SPECIAL MEETING
--
November 12, 2004
7:00-10p.m.
Yosuke
Omizo.
Due to this
exciting presentation, we will not have a beginners
program this month.
Last month,
Yasuo
Mitsuya,
one of the top bonsai masters in Japan, and Kathy
Shaner's teacher during her 5-year apprenticeship,
demonstrated styling a large, old San Jose Juniper.
This month we
were fortunate to have another of his apprentices
with us. Yosuke Omizo did his apprenticeship
following Kathy Shaner. If you were at the 2004
GSBF Convention in Santa Rosa last week you may
have seen him -- he was a featured assistant. He
comes from a family with a bonsai nursery in Tokyo,
but took an apprenticeship to hone his skills to a
higher level.
Tonight
Yosuke
Omizo
worked on a 40+ year old black pine from John
Planting. At the end of this evening, there was a
benefit drawing and a lucky person took home the
Black Pine demo tree. Next month's newsletter will
have more details about the demo.
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Yosuke Omizo wiring the demo
tree.
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Mitsuya and Shaner
Demo
Reported by
Bill Scott
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Yasuo
Mitsuya and Kathy Shaner
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During our
October meeting Yasuo Mitsuya and Kathy Shaner, acting
as assistant and translator, demonstrated styling a
San Jose Juniper.
The 5 gallon San
Jose juniper was originally styled 20 years ago by
John Planting in a class with Tosh, our club
founder. It was about 2 feet tall and somewhat
wider. It had a curvy trunk with base diameter of
about 3 to 4".
Mr. Mitsuya went
over the tree doing trimming and thinning of
unwanted foliage. This old tree had several 1/2 to
1 inch diameter lower branches that he wrapped with
thick (#6 and #4) annealed copper wire for bending
to his desired shapes. He used two long-handle jin
pliers (very important) to grasp the wire, he (with
occasional assistance by Kathy using a second set
of pliers) used great effort to bend these branches
into beautiful curves.
I was impressed
with the graceful shapes he achieved with this
stiff, thick old wood without using pulley wires.
Kathy explained that he twisted the wire as he bent
it, causing small (and some not so small!)
longitudinal cracks in each branch. This cracking,
she said, is instrumental in getting the shape to
hold in such thick branches. He covered all cracks
with a liquid sealer similar to cutpaste.
He then wired and
shaped all of the remaining smaller branches,
completing the design as an informal upright style
bonsai. He remarked that he left some branches
longer than the final design to keep tip foliage
until new buds could pop back along the branch.
After new buds pop these longer branches are to be
shortened to get a compact foliage design. He said
the process of trimming and bending branches will
actually stimulate foliage budding on closer in,
older branch parts. He carved some thicker branch
tips into interesting jin (deadwood).
According to Mr.
Mitsuya, the heavy wires should be removed in one
year and the branch shapes will then be permanent,
thanks to the cracking! Smaller wires holding
thinner branches must be watched for removal as
required to avoid bark wire marks. These may need
further rewiring to hold. He recommends juniper
wiring and repotting be done at a time (like now)
when a tree is taking in much water. The demo tree
could be repotted right away into a training pot.
For junipers he
recommends 5-5-5 organic fertilizer now. Kathy
encouraged us to try a new fertilizer she has been
using. It contains mycorrhizae, a beneficial fungus that
works with plant roots to increase the update of
nutrients. For more information about
mycorrhizae see the article below.
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Whitney Farms LifeLink
fertilizer with mycorrhizae
can be found at Orchard
Supply Hardware and other
suppliers.
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How much to
use?
Kathy said that September, October and even early
in November she would use a tablespoon for an
average size pot -- 12-14x9x3. She would use that
amount every 3-4 weeks. Then November thru until
March she would use 0-10-10, bone meal and/or Super
Phosphate. Then she recommends switching to a
higher nitrogen fertilizer. Previously she's
recommended Osmocote, alternating with Miracle-Gro
or Miracid, or an organic version. She believes
that organic fertilizer produce healthier trees --
perhaps because of the different micronutrients, or
other reasons (your notetaker didn't write down the
exact rationale).
The beautiful
demo tree was raffled and was won by Dave
Curbow.
Retraction and
Apology
There was an
unfortunate mistake in the newsletter that was
mailed to our club members. We deeply regret that
the article reporting on last month's demo used
another teacher's name instead of Mr. Mitsuya's.
Upcoming Events
December will be our annual Christmas party
and pot luck. Volunteers are needed to help produce
this event. We need someone to make sure we have
our traditional ham and perhaps a turkey. Also need
someone to be in charge of table displays. Please
check in with our Vice President and program
coordination Sandy Planting
