This tree has done a lot of resting lately, and getting healthy. As you can see, it had a nice spring, and was ready to be candled. At a workshop this last Saturday with Boon, the tree was decandled and completely wired, opening it up for some premium back budding, hopefully.



I'll be burning the jin work this weekend...here it is from the front.



The tree has a lot of length to the branches, which subsequent follow up procedures will correct. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

I've always had a fascination with pine bark. Perhaps from an early experience in my childhood that I can't put my finger on now, there has always been something about the way pine bark looks that is unique to me. The way it grows, and flakes just amazes me, as if it is telling a story with it's bark.
Most of the trees I have that are pine bonsai are relatively young, as some are grown from seed, or young seedlings, and are just beginning to tell their own story.



Even more intriguing to me is that fact that each different species has its own traits. I am currently growing a few different species, including pinus nigra, pinus thunbergii, and pinus densiflora. Here are some pictures from a couple days ago that I took, see if you can see what the bark is saying to you. Enjoy.

More as a record for myself, I sprayed the junipers and pines today with Malathion. Spring has been hanging on pretty consistently, minus a couple freak days in the 90's, at or about 70F. Lots of 60's throughout April, and today is 68. Great weather for us here in the Bay Area. The new growth is hesitant on some trees, as the night temps drop down to 45 or so, and the peppers that are in the ground (Thai Dragons) are just content staying like they are. They are hooked up on a drip line, along with the tomatoes, and have been getting fed, but to no avail. Once the night temps get to 55F consistently, they'll take off. Anyhow, that's it, back to work.

YOU'VE COME A LONG WAY, BABY....(and you still have a long way to go!)

It's no secret that I have a lot of beginner stock. One of the things I most enjoy about bonsai is growing the trees I have and basically watching them "grow up". Here is a picture of a small juniper I got back in July 2004 from Grove Way in Hayward.



It's a starter, no doubt about it, and as I was just confident enough at the time to do some minor pruning and shaping.



Now THAT is a lesson learned. Evidently, I was happy with the trunk, taper, and movement of the tree (yes, I'm smiling to myself as I type this). One of the great things about working with Boon is that he's up front with me about my trees. Yesterday, during the beginning of workshop, I had another Shimpaku up on the stand all ready to go. Maybe some refining wiring, some pruning...Boon just looks at me and tells me the tree has no future. And I appreciate that so much, that honesty. No more time wasted on that one, other than keeping it healthy until it can be sold off to someone who might want it at a club sale. Or maybe my brother might want it...(it's free for him). Anyhow, moving on in the workshop, I got up, took the tree over to where the others were that I was going to work on that day, and brought another over. Now this is the tree above, the trunk lacks lots of movement (which the last tree had none of) and trunk movement is kinda key, but it has some...and more moving of it might happen in the future, but it's a bad time of year to bend shimpaku as the cambium might separate. I had previously put more bend in the trunk in 2005, using lots of raffia, and bending it at the right time of the year. I did some thinning, and picked up on another wiring tip that really helped me with relation to putting too much wire on one branch. So here is the tree now...oh, also jinned 3 branches in the process. I will be finishing the wiring on this one today, and through the week. It really has come a long way since that one gallon can it was in.

FERTILIZE ME!!!

Fertilizing your trees correctly is a big part of having healthy trees-when you use the soil mix I do (akadama,pumice,lava,charcoal) it's imperative. Since there is no organic material in the soil, the trees health is reliant on what you give it.
I use a mortar tub to mix the ingredients, which are all organic meals. Cottonseed, blood, and bone meal are used (5p,1p,1p) and then I throw in 3 parts organic pellets which hold it all together when the cakes are made. The pellets are from a nursery, and their NPK is 7-5-7. This is a mix that was given to me after a discussion from some club members of BIB, and it worked GREAT last year.



Heres what it looks like with the water added, just enough to make it the consistency of soft mud. I use the putty knife to keep the end edge clean, as i drag the melon baller up the edge of the mortar tub, pressing firmly to form the cakes. The trick I found is using a cup of water and dipping the melon baller every couple of cakes, so that the balled up fertilizer comes free of the melon baller without sticking.



Once the plastic plates (thanks IKEA) are full, they are left to dry out, and then scrape them off the plastic plates with the putty knife. Whatever little bits fall off, I throw that in the garden for the peppers, and place the cakes as needed on the surface of the trees, fertilizing slowly every time I water. I replace them monthly, turning my trees when I do that, and throw the old cakes in the garden, and replace with new cakes.



Here's a shot of the finished product-this ought to get me started....

Slow spring time is the best! Seems the last couple years, we've had some springs that have lasted 2 weeks, then right into summer temps, and I for one am all for a nice long spring. Here are a couple pics from the backyard this week.

Got a pine out of a pond basket today, needless to say, the Boon mix is working it's magic. Love that beneficial fungus!