by Bob Wilcox
What to do after you've joined a club?
There are many reasons why people join a bonsai club. The most common
reasons are to develop their skills in horticulture and design, to take part
in club activities and to socialize with people who share an interest in
bonsai. Joining a bonsai club has similarities to joining a health club. In
both cases joining the club is not enough - if you wish to develop your skills, you have to get
involved in the activities.
THINGS YOU WILL NEED:
INFORMATION
The information available from a club that will show beginners how to design
and maintain bonsai is available from many sourcesãbooks, videotapes,
conversations and hands-on experience. The most accessible source is
library books. In the Toronto Bonsai Society's extensive library there are
at least 10 books written primarily for beginners. In many cases, the same
information is repeated in a different way in each book. This is a good
thing because the repetition is an aid to memory, and the writer's focus is
different in each book. Beginners who are eager to learn, should read as
many of these books as they have time for. The club also has a great
selection of bonsai picture books, particularly the books documenting trees
shown in the annual Tokyo bonsai show. This collection is not available in
book stores and is an excellent guide for design - your visual memory should
be developed to remember how design problems were solved by other people.
The videotape library is not large - there are few bonsai videotapes that are
good learning tools as compared to the available books.
The beginner's lecture at the start of most club meetings is invaluable.
The speaker talks about bonsai activities of the season, and relates this to
local conditions. Questions are encouraged.
Many meetings have a hands-on workshop. A tree and an instructor are
provided, and the beginner is shown the first steps in designing a bonsai.
Beginners should take as many workshops as possible.
TOOLS
In order to work on trees, tools are needed. Unlike books that can be
borrowed, tools must be owned. If the intention is to continue in bonsai, it
is essential to own your own tools. The basics are: side cutters, knob
cutters, pruning scissors and wire cutters. Tools are available at stores
selling bonsai, sales areas of bonsai shows and at meetings of the Toronto
Bonsai Society. The total expense will be about $140.
WIRE
Styling trees requires wire to control the shape of the trunk and branches.
A serious beginner should have a selection of different thicknesses. The two
kinds of wire most frequently used are:
1. Aluminum wire with a bronze coating
- very flexible
- comes in a large variety of thicknesses
- comes ready to use
- available only from a few sources
2. Solid copper wire
- the equivalent thickness in copper is stronger than aluminum wire
- to be flexible, it needs to be annealed (heating it up and letting it
cool). Annealing can be done with a propane torch or on a BBQ.
- after being bent it becomes stiff again and difficult to reposition
- available from many sources
Either kind of wire will do the job. Putting wire on the branches of your
trees is an ongoing process. As the branches thicken, the wire will have to
be removed before it cuts into the bark of the tree. Branches are rewired
repeatedly until they remain in the desired position.
Five different thicknesses of aluminum wire, each weighing a kilogram will
cost a total of $165.
TREES
The way to learn about design and maintainance of trees is to own and work
on as many trees as possible.ãpreferably using a wide variety of species.
Some members of the club have as many as 50 trees in pots. This number is
beyond what most beginners are capable of maintaining (repotting, wiring,
pruning, pest control, fertilizing, daily watering and overwintering). If
trees are not getting the amount of care they require or if there is no time
to develop their design, you have too many.
What happens when you have as many trees as you are capable of maintaining
and still you get a few more? The less desirable trees in the collection
can be thrown away, given away, or planted in a garden to continue their
lives as garden shrubs. The problem with giving bonsai away is that the new
owner may not be involved in bonsai, and you may find you are still
maintaining the tree, but it is inconveniently located in another persons
yard.
Workshops organized by a club are an inexpensive way to learn to design and
wire trees. The plant material may not be of extremely high quality, but is
good as a learning tool. Workshops are usually under $50 and include helpful
comments from a more experienced club member.
Nurseries are another source of trees. Picking a tree that has a great deal
of potential requires skill. In most cases, the better your choice, the
easier it will be to create a bonsai that looks good. Small nursery trees
can be purchased on sale in the fall for very littleãsometimes $10 or $15.
Throughout the summer they may cost around $50.
Collecting trees that are growing in the ground is another source. They may
be found in the bush or as shrubs in your backyard.
Whatever the source, the problem is the sameãto choose a tree that has
bonsai potential. The more choices you make the more you develop your
skills. The degree of difficulty you encounter in trying to bring out the
best qualities of the tree you chose will give you feedback on the choosing
process. The first trees that you work on may not end up being your best
designed trees, but your design and wiring ability will improve with
experience.
CONTAINERS
Trees in development need an appropriate container. The plastic pots used by
nurseries do not adapt well for bonsai. The drainage holes are sometimes on
the edges of the pot, which makes it difficult to place screening in a
position that will stop the soil from washing out. The shape of plastic pots
is too deep for bonsai, but they can be cut down to the right height if
there is no other alternative.
Trees that are in development will grow more quickly in an oversized pot,
preferably one proportional to the final pot the developed bonsai will be
placed in. Some people leave trees to grow in the ground until their trunk
reaches the desired thickness. The difficulty with trees growing in the
ground is:
- it is important to wire the main branches as early as possible, before
they become too big to position easily. Trees in the ground are hard to wire
and hard to design when not at eye level.
- roots may grow very quickly and will need to be severely cut back when the
tree is finally potted.
- without digging it up, it is not possible to move the tree to a more
desirable location if the climatic conditions become unfavourable.
One way to deal with pots for trees in develpment is to make them out of
plywood. They can be glued and nailed together. They should have blocks of
wood as feet that keep the bottom of the pot elevated, allowing easy
drainage through the holes drilled in the bottom of the box. The drainage
holes are covered with plastic mesh just as in ceramic bonsai pots. The mesh
is held in place with wire, or stapled in place. These containers are
inexpensive to make, compared to ceramic pots, and can be custom-made to the
size necessary. Nails or screws can be put in the sides of the pot as a
place to attach wire used to hold down branches or secure the tree in the
pot.
PRUNING AND WIRING
In order to be able to prune a large number of trees without having to buy
them, a walk in the forest will provide lots of shrubs to practice on. These
shrubs will not be damaged by pruning, and will provide you with experience
at selecting branches and removing ones that are not necessary for the
design. Wiring can be practiced on small dead trees picked up from the
forest and taken home, or on branches pruned from live trees. A great deal
of wiring practice is necessary to develop your manual skills.
TAKING PART
If your aim is to learn about bonsai and to make friends in the club the
following things will help with the process:
- read most of the books.
- watch the videotapes
- attend the beginner's lecture that takes place at the start of many club
meeting.
- take some workshops.
- buy your own tools.
- buy some wire.
- get trees and work on them.
- bring the trees to meetings and talk about them with other members.
- attend the spring and fall shows and see what other members trees look
like.
- put your best tree in the spring and fall show, no matter what stage it is
at. Trees always look better in the show than in your yard.
- have your trees photographed so you have a record of their development.
After a few years it's a big surprise to see how bad they looked when you
first got themãand how well they have progressed.
- volunteer to help out. It's a quick way to get to know everyone.
- attend all the club events, particularly the Wednesday night visits to
people's gardens in the summer.