Monthly Tasks November
Jobs for November
JUNIPERS
Junipers are now full steam ahead with new growth. Therefore to maintain shape, it is important to pinch back the new growth with your fingers, ensuring compactness. If left unattended they tend to become leggy, straggly and very unsightly and it is almost impossible to recover the former shape and style. Junipers do not generally shoot from the old wood.
It seems to me everybody has a problem with Juniper mites this year. Parts or whole branches start to die off. It is easy to fix with a spray of David Grays Kelthane Miticide repeated in 2 weekly intervals till the problem disappears
If you haven’t already cleaned your Juniper of dead needles, bark and scale etc. now is a good time to add this to your job list. Old, dead needles/scale can harbour all sorts of insects and fungi. Using an old toothbrush, give the branches and trunk a good “going over”.
Do not water your tree for a day or so prior to this work. Dead needles and bark come off much more easily when dry.
FIGS
November is the traditional Fig month for re-potting and defoliating. If your tree is in top condition, both operations can be out at the same time. But if the tree is not so healthy, do each operation at different times. Preferably repot first then defoliation.
Repotting - give the new growth a light trim and repot. When re-potting keep in mind the future of the trunk and the visible root system. Select a few suitable roots that are horizontal and then eliminate the rest of the small roots growing from the base of the trunk. Also eliminate the top and side shoots of the saved roots to a distance of 50-75mm from the trunk.
When cutting the horizontal main roots, make sure the face of the cut is down. The objective of this exercise is to make the trunk more interesting and uneven in shape around the circumference.
If you leave the roots untended, the trunk becomes onion or dome shaped without any visible roots. Before attacking your Figs, go out and look at some full-grown Figs: there are lots around – for example on the Esplanade, Hyde Park and many more places. The fig maintains a dome shaped canopy with a lot of bar or near bar branches. Also look at the lower part of the trunk and visible root system. Do not try to make a MAPLE TREE with FIG LEAVES. Figs have a distinct shape that in my opinion should be carried through to Bonsai.
Defoliating - When defoliating your fig it is a good practice to defoliate the entire tree at once. In this manner you will get uniform smaller leaves over the whole tree. Cut the leaf stem with sharp scissors half way up the stem.
FICUS BENJAMINA
Keep trimming branches that point up or sideways to maintain the weeping characteristics of this tree. However, do not defoliate Benjamina Ficus.
WIRING - At this time of the year, the trunks and branches of your trees expand rapidly, and before you know it there are wire marks on them. Keep a close eye on this problem and if the wire stars cutting-in, remove it immediately and tie down the branches with GUY wires instead. On some trees, especially those varieties with smooth bark, wire makes are almost impossible to eradicate.
FERTILIZER Keep up the fertilizer and trace elements. This will immensely help to build up the strength of the tree for the hot weather. You can fertilize as long as the tree is actively growing. Keep rubbing off unwanted buds on trunks and branches.
MAPLES, ELMS, LIQUID AMBERS and ZELKOVA
Will directly benefit from Phosphorus, Potassium and Iron supplements. This will help prevent leaves from burning in the coming heat and hot winds. Use the supplements at half the recommended strength but use them more often to overcome the loss caused by more frequent watering.
All Information on these pages are COPYRIGHT of Bonsai Emporium
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