Bonsai: Winter Care

12 year old Lilac (with pink Oxalis and mosses )  on a Natural Basalt stone 'pot'

Our loyal readers of  Incoming Bytes  know that  some  of my favourite distractions are gardening,  growing things, experimenting  with  apple trees,  and  bonsai.  Trees in pots.
 
When winter comes along, everything slows down,  so what, the leaves fall off,  stuff  goes dormant, and that's that-- we end up doing something else for a few months.  We contemplate, plan for next year, rearrange,  diddle, design, and optimize.  Where we live, ensuring our perennials survive the very cold winter of Northern Ontario is mandatory.

Because they are just potted plants, it is easy to forget  bonsai are real trees, however diminutive. Bonsai may be tougher than other potted plants, but winter comes for them too.

Why would we bother to winterize little trees when we know most trees are incredibly tough?  Their 80-foot tall relatives  take a beating, surviving  whimsical and unpredictable conditions, don't they? Don't big trees survive howling winds, freezing rain, snow and ice, attacks by mice, rabbits and deer alike?   Why would we need to 'store' bonsai when winter comes along? 

They may equally be trees, but the significant difference is:

• Bonsai grow in a very limited, even tiny amounts of soil, and  survive on  small amounts of nutrients.  They do not have unlimited soil under them.
• They have smaller root systems which are stressed more easily , 
• Swings in temperature including freeze / thaw cycles  within ceramic pots  are more rapid and extreme.  Hard freezing of moisture and expansion in potted plants can dislocate roots from the soil and break the pots too.
• There is less moisture reserve, so  small pots can dry out quickly, particularly in desiccating fall and winter winds.  
• Small trees, particularly apple, pear, cherry, maple and birch trees have sweet bark that may be damaged by foraging mice, rabbits or even  deer. 
• Foliage can be destroyed and compressed, branches can be broken by excessive ice and snow load,

 Extra care should be taken to protect valuable bonsai  during the fall and winter --and there are several methods that can be used to ensure your bonsai survive the winter with minimal damage.

Options include: 

• Move bonsai into a cool room in your home, a garage, or  green house. Hot, dry air in most homes  is undesirable. Turn down and control the heat in that area if possible.
• Store bonsai in a  "cold house"  (unheated greenhouse). Few hobbyists  can afford to have greenhouses heated year round,  so an unheated greenhouse is fine. Keep in mind the trees must be checked and watered regularly to keep the soil from drying out in dry winter air--particularly the smallest trees.
• Building a simple shelter roof over the bonsai display shelves.  This can be as simple as a narrow single- pitch roof over the shelf area  supported by two poles to protect trees from  heavy snow load accumulation.  Add a slatted wall on the  side the wind normally prevails from to protect your trees from brutal winter wind.  This method of storage is fine for larger trees which have larger soil volume and can withstand more severe weather. 

• In very severe climates, consider storing bonsai directly on the ground.   In North western Ontario, this method is my favorite.  It has been quite successful, with very few trees lost over 15 years. The method attempts to mimic the conditions a small indigenous tree would experience  growing naturally in the wilds. The dry leaf cover reduces soil drying, so once bedded down, the trees can essentially remain untouched over the winter. 

Here's what part of our collection looked like going into storage.  Note the pots are being placed directly on the damp grass. Pots are put shoulder to shoulder with no spacing, placing trees of similar size and height adjacent to one another.
The old  desk in the background is  part of Mother Nature's Bonsai School.

Bonsai pots being placed directly on the grass

 It takes a huge pile of leaves to bed this collection of over 150 bonsai pots.

Bonsai Collection tucked in winter bed  with dry leaves

The dried leaves are dropped on bonsai and tucked in under tree crowns where required.  Many  of the smallest trees are covered entirely with a couple of inches  of leaves.
 *Notice the Spartan apple tree sprout still has GREEN leaves on. For November 3, 2011, that is pretty amazing.  Young fruit trees can survive winter storage using this  method.  This Spartan  has survived winter  two years already and will be planted in the spring.

Here's what the same collection looks like after it froze and collected a few inches of snow.  In winters of heavier snow collections, only the tips of the very tallest may be seen.

Winter storage of bonsai. * Note the chicken-wire enclosure.

 Note the enclosure made of ordinary chicken-wire netting and some temporary steel posts that can be quickly and easily  removed from the lawn in the spring.

