Newsletter

INSIDE THIS ISSUEHOMEMADE BUG SPRAY

FERTILIZER NEWS

WORKING FERTILIZER CALENDAR

FERTILIZER CHART

PHOTOS

CONTACT INFORMATION

COMING EVENTS

SILENT AUCTION FORM

Officers:PRESIDENT - Doris Burns

VICE PRESIDENT - Noa Spector-Flock

TREASURER - John Goff

SECRETARY/BSF DISTRICT 5TRUSTEE - Sally Molsick

Directors:

Supplies - Joe Bruni

Programs - Board of Directors

Webmaster - John Goff & family

Historian - Ruth Osganian

Communications - Joan Lindsay

Hospitality/Facebook - Cathy Wolfe

Newsletter Editor - Jack Yost

Library operations - Noa Spector-Flock

Paul Williams will do a presentation

August 2015

Saturday, Aug 22At 10 am

Seminole Library 9200 113thStreet North, Seminole, FL

Please bring your companion plants and trees,for show and tell.

As usual there will be a raffle table. Soplease bring trees to donate or auction andcash for tickets and any silent auctions.

On companion plantings

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First thing, do you use a soap or a detergent and what is the difference? I am not a chemist andanyway don’t want to go all nerdy on you so suffice it to say that soaps are natural anddetergents are chemical. OK, which is better for our purposes? There seems to be dividedopinions on that with adherents on both sides. Those who like Dawn (detergent) vs those wholike Dove (soap) for example. Maybe they both work, I don’t really know. I can say that thereseems to be a majority opinion that soaps are better for bug sprays.

My first encounter was with Kirk’s Castile soap was in a bug spray recipe. However it is a barsoap and had to be shaved and otherwise messed with. It is a great soap for use in the showerso that was a useful discovery. Lately I have been experimenting with Dr. Bronner’s liquid Castilesoap. It is much easier to use a liquid. The baby blue label is unscented and the orange label istea tree. It can be purchased at Richard’s Whole Foods and also Earth Origins, presumably otherplaces as well. I haven’t found Dove in a liquid, but I haven’t looked too hard.

Ok, next issue is whether or not to add some oil to the mix and maybe oil works better with soapthan detergent and that is part of the difference. Anyway the point of the oil is to make the stuffstick to the plants long enough to do some good. So since I have some Neem Oil and that isgood in its own right I include that in the mix. Beyond that people throw in all kinds of stuffbased on what the old woman next door told your Grandma in 1957, or whatever. Most commonare hot peppers and garlic. Cinnamon and tobacco get honorable mention.

Ok so here is a starting point for your experimenting. This makes about a 2% solution.

ONE GALLON5 Tablespoons (2.5 oz) Dr. Bronner’s Castile or Dove dishwashing liquid2 Tablespoons (1 oz) Neem Oil or any light vegetable oil (optional?)

24 oz Recipe - Who needs a whole gallon of this stuff, right?1 Tablespoon soap and 1 big teaspoon oil

If you want to play with the pepper and garlic it should smell good and maybe help keep squirrelsat bay (good luck). For the gallon thoroughly blend 4 or 5 hot peppers and a few cloves of garlicin a blender then strain through a coffee filter since you are going to use a sprayer. For the 24oz really, just dash in some hot sauce.

This type of bug spray is geared to soft bodied beasties like aphids etc. You won’t be killingscale, sad to say. Last thing – Don’t even try to read the fine print on the Dr. Bronner’s bottle.He may have been a good soap chemist but otherwise he was pretty crazy and his family hashonored his craziness by not updating the label.

Homemade Bug Sprays

By Jack Yost

August 2015

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August 2015

August 25th - Our own Paul Williams will take the stage to show and tell us about companion plants

September 26th - Undecided (Elections?) Possible talk on finding the art in the tree or a multi-demo onShimpaku juniper.

October 24th - Louise Leister

November - No official meeting due to thanksgiving

December - End of year dinner.

Things under discussion - your input is requested - email a board member or talk to us.

