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While most bonsai fanciers in our great country are finished with transplanting and now defoliating and trimming deciduous bonsai, we in the frigid Upstate New York area are still dancing with moving trees inside and out, daily to avoid frost and freezing temperatures. We are still transplanting and have over a month before we can even think about defoliating deciduous bonsai. In fact, we are expecting SNOW tonight and tomorrow.

Full Moon Japanese maple
Well, “Spring” has finally arrived in Rochester, NY, although the official safe frost free date is May 30! All the bonsai are now outside and the indoor tropical species are also being moved outside, all of them.

Everyone is invited to visit this year’s Spring Open House & Sale on Saturday-Sunday, June 6-7, 2020, at the International Bonsai Arboretum in Rochester, New York. Please be safe and wear a mask.

Although defoliation is “generally” recommended as a bonsai training technique it actually requires considerable thought and it’s necessary to contemplate each specific tree and the purpose of removing foliage. Today I’ve been told that Ryan Neil and others do not recommend total defoliation of healthy maples. Unfortunately, I did not study with Ryan, whom I respect, and others. I must have skipped the defoliation chapters in the books studied. I’ve learned through intense study (both in the US and Japan) and actual practice for well over 50 years that plants, especially Japanese maple cultivars have diverse growth habits and respond differently to bonsai training techniques.

 
Every summer our Bonsai Society of Upstate New York has a garden tour. In the past we have visited excellent and interesting collections of Hosta, Dwarf Conifers and even a top Dwarf Conifer & Rare Plant Nursery.

Our Autumn Open House is normally not an expanded event during years hosting the US National Bonsai Exhibition. This is not a “normal” year with nearly all bonsai events throughout the world being cancelled. So this year’s Autumn Open House will feature displays, sales and free programs on Saturday-Sunday, September 12-13, 2020. There are two special highlights this year, a Suiseki Exhibit and sales from the Joe Noga Bonsai Collection.

I usually hold off on pruning deciduous bonsai past the first half of August. Not all trees can grow well enough late in the season to make it worth investing in new shoots before fall.

Somewhere in the mid-1950s, my grandfather, Leo Dupuich, acquired a number of bonsai from a local landscaper and bonsai enthusiast named Jim Miyasaki. When my teenage father saw the trees, one stuck out to him – a Japanese plum.

Last summer, I wrote two posts about the connection between water pH and bonsai health (see “Effect of fertilizer on pH” and “How to lower pH” for details). In light of the recent high temperatures across much of the U.S., I thought now would be a good time for a watering update.

Five years ago I posted the results from an experiment that measured the effectiveness of different approaches to rooting seedling-cuttings (see “Effect of hormone treatments” for details).