The only caveats that apply to this simple storage system are:

• If you live in an area where heavy, wet extreme snowfall is normal,  snow loads may break branches or deform crowns if they are thick and  not supported properly.   This method of storage is not recommended for extremely valuable old specimens in stages of advanced design.
• Non-indigenous species from warmer geographical locations are subject to frost damage, so should be in a warm environment
• If  bonsai are bedded too early they may not be dormant. *Ensure your trees are fully dormant with no leaves,  especially if they are small specimens that may be covered completely.
• Water the trees prior to installing the leaf cover with dry leaves. Do not soak down the leaves to minimize compacting and matting over smaller trees.
• Timing is important.  The ideal time to cover your bonsai is just before serious cold weather sets in. If it warms up and snow melts, the bonsai will be self-watering and absorb some water from the ground beneath. 

 In the spring, remove the leaves after the snow has melted. It is not necessary to remove every leaf but do expose the moss-covered  surfaces on each pot. Leaving a heavy leaf cover  too late in the spring  may encourage opportunistic molds to grow on the soil, moss surfaces, or even the trees themselves. 
Some pots  may also  be frozen to the ground and should be left undisturbed until easily loosened to avoid breakage.
Return the trees to your display area in the spring.  Wipe the pots down carefully, remove trash, sticks  and leaves,  and prune the trees  if required.  Let's not forget inspecting the trees for  compacted  root systems,  root trimming,  wiring,  topping up of soil,  design changes or other modifications.

 It's also a great time to photograph your trees while they are bare,  plan their long-term designs,  and transfer them into permanent or  larger pots  as required!

Life's Animations: Susquehanna Cats

Every once in a while we have to take a break and think creatively. Our project at Incoming Bytes this day is to participate in a writing challenge about "inanimate objects".
I thereby present  "Susquehanna Cats"  for your amusement....

Susquehanna Cats

When there's no cats around  she leans on me gently and walks about  in the  mud barefoot, feeling for clams in the warm  summer water with her toes.  She says the mud and pebbles and bubbles of gas that trickle up from the water-weeds  tickle her feet.   No wonder, it's slow, warm water  above the  Susquehanna  Rapids, the one with the little falls.  The little falls is 2' high.   She calls it her two-foot toe-wash.

 That's how she describes it, and she found it, so she must have understood her father's instructions just fine, and that was good enough for me.

She moved from the city, where  she could have a garden,  hundred-year old cabin or not. 

 The old man's cabin, with silvered cedar shakes on the roof, is close to where  he got himself killed off by a  Greyhound .   I was in the truck . We were getting cats that day too.

 She keeps turkeys and  hounds and an old bay horse named Buckley.  He's the only horse around that  knows how to round up  turkey dogies .  The hounds are 'Here' and 'There' .  They want her to throw sticks out in the water, but watch the gobblers for her.  Old Bones,  he's  always with us too,  he got one puppy- leg chewed off  and her daddy  didn't want to call him Tripod.

 I was with her fishing on the river. The water is lazy and you can smell the swamp grass along the edges.  The big  catfish explore the warm water along muddy banks, sunning and teasing me. 

 Sitting on the river waiting for catfish to bite is always a pleasure,  even stuck in the mud, and that's what she did, came out on  the bank to sit and watch me, in the early morning, sun, rain,  fog or not, waiting for the cats.

 "Hey Bones, look who's here!" she said.  Buckly snorted.  That always makes her jump.    

  She puts me under her arm when her hands get cold. She shivers. 

"Time to go" she said after an hour,  just to wind me up. I'd rather stay, but  I said okay.  She doesn't hear me, but I tell her anyway.

"Okay".   The cats weren't biting, they're not hungry, just  teasing  the dogs.  Fish are more communicative than some people, says my buddy  Harvey.  He likes trout better than cats. He sits in the corner most of the time and dreams about fish.  

 "Here, Mutts!" she called, and they came running. 

  We go in for coffee, and she makes hot biscuits, the good kind with cheese in them.  I  go with her to the coop and get eggs though, she says that's mandatory.

"That's the rules we live  by, we want'em,  we go  get'em" she says.

"I don't go in the coop without you".  There's snakes.  I help whack them  and I get bit.    She sends the big neighbour boy in with a real  snake stick sometimes,  he gets 'em and takes them home to eat--the snakes, I mean. 

 I didn't need eggs. I don't eat eggs.  I don't eat much at all. I stand  in the corner with Harvey.   He asks me if I caught any cats. Sometimes I tell him yes, just to wind him up but he knows better. For him, that's a  real catharsis, he happily unwinds,  he likes trout better.

"No fish, -- so shall we have biscuits, boys?" she asks.  

"Just  biscuits will be fine, Ma'am"  we say, relaxing. 

"That's what I thought, " she said laughing.  "would you boys like peach jam too? " 

"That would be fine,  Ma'am"  I say. She doesn't hear me.

"That'll be fine for me too, I'll make coffee" she says, her eyes twinkling.  

