MEETING FEBRUARY 2011

AGENDA
Hello again,  for next meetings AGENDA, Sat 26^th Feb, 10 am to 1 pm.

We will do a demonstration at this next meeting, it will be on CARVING TRUNKS to give your trees an aged look.  If you have a plant that you need to style and quite can't make up your mind on which way to go with it, bring it along, and we will try and give you some guidance on styling. we can also do some repotting if you wish,   DONT FORGET our next meeting Sat 26^th February, 10 am to 1 pm,  Please bring your own chair if possible, see you all there.Cheers


CONCLUDED


Well February's meeting was a great success, we did two demos, Kathy from the nursery ( GCBL) brought in her Green Island Fig for some advice and with many thanks to Taffy ( who came down from the Fraser Coast Bonsai Group ) she got her advice and ended up with a very nice looking tree.

TAFFY'S DEMO ON GREEN ISLAND FIG RESTYLE

Taffy about to restyle Kathy's G.I.Fig  

The BEFORE pic of the Green Island Fig

A work in progress, as Taffy cuts while members keen eyes watch on.

JOB WELL DONE....Does the photo remind you of a popular TV show " ??? Time "

The happy owner " Kathy " with her new styled Green Island Fig.
Smoko time.

MY DEMO ON CARVING A SWAMP CYPRESS

BEFORE photo showing the area to be carved.

Using a Dremel tool to remove the inner layers, after I removed some branches and some bark previously with a trim knife and branch cutter.

Then using a wire brush to give it a rough grain finish.

Then FINALLY finishing off with a coat or two of sealer.

You can use a commercial wood hardener or any acrylic based type like Bondcrete or Aquadhere wood glue will work.

MEETING JANUARY 2011

Hello all, hope you had an enjoyable break over the festive season,  next Saturdays meeting will be about trimming and shaping your Bonsai, given all the rain we have had I expect that several of us will have Bonsai Plants and training plants desperate for a haircut and style, so if you wish to bring along some plants to work on we will do some " hands on " trimming and styling, or maybe you wish to do a repot. 

We shall also have a discussion on next months workshop, which will be a visit to another Clubs meeting.

Hope to see you all next Saturday 29th January.


UPDATE 
On our group's Progression series Tree. A photo before we remove some or most of the wire.

MEETING NOVEMBER 2010

As this will be the last meeting for this year, we shall have another HANDS ON Workshop, so bring along a plant or two to work on or get some general advise as to where to go with the plant, we will also discuss what we would like to do next year as a group, so come and join in.

UPDATES

Here is the latest photo of our Bonsai Progression Plant

Just thought you might like to see the results of Taffys Airlayering Demo he did for us at our August Meeting, go to August Meeting Blog and check how it's done.

Just shows you what you can achieve in a relatively short time.

MEETING OCTOBER 2010

This months group meeting will be about a continuation of our Bonsai Progression Plant, we shall root-prune and re-pot it into a suitable Bonsai pot, we shall have a hands on workshop, so anyone who wishes to bring along a plant to work on, please do so, soil and wire will be provided or if you wish to purchase a plant and pot, there is a great choice of Bonsai pots and Bonsai plant stock available here. We shall also have a general discussion on Bonsai culture for this time of the year. We welcome any new comers to join us, it's free and very rewarding. See you all there.

MEETING SEPTEMBER 2010

This month we shall continue with our Bonsai progression tree, root pruning and repotting of same. We will do a Workshop this month, Hands On Day, and Members and guests are invited to bring along a tree / plant that they wish to work on, whether it be a root prune and repot, or maybe a styling and trimming, its up to you.

G'day all, we decided to re wire our Bonsai Progression tree at this meeting and give it a bit of shape, and we will be Repotting it at our October 30th meeting, so hope to see you there.

MEETING AUGUST 2010

The Thread Grafting and Air Layering demonstration by Taffy was extremely interesting and informative, and took up up the whole three hours of our meeting, unfortunately we picked the wrong weekend because of the Muster being on, so attendances were down, maybe we will get Taffy back to do the Demo again another time. 

Taffy dilling the trunk of a Liquidambar to thread graft a branch through the trunk.

Clearing off the buds on the doner branch before threading it through the trunk.

Threading the doner branch through the trunk.

After sealing the trunk on both sides, wire is applied to hold the branch in place while it is taking.

Finished shows both doner branches.

Bark removed to take airlayering on a variegated ficus benjamina. 

Airlayer wrapped in clear plastic and bag is filled with Spag Moss.

Seal off the top with wire, to enable watering to be done at times.

Then wrapped in black plastic to hold in the humidity and stop the new roots from getting Sunburnt.

Second airlayer using the top portion of a plastic bottle.

The final steps to fill with Spag Moss and then can be covered with gladwrap and black plastic if so desired.

MEETING JULY 2010

AGENDA


We are fortunate to have a guest speaker at this next meeting, he has had extensive experience with the "Growing On" method for Bonsai, and will share his knowledge with us, on this subject, In ground and box growing, styling and maintenance, getting those nice fat trunks and stabilizing roots and so forth. We also will be doing the next stage of our Bonsai Progression Plant and much more. If you have a plant that you need to style and quite can't make up your mind on which way to go with it, bring it along, and our guest speaker will try and give you some guidance on styling. DONT FORGET Sat 31 st 10 am to 1 pm, see you all there.  


CONCLUDED 

G'day all, well Saturday July 31 st went off very well indeed, Jamie's demo and lecture was a great hit with all members whom attended, and we all learn't something new, most of us couldn't get home fast enough to put some of the new ideas into place on our own trees. We also had a visit from Taffy from Maryborough, whom has kindly volunteered to come down to our next meeting on Sat. 28 th August, and do a demo and lecture on Air Layering and Thread Grafting, thread grafting is where you place either a branch or even a new root in position where either one is needed or has died, to enhance the trees appearance to the selected style of the tree. I would like to sum up by saying a very big thanks to Jamie for his time and excellent demo, and am looking forward to August's meeting with Taffy as our guest demonstrator and we hope to see you all there.

Display Table from back

Display Table from front

Jamie from Hervey Bay demo on styling.

Some newer members

Morning tea 

MEETING JUNE 2010

MEMBERS ATTENDING OUR PLANT PROGRESSION SESSION ( June 2010 )

Pics of our last meeting in June, group members involved in our Plant Progression First stage, "Styling and Wireing"

PLANT PROGRESSION TREE BEFORE WIREING AND STYLING

This is the plant we chose for our Plant Progression,  before the group discussed the styling we should adopt. It is a Chamaecyparis Pisifera in a 140 mm pot.

After the group discussed the style we should adopt we each took it in turns to wire a branch after trimming off the branches that did not suit.

MEETING MAY 2010

Well unfortunately, I should have taken some earlier photos when there were more of us here

it wasn't too bad for our first official meeting, roughly about fourteen of us showed up.

Unfortunately the commercial advertising, we organised did not come out in time for this meeting, so hopefully next time the general public will know of the groups meeting in time.