● Field trip to Artisans Bonsai● Bonsai tables construction and use, by George● Regular tips for newer members● Meetings, tours, or open houses at different members homes● Studio 620 in St. Petersburg for certain events● Mame workshop or demo and/or in-house show● Mini-club night type projects as a meeting event● BYO tree hands on workshop● Style off contest with provided trees chosen by lottery

We are a proud member ofBonsai Societies of Florida

● Pictures and articles are always needed for thenewsletter

Check out the Suncoast Bonsai Club Facebook page. Post yourbonsai pictures to the page and Cathy will repost them to theTimeline. You can also post questions.

Left is MarionBorchersdoing theprogram.

Right is thegroup andshow and telltrees. Bothfrom the Junemeeting

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August 2015

5 Minute demo - time permitting, Jack will make aBatch of soap and oil bug spray with hot peppers and garlicwith seven bottles to give out.

SILENT AUCTION (kind of dead silent)It seems that the silent auction is not catching on as a general part of our regular meetings but Iguess we can leave the idea in place for a while. Don’t we need some way to encourage buyingand selling of more expensive trees? Maybe just bring them in with a price tag for show, telland sell? Would there be any objection to that? Or we could have an annual auction sale as aregular club meeting event. That can be fun, maybe we could combine that with a beer andburger party to loosen up the bidding. We have been looking for additional casual events.

Richard at his sale last Saturday with Billie inthe background, and Shane in the black T

John in the foreground and Tommy in thebackground, at Richard’s

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August 2015

NOTE: There are many pictures posted on the club facebookpage and in general it is a bit redundant to also have themin the newsletter. www.facebook.com/SuncoastBonsaiSociety

CLUB NIGHT Team reformingIf you even think you might go to the Bonsai Societies of Florida Convention in 2016 you shouldbe part of the Club Night Preparation Team. A meeting is proposed to follow the regular clubmeet this Saturday. You don’t have to go to the convention to be part of the prep team, ofcourse, but Convention Club Night is some serious fun.

LOST AND FOUND - Doris has a pair of melon ball cutters that were left at herhouse at the June de-leafing extravaganza. Check your tool box …

FERTILIZER CHART - Don’t miss the chart following the Fertilizer Calendar. This gives youa very good idea of what is available with the emphasis on what is available locally.

Left to right, Shane, Patrick, Sally and Noa at Richard’s sale last Saturday.

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Liquid fertilizers are easy to use and give the trees a quick pop but are washed out pretty quickand contribute to that white fertilizer salt buildup that we all know and curse. You can evenspray everything with a hose hookup if that is your thing. Miracle Gro is the best known of thisexample of fertilizer.

IGNORE THE 1,2,3,4 numbers they are just to make it easier to build the calendars and now thatit is fall I am not going by the numbers anyway.

Beginning in September we begin to back off on fertilizing but by no means quit. This will tendto emphasize organics and have longer intervals between fertilizing. I am basically making thecalendar up as I go along so consider it a general guide only. I will continue to taper the amountof fertilizing into the fall. If you are using liquids use one with lower Nitrogen in the N P Kformulas.

Many of us in bonsai are a bit obsessive compulsive if we will admit it. To that end the calendaris intended to be printed out (as is the silent auction form). Assuming that you have a printer itis easy enough to do. You can select only the pages that you want to print and you can turn offthe color i.e. turn on the gray scale. You would want to do that if you are printing the whole

4 - Liquid Fertilizer - Full strength

Fertilizer NewsIs this whole fertilizing calendar confusing and a waste of time? John Goff is the fertilizer guruand the is just my (Jy) way of trying to give us all monthly reminders thatwe should fertilize on a regular basis. YOUR FEEDBACK IS NEEDED AND WELCOME. If you havea different plan that works for you, that’s great, share it, write an article etc. For example youmight use only organic fertilizers or you might be into “organic tea”.

Let’s review

You can make your own, Joe Bruni gave a nice presentation on that. You can buy expensive stufflike Bio Gold or products from Martha Goff online at Tropical Green Bonsai. Espoma is a locallyavailable product at Willow Tree and Lowe’s and it is reasonably priced. See the fertilizer chart.

