#Bonsaiwinterblues: The days are getting shorter.

It's been almost five days now since my last post. It feels like I should apologize for my absence... I have been busy with training. I am taking part in a half marathon on Tuesday and it my tapering week. On top of that it's a five day weekend here in South Africa as we celebrated freedom day that was yesterday 27 April and the 01 May is workers day. Instead of taking a day of going back to work having a weekend and working again. We have one long weekend. Thumbs up to that.

This past week has been one of the best weeks in this year. We were blessed with rain, not just a few drops but bucket loads. We were not prepared for the amount of rain that came. Streets flooded as the stromdrain systems could not handle the sudden load of water. I was blocked and in certain areas it just overflowed.

For me this was a good opportunity to collect water. I will be collecting as much as possible to help take the strain of the municipal supply. With in two days all my container were filled so now I need to get more containers. Getting a water storage tank is just expensive now as people are now flocking to the hardware stores in an effort to save water and harvest their own water. This did not go unnoticed by store and we all know the effects of supply and demand. The water storage tanks prices have gone up drastically. Luckily for the rest there are now more and more water storage tanks that have come on the market. I'm a bit sceptical when it come to new brands that does not have a track record that can be researched so I will be patiently waiting till the prices come down and I can afford a 5000 l tank. Hopefully that will be soon.

I took a couple of photos yesterday while watering my trees. Look at the remarkable colors of the trees foliage. At this time you would start to see shades of yellow and orange appearing in the deciduous trees. Mine are still green as a matter of fact a bit too green for this late in the season. The evergreen trees have this nice deep green color and the Junipers are showing new growth. It's as if the trees are confused. In a week or two their bio metric clocks would sense that "winter is coming" and start the process of shutting down the flow of sap to the leaves.

It's the first few weeks of autumn and already I can see that there will be lots of challenges ahead. We had a very warm summer and I made a few adjustments to my soil mixture and the environment in which my trees grow. In the two days of heavy rain this week I saw two major issues. Firstly the soil mixture that some trees are planted in may be to damp for the winter. Secondly not all my trees get water when it rains. Well this might not be an deal breaker but if I'm not home this means extra work for my wife. So I will have to make a few changes to make sure that all the trees get water when it rains. I might also just slip pot a few trees into bigger containers with more free flowing soil.

In the photos above you will be able to see the trees that do not get enough water when it rains. These trees are up against the exterior wall of the my house so the water does not reach them. It can be hard to spot. The foliage is wet but if you place you finger on the soil it dry. It can so easily be missed. Winter is one of the most tricky seasons for me. I tend to spend a lot more time in the cold wet weather trying to figure out which trees get enough water and which ones gets too much water. Then if you have all these lovely green plants in one place you normally find your friendly neighborhood snails are not to far behind. I spread snail ban on the counter tops around my trees. I do not throw these pellets in the bonsai containers. I just put them around the pots and under the pots. Its also a good idea to lift up your trees once or twice in a week just to check for snails or slugs under the pots. They will eat the plants leaves in the evening and crawl underneath the pots and stay there during the day so you will see their feeding marks on the tree but there will not be any snails in sight. Crafty little buggers...

To end of this post I thought it would be great for me to share this photo of this beautiful Jade tree. We know it as a Spek boom and it is known to be a a miracle worker. This tree does not need a lot of care or water but still gives you great results when looked after. This is why the tree is being sold by nurseries and grocery stores nation wide to help with reducing our carbon admissions. There is even a organization called Wonder Plant that promotes the trees. To find out more about this wonderful campaign please visit there web site: https://www.wonderplant.co.za/

This tree was a gift from my grandmother. I gave her a bonsai a few years back and not long after I gave her the tree it died. She then planted this tree in the bonsai container and gave it to me a year ago. The tree did not do the bonsai pot any justice so I replanted it into a shallow round container. The tree is doing much better now and can be planted in a better pot next year.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. Please feel free to leave your comments below.

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