice.

I now understand that this method only works to maintain a “finished” tree. And then, only for some time.

Eventually it will be so weak that you have to bring it back to health by encouraging strong shoot growth. To pinch a tree during its “development” phase is pointless. How is it going to grow, how is it going to back bud, if it doesn’t

have any strength?

It would appear that this misinformation arose some time ago, when the first bonsai trees were exported to the West.

The purchasers asked the Japanese how they should care for these trees. The answer was given assuming that the new owners wanted to keep their trees in the state in which they were purchased. Pinching was recommended

because it is useful for trees that are “finished” and ready for exhibition or sale. At the time, the Japanese didn’t think that the Westerners would ever be able to develop bonsai themselves.

In the development phase, the goal is to improve the tree. The trunk and the branches must be thickened, pruning

wounds must close and the tree should develop so many new shoots that you have a choice of useful branches. The

nebari should also improve significantly. To achieve these goals, the tree needs as much excess energy as possible, which it can only obtain through photosynthesis from as many leaves as possible. If those sources of energy are

removed too early, by pinching out the new shoots, then the tree can’t develop. In the worst case, it dies a slow death.

I have discovered a method used by Walter Pall (one Europe's leading bonsai artists) on his broadleaved trees, particularly his maples, which is pretty much the opposite of the usually recommended “pinching” approach.

Pall’s “hedge cutting” method is this:

Allow the tree to grow as much as possible to have as many leaves as possible that, in turn, develop the energy that

ends up in new buds and new growth. If the first flush in Spring is allowed to grow freely, then the shoots grow very long. After about six weeks they harden off. The numerous leaves produce lots of energy (in the form of

carbohydrates) that moves downwards through the branches and is deposited in the branches, the trunk, and finally the roots. The result is that branches and trunk thicken, the surface roots (the nebari) also thicken, and the roots

grow strongly. At the same time, many new visible and dormant buds develop. The entire system called “tree” is strengthened and it has good reserves for any setbacks. A radical cutback is such a setback!

About 6-8 weeks after the first flush, the tree is then cut back with big shears to its previous silhouette. It is irrelevant where exactly it is being cut, or if any leaves are cut. (A partial leaf pruning will allow light and air into the

crown of the tree). All other growth inside the silhouette is not touched but strengthened with this method. And the tree is strongly encouraged to bud out again. Many dormant buds react to this radical cutback and break, even on

old wood. The tree experiences the radical cut back as a trauma and over-reacts because it can mobilise much stored

energy. It produces visibly more buds than it otherwise would. It is exactly like trimming a hedge. (A hedge keeps getting denser if it is cut properly). Excessively long internodes tend to grow at the end of new shoots and they will

be cut off with this method. This method, therefore, doesn’t create the feared long internodes. Also, the largest leaves grow at the end of the new shoots and are removed completely.

The second growth is then left until mid-Summer when it is also cut off completely. If left too late, the new shoots

may not harden off in time for Winter. Usually, the tree needs 6-8 weeks to harden off. (Green branches may not

survive the Winter).

During dormancy (Autumn-Winter), the tree will not be encouraged to bud out again. When the leaves are off, you can see what was produced over the Summer. The entire crown will have become much denser, and many branch

stumps (and dead branches or parts of branches) are removed now. There will be so many shoots that you can

choose to work with; others that can be removed completely. Most of the little branches will be cut back to one bud (on opposite budding trees like maples) or two buds (on alternate budding trees like hornbeams). In some areas

where the crown needs developing less is removed. At this point, you can also recognise which branches should be changed in their position and they can be wired in the traditional way.

Broadleaved trees can be markedly improved when this method is consistently applied over a number of years. When

it is finally “finished” you can start pinching out again, especially when the bonsai is to be shown at an exhibition. At this point it will be showable for a couple of years. But eventually, the tree will deteriorate and will have to be

strengthened again with strong, new growth.

The disadvantage of this method is that the tree can be shown only rarely over many years. There’s always

something that isn’t quite right - too many branches, guy wires, a rather neglected appearance. Temporary beauty is deliberately sacrificed for future quality. But top quality trees can only be created this way. If you don’t want this, if

you are not ready to “pay the price” for quality, then you have to live with the fact that your trees don’t improve, and even deteriorate over time. But you can enjoy looking at their beauty for some time. And this is exactly the advice

that was received from Japanese bonsai growers all those years ago.