Allowing for a longer release from the organics it seems like half strength is enough for a followup. If you are pushing young trees or whatever then go full strength. Different fertilizers havedifferent trace elements, thus variety is good.

There are better products out there than the stinky stuff from Home Depot. Try Age Old fromWillcox or Neptune’s Harvest from AMAZON etc. The kind with kelp added seems like a goodidea.

1 - Organic cakes or crumbles (or other slow release like Osmocote)

2 - Liquid Fertilizer - Half strength

3 - Fish Emulsion or Organic Tea or other liquid organics(maybe add some liquid iron &/or kelp to the fish emulsion)

August 2015

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Fertilizer Calendar

Liquid Fertilizer - Full strength

(only once during the week, that is obvious isn’t it?)

September

Take the week off!

Organic cakes or crumbles (or other slow release like Osmocote)

Take the week off!

Fish Emulsion or Organic Tea or other liquid organics(maybe add some liquid iron &/or kelp to the fish emulsion)

Print as needed

LOCAL

PRODUCT Descript N-P-K Org Non-Org Type Hm Depot Lowe's Will Tree Wilcox Wal-MartFERTILIZERAge Old Fish/Seaweed 3-3-2 Y Liquid 1 gal 35.99Age Old Grow 12-6-6 Y Liquid 16 oz 6.99Age Old Kelp .3-.25-.15 Y Liquid 16 oz 6.99Age Old Bloom 5-10-5 Y Liquid 16 oz 6.99Alaska Fish Emulsion 5-1-1 Y Liquid 1 qt 10.98BGI Grow & Gain 10-10-5 Y Liquid 1 gal 10.98Dynamite All Purpose 18-6-8 Y Pellets 2 lb 8.97 8.99 11.95Dynamite Flower & Veg 13-13-13 Y Pellets 2 lb 8.97 8.99 11.95Espoma Flower-tone 3-4-5 Y Dry 4 lb $7.95Espoma Holly-tone 4-3-4 Y Dry 8 lb 10.97 4 lb $7.95 8.99Espoma Plant-tone 5-3-3 Y Dry 8 lb 10.98 10.97 4 lb 9.95Espoma Rose-tone 4-3-2 Y Dry 8 lb 10.97 4 lb 9.95 8.99Espoma Tomato-tone 3-4-6 Y Dry 4 lb 9.95Espoma Garden-tone 3-4-4 Y Dry 8 lb 10.97 8.99Fertilome Fish Emulsion 5-1-1 Y Liquid 1 qt 11.95Jobe's Veg & Tomato 2-5-3 Y Dry 6 lb 9.97Miracle-Gro All Purpose 24-8-16 Y Liquid 5 lb 10.98 6.25 lb 13.47 7.5# 13.94Miracle-Gro Acid 30-10-10 Y Liquid 1.5 lb 5.98 6.26 9.95 4.86Miracle-Gro Tomato 18-18-21 Y Liquid 1.5 lb 5.98 6.26 4.86Miracle-Gro Rose 18-24-16 Y Liquid 1.5 lb 5.98 5.98 4.86Miracle-Gro Bloom Boost 15-30-15 Y Liquid 1.5 lb 5.98 6.26Osmocote Out & Indoor 19-6-12 Y Pellets 3 lb 12.48Osmocote Flower & Veg 14-14-14 Y Liquid 4.5# 15.58 3 lb 11.97 2 lb 10.46Osmocote + Out & Indoor 15-9-12 Y Pellets 2 lb 10.48 9.97 8 lb 24.99 2 lb 9.93Pennington All Purpose 12-5-7 Y Pellets 2 lb 8.97Scots Super Bloom 12-55-6 Y Liquid 2 lb 10.98 10.97

PRODUCT Descript N-P-K Org Non-Org Type Hm Depot Lowe's Will Tree WilcoxTRANSPLANT etc

? Rooting Hormone Powder 1.25 oz 5.48BGI SuperGain Like Superthrive Liquid 4 oz 9.98Bonide Blossom Set Spray 8 oz $4.70 4.97Fert-lome Root Stimulator 4-10-3 Y Liquid 1 qt 8.49Miracle-Gro Quick Start 4-12-4 Y Liquid 48 oz $8.97 I don't know where I got mineSuperthrive Liquid 4 oz 11.98 14.95