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Gardening: Unexpected Treasures

 

MJ's potato plant

Do you have to go to sleep to dream?
I think not.  
I close my eyes and dream of gardening, 
vegetables....and green stuff.....That is if I don't go to sleep first. 
It is winter, an unusually mild one at that. The snow was melting yesterday,-- on  January 11th, almost unheard of,  --but it insists on snowing  again today to make up for it.   Go figure.             

 Up in N.W. Ontario, winter is  definitely "Welcome to  Canada".
 That's always  justification for snow,  isn't it?  A necessary and attractive diversion  when it's dull and  overcast.   Kids love it, you can shovel it, slide on it, build a snowman, go skiing, or get stuck in it. 
At times I say, "Who needs it? " 

 The fact is, here in the environs of Incoming Bytes -- either you get along with snow --or you move to Arizona.   Arizona, is really a desert state, so let us dream...nice and warm,  the sun is shining --and it's the place where M.J.  Joachim might be at any time, lolling in the back yard writing--or gardening. 

 M.J. is my guest blogger today.  These are her photographs too! 
M.J. has been our guest previously, (Gum Pets on the Hill)  --which has been one of our most popular posts, --- so I am proud to have her back  with us once again!
 Please welcome M.J. Joachim --as she  shares some  Unexpected Treasures.

                     Finding Unexpected Treasures       

                                          by  M.J. Joachim

 One of the most amazing things about a compost pile is that you never quite know what new life might sprout from it, as things decay and break down, nourishing the soon-to-be soil.

While doing my dishes one day and looking out my kitchen window,I was intrigued to notice a very full, vibrantly green plant.  Having neglected my compost for quite some time, curiosity couldn’t be kept at bay as I turned off the water and rather hurriedly headed out into the yard . 
 Sure enough, there amidst piles of old leaves,  ancient coffee grounds and a rather large surplus of spoiled fruits and vegetables from the last time I cleaned out my fridge, --was a flourishing emerald bush, the likes of which I had never seen before.

Needless to say, I took care to pay more attention to my compost pile from that day forth, finding all sorts of new things to add to it, hoping to provide extra nutrients for the newest addition to my landscape. 

I also made a point to continue watering the area, once the jet stream moved farther north, leaving us with little or no rain to speak of. As you can see from the pictures, my little plant appears to be holding its own fairly well.

Admittedly, I was wondering what type of plant was actually growing. Wanting to test my garden knowledge, I chose to wait it out for a while, hoping it's growth might give it away at some point, a light bulb would go off, and I’d say to myself, 

“Why of course, it’s a *potato. I should have realized that so much earlier than this.” 

It was not to be, and Google became ever more intensely tempting, until finally I ran across a blog  about growing potatoes, complete with pictures of plants in various stages of development.

Truth be told, I wasn’t looking for information on potatoes at the time at all; it was the picture that caught my eye and led me to  Google  for more pictures of potato plants.  

I’m  now convinced the foliage is that of a potato plant, though you cannot hold me to it, --on account I won’t be certain until the full cycle of the plant has taken place. However, I do believe I’m growing potatoes in my compost pile, and am patiently waiting to harvest them when the time is right.

Life is a lot like our compost piles, isn’t it?

We dump all sorts of stuff in our hearts and heads, piling garbage and debris ever higher, avoiding the heap, even while it breaks down --and challenges us to recognize its changes. 

Trash becomes necessary nutrients and even the foundation for new growth.

 How easy it is to dismiss growth by searching in other directions; hoping for something different --and trying to control the natural course of events. 

 Every once in a while, however, life catches us by surprise, and what it shows us is something so beautiful that even though it seems completely out of place, we embrace what we see,  and smile. 

 Before long, the good that has been there all along can be revealed, encouraging and allowing us to discover ourselves a little bit more --perhaps more than we thought we wanted to, offering us an opportunity to reach out to those who might benefit from our experiences and challenging us to be more effectively human toward the rest of all mankind. 

 

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                                                              About our Guest Author

M.J. Joachim is a freelance writer and self-described die-hard 
American who believes in common sense, hard work, and the
American dream.  Freelance writing in a number of genres enables her to share knowledge and opinions on a large variety of subjects --in varying styles and venues.  M.J is a strong believer in freedom of speech and human values.


    In a dedicated effort to emphasize the often neglected value of humanity and self-worth of all human beings,  M.J. recently created  a new website   http://www.effectivelyhuman.com .

 M.J.  also recently  published several E-books including  'The Merciful Victory of the Cross' ,  'Beyond our Words Prayers and Reflections' ,  and  a FlashTyme series of stories that may be found at:    http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/mjjoachim




We  at Incoming Bytes believe M.J.  has discovered  the fine hobby of growing potato plants.  Isn't she lucky?   Will the treasures be red or white?   
Meantime....zzzzzz....it's still snowing here....

* Note: potatoes are not commonly grown  in hot desert climates.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it