BONSAI ARTIST & MAINTENANCE
2011年12月15日
It was almost dark and the wind had picked up as I left JC's waterside haunt. It was another tough assignment and I pulled up my collar and rode off into the night thinking. Bonsai…? Time to redirect tension and stress and get some nitty-gritty technical info on this bonsai stuff.
A couple of blogs before, we introduced you to a talented Frenchman and bonsai artist Xavier Brusset. He’s also really nice bloke and offered to help me with the technical aspect of this art and he offered advice on maintenance, watering etc. Xavier said that the shaping of bonsai, which I thought it was all about, is only one small part of it and that there’s no ‘meaning’ to creating nice bonsai if you’re not able to take care of them properly and not let them die.
He said at the basic level, important techniques are; trimming, bud cutting, repotting, pruning, fertilizing but the one most important one is the watering.
He went on to say that the frequency which we need to water, depends on the species, weather, the soil itself, size and stage of growth of the plant. The basic rule is to water when the substrate (I had to look that one up in the dictionary) is dry. In Kagawa’s summer that’s easy. He told me as it’s hot, so the best times are the mornings and evenings and to avoid midday when the sun is at it’s strongest and the plants adapt their morphology (I had to look that one up too) and that fresh water at this time could change it.
The other seasons need more careful observation by looking at the soil or the color of the leaves. So in Kagawa it’s a rule of thumb to water once a day or every other day in autumn. In winter about once a week but that we have to be careful as the wind is sometimes dry and that would require another day’s watering.
Xavier said that the other important points are the amount of water we need and to wait until the water gets out from the drain hole at the bottom of the pot. The other one is not to obstruct the drainage, so we need to be careful by using under-plates, the roots could rot if the substrate is always soaked.
Also don’t water just the soil, as the foliage also needs it. During the summer, at the end of a hot day it’s helpful to improve the effect of the dew. And also ‘wash’ the tree, to get rid of any insects and dust.
http://midoridesign3ki.blogspot.com/
So basically, that’s the way it is here in Kagawa and the northern hemisphere. Let’s now go south to Australia to see how another talented bonsai artist does things in a very different environment.
Jason Pover was a resident in Kagawa and studied bonsai his ‘hobby for life’ here with Xavier. He says now his trees are different but the passion is the same. I asked Jason for some tips and he’s offered to tell us something about pruning and I’ll let him use his own words;
“The main reasons for leaf pruning bonsai are to produce a smaller crop of new leaves, to let light reach the inner and lower branches and to gain an extra year's growth. With a second flush of new leaves, the autumn colour is also improved. Next year's buds will be activated and therefore the development of the bonsai is rapidly speeded up. Damaged or scorched leaves can be replaced with fresh new leaves; weak areas of branches can receive more light and ventilation improving the overall health of the tree. This practice is commonly done in Australia on different types of ficus to help reduce the size of the leaves and keep them in proportion with the tree. The benefits are very obvious on a mame or shohin size bonsai.
Leaf pruning guidelines:
•Early summer is ideal. Do not leaf prune after this time or the tree may not re-leaf “
•cut off 2/3 of the leaves. This helps produce 2 smaller buds at the base without removing the whole leaf. Remember, if you remove the leaf, you remove the food source.
•normally, all leaves should be removed, although foliage can be left on weaker branches that require extra strength. With the rest of the tree being bare, these remaining leaves draw the tree's energy into the branch and weak areas will quickly respond
•always remove growing tips, otherwise the shoot will continue to extend and the desired back budding may not occur
•when the tree has been leaf pruned, its demand for water will drop and so it should be watered accordingly
•once leaf pruned, position the tree in full sun for at the least the first few weeks, to encourage strong budding
•only leaf prune strong, healthy trees”
That wraps it up for this blog and I’ll be back with more exciting and knuckle-biting stuff in a few weeks. Keep all those cards ‘n letters coming in! I may even get paid by then so I can go out and buy some stamps to reply …
*Photos taken by Xavier Brusset and Jason Pover.
A couple of blogs before, we introduced you to a talented Frenchman and bonsai artist Xavier Brusset. He’s also really nice bloke and offered to help me with the technical aspect of this art and he offered advice on maintenance, watering etc. Xavier said that the shaping of bonsai, which I thought it was all about, is only one small part of it and that there’s no ‘meaning’ to creating nice bonsai if you’re not able to take care of them properly and not let them die.