COMPONENTS TO BUILD YOUR OWNEspoma Bone Meal 4-12-0 Y Dry 4 lb 9.95Hi -Yield Blood Meal 12-0-0 Y Dry 8.49Hi-Yield Potash 0-0-60 Y Dry 4 lb 9.95Hi-Yield Triple Phosphate 0-45-0 Dry 4 lb 9.95Hi-Yield Bone & Blood 6-7-0 Y Dry 3 lb 9.95Hi-Yield Bone Meal 0-10-0 Y Dry 4 lb 7.95 6.5Jobe's Bone Meal 2-14-0 Y Dry 3 lb 6.97Miracle Gro Bone Meal 6-9-0 Y Dry 3 lb 6.97Miracle Gro Blood Meal 12-0-0 Y Dry 3 lb 6.97Natural Grow Cottonseed Meal 6-1-1 Y Dry $7.95Southern AG Triple Phosphate 0-40-0 Dry 5 lb 8.00

TRACE etcAge Old Kelp Meal Y Dry 5 lb 14.99Alaska Kelp/nutrients .13-0-.6 Y Liquid 1 qt 9.99Espoma Soil Acidifier Lowers pH pelletsPeggy Green Garden Minerals Dry 1.25# 9.95 9.99Peggy Green flower Minerals Dry 1.25# 9.95 9.99Sunniland Liquid Iron Liquid 1 gal 7.97

ONLINE Org Non-OrgBio-Gold 5.5-6.5-3.5 Y Pellets Dallas Bonsai etc 2 lb $47.60Neptune's Harvest Fish-Seweed 2-3-0 Y Liquid Neptune's Harvest 1 gal $48.50Trop Grn Bons Organic Tea Y Liquid Trop Green Bonsai 2 lb $25 1c makes 5 galTrop Grn Bons Balanced 5-5-5 Y Granular Trop Green Bonsai 2 lb $25Trop Grn Bons Acid 6-2-1 Y Granular Trop Green Bonsai 2 lb $25Trop Grn Bons Fruiting/Bloom 3-7-1 Y Granular Trop Green Bonsai 2 lb $25

FERTILIZER CHART - This was pretty accurate a few months ago.

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August 2015

801 62nd Ave N,St Petersburg, FL 33702 (727) 525-3434

(for rock)5612 56th Commerce Park BlvdTampa, FL 33610 813-622-7031

(for Turface)6782 118th Ave NLargo, FL 727-531-3180

www.plantplace.com/

www.evesgardengifts.com

for wire & tools etcwww.stonelantern.com/

(Martha Goff)for bonsai fertilizerwww.tropicalgreenbonsai.com/

Follow us on Facebook!

Local Sources for bonsai materialsPlease go to the website for other listings

CLUB INFORMATION

LIBRARY: Under revision with a general planto make the information available on thewebsite with book requests by email orwhatever.

RAFFLE TABLE: Raffle tickets, $1.00 each.Bonsai related items are donated by clubmembers. Please identify the plant materialso we know how to take care of them!

BONSAI SOIL: Bonsai soil is available @ $20per 5 gallon bag. The club makes a generalpurpose bonsai soil for members. Please letDoris know ahead of time if you need soilbrought to the next meeting.

CONTACT INFORMATIONDoris Burns-Axon - Club PresidentEmail: daxon@tampabay.rr.comPhone: 727-343-7992

Noa Spector-Flock - Vice President

Sally Molsick - Secretaryemail: rmolsick@tampabay.rr.comPhone: 727-360-6483

Joan Lindsey - Communicationsemail: bonsailady611@gmail.com

Jack Yost - Newsletter EditorEmail: OldTreemaker@gmail.com

Founded in 1965 we are the second oldestclub in Florida

We are on the web! Check it outsuncoastbonsaisociety.com - bookmark it -

Minimum Bid10% to the club or more as indicated __________________________________________

At least $1 increments please

The auction is intended for items that are too valuable to put on the raffle table and to encourage the exchange ofmore significant bonsai or stock.

Print as needed