Bonsai Article - Your Trees

YOUR TREES IN APRIL

Showers should now be the order of the day but still be very much aware of late frosts. Watch the weather forecast every day and be prepared. Time taken now to protect early leafing varieties of bonsai will reward you in the months to come.

Do not allow your maple leaves to become frosted. Cover them with a few layers of fleece or take them out of the frost completely. The other thing to watch out for is wind. Wind scorch can be devastating on tender leaves at this time of the year. Even the larch can be susceptible so please take care.

Re-potting can still take place on deciduous trees that have not yet come into leaf but if the weather has been very warm then it is best forgotten. The roots will have started to grow and pruning them could prove disastrous. Usually trees such as beech, oak and birch will not have started bursting into bud and these can still be safely re-potted. It must be added that the re-potting of deciduous trees should be stopped completely by the middle of April.

The re-potting of evergreens can continue until the end of April. One of the trees that should be left until after flowering is the Satsuki Azalea. It is possible to re-pot it in the spring but the experience of well known growers has determined that it responds much better on being done after flowering.

There is some confusion about re-potting that is worth a mention here....
A tree can be re-potted at almost any time of the year except when the soil is frozen. Unfortunately when bonsai people refer to re-potting they also mean root pruning as well. This of course leads to the idea that it can only be undertaken during Spring. However, simply re-potting is a different matter. As long as the roots are not disturbed it is a very safe practice during most seasons. Usually a slightly bigger pot is used and new soil added around the root-ball. Always water after adding new soil and if the time of the year is right feeding can be continued.

Do not feed trees that have been root pruned for at least eight weeks. Neither should you feed flowering trees until the same period has elapsed after flowering. If you do the fruit will not set and you will end up with something like a pyracantha or a cotoneaster without berries. This is surely not what you are after!