He said at the basic level, important techniques are; trimming, bud cutting, repotting, pruning, fertilizing but the one most important one is the watering.
He went on to say that the frequency which we need to water, depends on the species, weather, the soil itself, size and stage of growth of the plant. The basic rule is to water when the substrate (I had to look that one up in the dictionary) is dry. In Kagawa’s summer that’s easy. He told me as it’s hot, so the best times are the mornings and evenings and to avoid midday when the sun is at it’s strongest and the plants adapt their morphology (I had to look that one up too) and that fresh water at this time could change it.
The other seasons need more careful observation by looking at the soil or the color of the leaves. So in Kagawa it’s a rule of thumb to water once a day or every other day in autumn. In winter about once a week but that we have to be careful as the wind is sometimes dry and that would require another day’s watering.
Xavier said that the other important points are the amount of water we need and to wait until the water gets out from the drain hole at the bottom of the pot. The other one is not to obstruct the drainage, so we need to be careful by using under-plates, the roots could rot if the substrate is always soaked.
Also don’t water just the soil, as the foliage also needs it. During the summer, at the end of a hot day it’s helpful to improve the effect of the dew. And also ‘wash’ the tree, to get rid of any insects and dust.
http://midoridesign3ki.blogspot.com/
So basically, that’s the way it is here in Kagawa and the northern hemisphere. Let’s now go south to Australia to see how another talented bonsai artist does things in a very different environment.
Jason Pover was a resident in Kagawa and studied bonsai his ‘hobby for life’ here with Xavier. He says now his trees are different but the passion is the same. I asked Jason for some tips and he’s offered to tell us something about pruning and I’ll let him use his own words;
“The main reasons for leaf pruning bonsai are to produce a smaller crop of new leaves, to let light reach the inner and lower branches and to gain an extra year's growth. With a second flush of new leaves, the autumn colour is also improved. Next year's buds will be activated and therefore the development of the bonsai is rapidly speeded up. Damaged or scorched leaves can be replaced with fresh new leaves; weak areas of branches can receive more light and ventilation improving the overall health of the tree. This practice is commonly done in Australia on different types of ficus to help reduce the size of the leaves and keep them in proportion with the tree. The benefits are very obvious on a mame or shohin size bonsai.
Leaf pruning guidelines:
•Early summer is ideal. Do not leaf prune after this time or the tree may not re-leaf “
•cut off 2/3 of the leaves. This helps produce 2 smaller buds at the base without removing the whole leaf. Remember, if you remove the leaf, you remove the food source.
•normally, all leaves should be removed, although foliage can be left on weaker branches that require extra strength. With the rest of the tree being bare, these remaining leaves draw the tree's energy into the branch and weak areas will quickly respond
•always remove growing tips, otherwise the shoot will continue to extend and the desired back budding may not occur
•when the tree has been leaf pruned, its demand for water will drop and so it should be watered accordingly
•once leaf pruned, position the tree in full sun for at the least the first few weeks, to encourage strong budding
•only leaf prune strong, healthy trees”
That wraps it up for this blog and I’ll be back with more exciting and knuckle-biting stuff in a few weeks. Keep all those cards ‘n letters coming in! I may even get paid by then so I can go out and buy some stamps to reply …
*Photos taken by Xavier Brusset and Jason Pover.
"Pat has lived in Takamatsu continuously since arriving here on a one year study and leave 1981. Originally from Tasmania, Australia, he was involved in education at a variety of levels including as a specialist teacher for children with learning difficulties, and at senior high schools throughout the state. Pat is employed full-time by the i-pal Kagawa International Exchange as a co-oridintaor for international relations amongst other duties including traveling to schools and giving talks in Japanese to kids about Australia. He has been involved with youth education exchanges between Japan and Australia for many years.
Pat has been many things in his colorful life including a seaman, helmsman, welder, carpenter, traffic warden, scholarship/studentship winner at the university of Tasmania, staff at the Australian Embassy in London to name but a few. Pat has far too many hobbies which include tennis, playing jazz flutes and saxes, riding bicycles with the Takamatsu Cycling Club all of which his long-suffering family tolerate. Recently he's become interested in painting again. His wife wishes he would put more time in to helping around the house and the garden which he artfully avoids ..."
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Posted by pat at 10:00
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