Tips, Advice & More
This page holds information about workshops and classes held by other clubs or vendors and copies of newsletters, advice on what to do with our bonsai each month, and general bonsai or horticultural information.
New!! BRBS Monthly Bonsai Tips
On our last member survey, the most requested addition to our club information was a short, clear statement of what each of us should be doing for our bonsai each month, correct for our geography. They will appear here as they are written.
Double-click on the Doc or PDF icon to download the file.
Thanks to Bjorn Bjorholm for the Fungicide/Pesticide information and to our own Felix Laughlin, Peggy Snow, and Troy Schmidt for the Monthly Care information.
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Jan & Feb
March
Fungicides/Pesticides
April
New
Outdoor Bonsai Display presentation by Felix Laughlin
How to emulate the aesthetic qualities of a high quality indoor display in an outdoor setting.
The latest issue of the Lake Charles Bonsai News, shared by Felix.
Click the following link to go to the website of the Viewing Stone Association: VSANA:
Articles, books, related Art, and a gallery of stones.
Creating a Forest on a Rock: Shag Rug Method
This method takes some time to grow the cuttings, but produces wonderful results. The PPt is from a presentation by Danny Coffey. Thanks to Danny and to Felix Laughlin for providing it.
Good Wiring Techniques
From Rebecca Ayre's Beginning Bonsai class at the NC Arboretum.
Root-Killing Temperature Lists
Because bonsai live in shallow pots, their roots are not protected from cold in the way they would be if their roots were in the ground. Most general information on safe winter temperatures for plants are concerned with the tops of the plants, not the roots. The following lists from Rutgers University and from the Horticultural Journal give temperatures that will kill the roots—much more useful for bonsai people.
These lists contain many plants that are not bonsai material, but some of them could be in kusamono, or you may find it useful in other ways.
Also, please see the discussion of this topic in Michael Hagedorn’s Bonsai Heresy, starting on page 84. The temperature list starts on page 87.
Also, see Winter Care for Bonsai of All Types, below on this page.
February, 2021, revised 2022 - Felix Laughlin's presentation on Winter Care for all kinds of bonsai
Click this document box to download the best summary of facts on winter care that you are likely to see:
Repotting
Click this icon to download a detaled presentation on repotting from Chris Pazoles:
Here is the link to a very good article from Bonsai Tonight in 2016 on how to wire a bonsai into almost any kind of pot. https://bonsaitonight.com/2016/12/27/secure-bonsai-pot/
Growth Media Compaction: Your Repotting Technique and How It May Affect Your Bonsai's Health
See page 4 in this Jan, 2022 issue of the Lake Charles Bonsai News.
Moss
Here is the link to a very good article from the NBF blog on how to collect moss and apply it to bonsai.
Detailed Information in Fungicides from the American Phytopathological Society
www.apsnet.org/edcenter/disimpactmngmnt/topc/Pages/Fungicides.aspx
Thanks to Felix Laughlin for sending us this link and the following two documents:
Opportunity to get a new book Growing Pines for Bonsai from a bonsai master and expert on pines, Julian Adams:
Quote from the author:
"For fifty years, I have been fascinated by pine bonsai. For much of that time, I have been frustrated by confusing and conflicting "rules" for properly growing pine bonsai. Much research coupled with trial and error has finally made the process clear to me. . . . I feel compelled to make the knowledge I have gathered on this subject available in clear English to all who may be interested . . .."
Clicking the following link will take you to Adams website and information on ordering this book.
New on March 7th: Ferns
No, they are not bonsai, but ferns are beautiful and ancient and strange. The Men's Garden Club of Asheville have generously shared the following presentation with us.
It covers the evolution and reproduction of ferns as well as how to propagate them from spores.
Post from Bonsai Tonight blog: Conversation on kusamono (accent plants) between Jonas and Sooncheng Chea with great pictures. (Click on the link below.)
https://bonsaitonight.com/?s=kusamono
Demonstration! Click on the link below to go to an excellent step-by-step demonstration by Jonas Dupuich on how to wire bonsai into pots of various sizes with different numbers of holes.
https://bonsaitonight.com/2016/12/27/secure-bonsai-pot/
Jonas is a long-time student of Boon Manakitivipart. If you scroll to the bottom of this demonstration, you can subscribe to Jonas's presentations. His website is https://bonsaitonight.com/
Demonstration! Click on the link below to go to a step-by-step demonstration, also by by Jonas Dupuich, on how to properly wire a y-shaped branch
https://bonsaitonight.com/2016/12/30/wire-y-branch-intersection/
A full year of Boon's Tips
Thanks to member Felix Laughlin, we have a full year of the emails that Boon Manakitivipart sends out each month suggesting activities for the month. Not all these emails were written in the same year. Each email has been copied into Word and saved as Read Only. There is a direct link to Boon's website on the Resources page under Artists.
Please remember that Boon lives in the San Francisco Bay area, where it is never too cold or too hot, so the times he suggests for various tasks are not necessarily the right times in Asheville, but there is great information here about different techniques and different species of bonsai.
Clicking on the DOCX link will allow you to download the file.
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Dai Ichi Gazette
This beautifully produced newsletter comes from the Dai Ichi Kai bonsai club in Gardena, CA.
Be sure to subscribe and look at their photographs. https://www.daiichibonsaikai.com/
The Dai Ichi archived newsletters are at: https://daiichibonsaikai.wordpress.com/
Bjorn's Online Courses
Bjorn Bjorholm offers several moderately priced online courses for beginners or those at an intermediate level in bonsai, taught by himself and others associated with his Bonsai Empire website. This year he has added two new advanced courses. Jonas Dupuich reviewed these courses in his newsletter "Bonsai Tonight" on November 15th.
Here is the link to his review.
https://bonsaitonight.com/2019/11/15/review-of-bonsai-empires-advanced-bonsai-courses/
The following link goes directly to the course sign-up on Bjorn's webpage, www.bonsaiempire.com. See our Resources page for more information about Bjorn.