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Ballarat Bonsai Society INC April 2017

Newsletter

President:

Secretary:

Treasurer:

Newsletter:

Email: ballaratbonsai@gmail.com

Postal Address: P.O. Box 614w,

Ballarat 3350

Murray Alpen

Heide Boehle

John Bunn

Murray Alpen

Date: April 6th

Time: 7.30

Place: Robert Clark Centre

Botanical Gardens Ballarat.

This Month

Gavin Dalgrosso on tree design

and sketching.

Then design workshop and work

on own trees that have design

problems.

People wishing to buy Club

Name tags, T-shirts or wind

cheaters, please contact

Alex Mckee

Reminder

Phone: 5345 1074

Next Meeting

May 4th Grafting Junipers

Chris Marchant

July 1st Landscapes

Barry Eastwood

August 5th Saturday workshop

with john Rash

September 7th Ziggy & Joanne

2017 Club Activities

Tom with some of his Mame bonsai

Mame or miniature bonsai could

well have more of a place in small

houses or flats than the larger forms,

as they may be only two to eight or

so inches high. On the whole, how-

ever, they do not survive to such

great ages,

mainly because

the containers

have to be so small, possibly only a little over

an inch deep. The containers, as for the larger

bonsai, must have a drainage hole and can be

of any shape to suit the particular Mame bon-

sai in question. The soil mixture, and methods of watering and

feeding, are also important. For obvious reasons, however, they

will need watering more frequently, especially in hot, dry weather.

The easiest way to raise mame bonsai quickly from seed, the best

method being to sow the seed direct in the final container. and then

thinned out as desired when germination is complete. For a single

specimen all the extra seedlings are removed, but for a group

planting, two, three or five are left to grow on. In order to avoid

too much disturbance in the very small containers when thinning

these seedlings, it is best to nip off the surplus seedlings with sharp

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scissors close to the soil surface.

The strongest seedlings should be pinched early in

the first season to encourage the growth of side

shoots, and if a ‘clean’ stem is wanted, the lowest

of these side shoots must be removed.

Leaf pinching is particularly valuable as far as

mame bonsai are concerned, as it not only cor-

rects any over crowding and helps to check

growth, but also causes smaller leaves to be

formed in place of the removed leaves.

Our recent participation in the

Ballarat Begonia festival

Thanks to all those members that helped

with the Begonia Festival display. We had

a good number of trees that generated

discussion and interest.

Barry answering questions

We some times don’t recognize the

knowledge that we have, and it is great,

sometimes stand back and listen to the

passion that our members have when

answering a question being asked of

them.

Some of the tress we had on display

A reminder to members that at our April

meeting we will be having a visit from Gavin

Daigrosso from the Geelong club.

Gavin will be giving a brief talk on tree design

and about sketching your tree. We want mem-

bers to bring along a tree that they are having

design issues with and Gavin will give some

advice on what you may be able to do, so bring

with you a pencil and paper to sketch your

tree. Also bring your tools and wire and we will

then move into a workshop.

We will also be taking names

for our up and coming Bonsai

nursery trip to Melbourne on

the 8th of April, leaving from

the Grammar boat shed at

8.30am.

See previous email.

We would like some feedback about having a possible

Saturday afternoon meeting in June instead of a Thursday

night meeting.

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Up and coming events

Bendigo Bonsai Club Inc. Easter Exhibition 2017 Set up Friday the 14th

April 2017. Exhibition Saturday 15th – Monday 17th April 2017. Venue –

Uniting Church Hall Forest St. Bendigo

Mornington Peninsula Bonsai Easter Exhibition 2017 Saturday 15th and

Sunday 16th April 2017 Venue : Balcomme Grammar, 389 Nepean High-

way, Mt Martha.

The 30 th Australian National Bonsai Convention “Art - By Nature” To be

held in Brisbane, Queensland. 19th - 22nd May 2017. Registration form is

available on the AABC website: aabcltd.org The convention will feature

Marc Noelanders from Belgium, as the Headliner. The Queensland Demon-

strators are Steve Cullum, Andrew Sellman, Glenn Smith, Albert Garcia,

Mark Harris, Glenis Bebb, Lindsay Bebb and Tony Bebb.

Rui Ferreira 2017 Australian Bonsai Tour Arranged by Bonsai Federation

Southern Chapter from Wednesday 23rd August – Tuesday 12th September

2017. He will be in Bendigo Friday 25th August and Saturday 26th August.