The Mayan Apocalypse

Or rather, the Apocalypse That Wasn't. Looks like thoughs rapture guys arn't the only ones missing their mark. Thankfully.

I know one person I work with was kinda hoping something would happen that would wipe her student loans. Can't say that I blame her for that idea.

I wonder if all the people that bought 'doomsday' survival kits are demanding a return?

I won a Large Ficus Bonsai in a raffle

I have a small idea what I want to do to it...

It's not a lot... but in three weeks I'm going to defoliate it and then I can plan better. :3


Also... this is a good compareson shot...

It's a beast.

I have no idea where I am going to keep this thing in the winter.

Going to a Bonsai Club meeting

Seriously, if you are just getting into the art or if you have only
been reading about it for years, you need to go to a bonsai club
meeting. You have no idea how fun it was to talk, see and touch real
trees and theories.

I have problems with the whole wire wrapping thing. I make jewlery but
when wrapping branches I start to panic. This class/meeting I went to?
It helped so much.

And yes, I got a tree at the class.

They just started having a bonsai club at my local dojo and I need to
join. :3 I think they are working with the Buffalo Bonsai Club but I'm
not totally sure yet. I'm swinging by tonight to find out for certian.

And when I go I am taking my grape vine 'pre-bonsai' attempt with me.
The instructor from my class was intrested in seeing it because he
haden't seen one before.

Terror of Chipmunks!

So I have been battling the chipmunk apocalypse that is happening in my garden. Well yesterday I got a little revenge on one.

 

This particular chipmunk, that I have since named Bob, is extremely cocky and stubborn. Bob no longer runs away when I yell and open the gate. I can actually get within 3-4 feet of Bob before he runs away.

 

Now, I had been chasing Bob away from my plants and bird feeder of and on for about 30 minuets. Then I got the brilliant idea the bang on the back of an old pan as I chased him. So I waited and then I went on the other side of Bob and started chasing & banging the pan.

 

I ended up chasing Bob down the side of the house and back up it to his little hole. The whole time I was laughing. After that I didn't see him for a bit so I had assumed that I had one.

 

Cut to an hour after the chase and I am walking pas a row of hostas when a loud shriek comes from it. Needless to say I jumped. Then I heard a little barking. Bob apparently decided to get some revenge. So I yelled and shook the hosta leaves. I herd him ran back a little then charge at me while barking. I shook more leaves near were I thought he was and then I saw him zip around the side of the house.

 

Tonight I am going into the basement and finding my super soaker.

New Ficus Bonsai

I have another one! This one actuly looks like a bonsai!!

 

it... needs a lot of work and I have the new buds trimmed back to encourage growth on the lower branches. I also repotted it and that is an intresting little story. I am going to post pics soon of day one and day three.

 

the roots... have as much potential as they have failure. I'll see what they are like in 1-2yrs of growing.

 

Also the hidden wider base that I found when I repotted was a nice suprise! :3

 

Much more will be posted later.

A good ol' fashion post

Just making sure everything is in good working order.

Purple Gem Rhododendron Bonsai Experimentation

Because experimentation sounds better then 'brutalizing with no idea where to start'.

So, I picked up these little guys to experiment with. At $3 a pop from the post bloom rack I thought it could be fun to practice working on my re-poting techniques. Unfortunately the chipmunk apocalypse happened (everything was eaten or dug into) and everything was moved into the florida room until the end of the war. I also found that I have no more available pots and my in ground choice is is right at the chipmunks door stop.



I held off on doing anything and now they look like this because I got brave with a pair of nippers.

I hope they will back bud. i would like to make them as compact as possible or encourage them into something that looks like a bonsai. Their trunks are far too small to be a real bonsai. Aside from the fact that one looks like it lost a fight with a chainsaw... And if you ignore the paperclips pretending to be guide wires... they are kinda cute.

 

I have no idea what the root structure looks like. I plan to repot them next year into the same pots but better soil.

Black Fungus Gnats and Orchids

My family and I have been having some trouble with some little gnats. We never gave it much thought other then thinking that they were fruit flies because they showed up in the summer when we had fruit and veggies out.

Well apparently they originated from my orchids. specifically one that had very very bad drainage. Bad to the point of being full of water even thought there was a hole in the pot. One night I happened to re-decorate my room and had moved all the pot up but this one because I wanted to put it in a bigger pot.

Now, a little info on this gnat. Apparently they eat the roots of orchids and live in decaying plant matter. They can quickly spread to other orchids and plants that you have.  The larva are clear or white-ish and hide in day light and they hatch in three or so weeks. Because they damage the roots orchids can drop their blooms and possibly die if it gets really bad.

This is important because the pot I now held in my hands was heavy from all the water and hundreds of the little suckers were squiggling around in front of my nose. I am not good with bug. I find them insanely interesting but if they surprise me I will scream and freak out like a little girl. So while I did not throw the pot across the room I did flip out a bit and was swearing like a sailor.

This Particular orchid had bee doing very well but all of it's buds had died that week. I had just assumed that re-potting it would fix it. Because there wee so many bugs in it and the roots looked so bad I decided to toss it. It was a clearance plant that I got for maybe $3 bucks so no big loss.

Worried about my other cheap orchids I searched online for what the bugs were and how to kill them. I didn't want to deal with hunter bugs, poison or glue traps and fortunately someone said that you could wash the roots off and re-pot them. Which is what I ended up doing.

I took all my surviving orchids, including the ones in bloom, and took them out of their pots and washed the roots with warm-ish water. NO SOAP!! then i cleaned the pots out with near boiling water and still no soap. I then filled the pots half way with non-biodegradable packing peanuts and sphagnum moss. This keeps the pots insanely dry so I have to play around with the watering.

We haven't had a gnat since.

Now, I manhandle my orchids a lot. This does not make them happy. two of the ones in bloom dropped their flowers because I know i smacked the blooms on the cabinets while working and not because of the root trimming. The cheap orchids that I got happen to be a hardy variety. The beginner variety as it happens to be.

Regardless, unless you have an orchid that dies at the thought of being unhappy, I highly recommend washing roots and getting new potting mix to get rid of the black fungus gnats.