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Bonsai Care in Autumn
By admin | March 23, 2007
Autumn in our part of the world is March, April, May. This is an equal best time with spring to root-prune, but do it early in Autumn before the temperatures drop too much as the cut roots need a warm temperature to enable them to regrow. A good guideline is to cease root- pruning when over-night temperatures are below 10c. This is a safe guideline for ‘beginners’, however experienced growers will be able to extend their potting times.March is an ideal time to root-prune both cedars and black pines and while I will root-prune most trees at any time of the year, I take more care with doing my cedars in March.
Any trees root-pruned in autumn should be placed in full sun to ensure enough warmth for roots to regrow.
Take care with natives, if they have new growth wait until it hardens off. This is a good practice with all trees. If you are unsure don’t prune a tree with tender new growth.
Jobs To Be Done:
- Apply superphosphate and potash to wisterias and crab apples
- Fertilise spring flowering/fruiting trees with fertilisers high in potassium.
- Move deciduous trees to full sun now if you haven’t already done so. This ensures better colour of the foliage before it falls. If you live in hot climates, the colour is usually not as good as that of cold areas. You could try watering with a little sugar in the water to enhance colour, also adding iceblocks to the top of the soil in winter may help
- You should have ceased all heavy pruning on azaleas now if you want them to flower in spring. Remember, if they are still under development, ‘never sacrifice shape for flowers’
- Watch that wire doesn’t cut into your trees over the next couple of months as trunks and branches bulk up during autumn. When unwinding wire from a bonsai start from the outer edge of the branches and work towards the trunk. If you try to work from the trunk outwards it can place too much pressure on the thinner parts of the branches and they might snap.
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