Change of seasons but no changes in the world (11/3/2023)

It has been a depressing week for a person with liberal leanings like me. We witnessed a brutal fight in the Middle East, where it seems Israel has no regard for humanity; we had a mass shooting in Maine; the monster hurricane that hit Acapulco; reports in the Post on the horrible climatic situation in Hodeida in Yemen; and a Republican speaker of the house who is probably more dangerous than Jim Jordan. But let’s start at the beginning. Yes, what Hamas did was unconscionable. However, starting a full-fledged war and killing so many more people than what Hamas did, is not sitting well with me, it is unconscionable as well. I have always considered myself a pacifist, although this stance of mine has weekend substantially after the Russian invasion of the Ukraine. I am trying to follow that fighting and I am secretly rejoicing when Ukrainian forced manage to claim victory or that they managed to kill a substantial number of Russian soldiers. This softening around my pacifist edges in itself is somewhat depressing to me, where are my convictions, morals, ethics and empathy that I had in younger years? It seems that I have no dog in this fight in Gaza. I morn the deaths on both sides. However, neither in Ukraine, interesting, isn’t it?

If you are a regular reader, you all know my stance on gun control, or tighter management of weapons. I think I have written a post about every mass killing that occurred these past 10 years, and I will continue doing so. These assault type weapons need to be outlawed and shipped to Ukraine to fight the damn Russians. Maybe we need to ship the owners of these assault weapons as well; they seem to be itching for a good fight, otherwise why buy one of these weapons.

Concerning the climate, the news was not very favorable. Climate change really seems to have hit home, and I wonder if we reached a point of no-return. Something must be seriously awry, for a tropical storm to form and blow up into the strongest Category 5 hurricane ever to hit Mexico. Couple that to reports that Hodeida in Yemen will soon become unlivable for long stretches of the year, shows that we are reaching the tip of the iceberg (figuratively or climatologically speaking). In full disclosure, I used to live in Yemen and spent quite some time on the coastal plains, including Hodeida. Regular readers know that my posts on climate change go back many years and it is not about Yemen or elsewhere, but our future generations.

Lastly the new speaker of the house, the third in-line to the crown (or is it called the presidency). This dude is dangerous. He seems to be an authentic bible thumper, a Christian Nationalist, who is definitely against the rights of women to choose what happens to their own body. Moreover, he was the leader in congress trying to nullify the election and he still does not recognize Joe Biden as president. This guy invokes God in everything he does but does not care about the little guy. He is smooth and absolutely dangerous.

In my eyes, all these items are eerily connected. We can all bring them back to the conservative trend or movement in this country. The Maga Speaker does not believe in global warming; he and the republicans are against all form of gun control (while being against birth control, an interesting contradiction in itself); of course, they are anti-Muslimism; you get the idea.

So now you are updated about my state-of-mind. What do I do about it, drink myself to oblivion? The problem there lies in that this solution is dangerous to my health and personal relations at home. Well, this blog is one of my outlets; I hope to inform and educate you, my readers; I even may be able to entertain or anger one or two. This past week I split a huge amount of wood to be used in our woodburning stove this coming and next winter. Physical exercise is good for the mind, soul and body. It was warm, high 70s or 25 to 28 degrees centigrade for the rest of the world. I did not get much time for my bonsai, but that changed when the weather folks told us that we were getting very cold temperatures. I needed to bring my tropicals inside or into the greenhouse. This occupied almost an entire day. Somehow the power cord that supplies electricity to the greenhouse had a short in it and I needed to replace it so that I could run a heater. All is good, the plants are safely tucked away and ready for the cold temperatures of the next few months.

What else do I do now we are not traveling and exploring? I try to spend as much time as possible in the outdoors. Spending time in nature, forest bathing, hiking gives me the solace I need. We try to get out and walk in the woods behind our home and in the area. Believe it or not, but with every step I take out there the beauty of nature reveals itself, again and again. Beauty in a fragile and threatened world.

The seasons are changing, and it was time for a 5+mile hike in our area. 

They are all tucked in and safe.

Life goes on (2/28/2023)

Well, life goes on. I have resumed my somewhat regular activities, including walking the dogs in the morning, feeding them and going upstairs and getting behind the computer to work. The main difference is the nice monitor I commandeered from my late father-in-law’s desk. It is much better than the old flat screen TV that I was using as monitor. Oh well, a small piece of my inheritance.

This past week was the first time I was teaching again, and it felt good after a three-week hiatus. I had a few issues, on the second day my computer microphone seemed to lock up with the external webcam. This really highlighted the need for a backup when you webcast.

The weather has been extremely strange; weekends are outright chilly while it has been balmy during the week. It got to 80 degrees this week. The temperatures in my greenhouse got up to 102 at one point with the door and window wide open. My bonsai trees are leafing out which is distressing to me. I need to repot and I do not have enough pots, soil, or time. Moreover, folks in the neighborhood are donating trees to me. I had put the word out that I grow bonsai and if they had either potted plants they did not want or shrubs or small trees they were digging up, I would love to take possession of them and torture them. These past two weeks I received seven plants that required urgent root work, potting and pruning. This to the determent of my own trees.

This is all on top of a room full of furniture and other stuff from my father-in-law’s apartment that we had to vacate. We now need to decide what we want to keep, exchange for the old crap we have (my father-in-law had impeccable taste) and what we want to donate where. Let’s not talk about the fact that my travel starts up again. Let the excitement begin!

Four weeks in it still feels strange having lost a close member of the family. However, life goes on. The strangest things include life events that you cannot share, or simply going to the grocery store and not having to buy those items you used to have to buy for him. It is an anxious time in a way for my wife, the will, his worldly goods, his taxes, and trying to morn. On top of that we need to make arrangements for a memorial service, our retirement and apply for pensions and social security. We live in stressful times. But this too shall pass we hope.

I can find solace in nature, walking with my dogs, and working on my trees. That keeps me going. Life is stressful right now, somewhat insane at times, but what is the alternative? It goes on whether we like it or not!

Walking in the woods help me regain or maintain my sanity in these interesting times.

It’s cold outside, bonsais in the frost (12/27/2022)

I am sure that almost everyone knows by now that we have been in for some amazing weather here in the eastern two thirds of north America. We were hit by the polar vortex and what is called a bombogenesis. It was something that was predicted some time ago, I even wrote about it in a post a week ago and predicted that I might need to write my final year’s post about it. Well, here I go.

My main concern was how the greenhouse would hold up to winds approaching hurricane force and temperatures around 10 degrees Fahrenheit or around -12 degrees Celsius. I have most of my tropical trees in the greenhouse and as you can see in the photograph included with this post, I have two small heaters installed in the place. One heater of 700 watts comes on based on where I set it; while the other is 1200 and is connected to my thermostat which switches it on at 42.5 degrees (or 5.8 C). I think this is still pretty darn cold for some of my trees, and I hoped it works. Before the weather blew in, we had some freezing nights, and the greenhouse could handle it well, eventually putting the nighttime temperatures around 45 to 50 degrees.

With the cold coming in, I was nervous, and I also needed to connect our birth bath heater coil to the same outlet. I had planned to wake up every few hours that first night to make sure all went well. We went to bed at around 11 and the temperatures outside had already dropped to 15. The temperature in the greenhouse was a comfortable 55. I felt good. I woke up at 12:30 checked the temperature in the greenhouse with my remote temperature gauge and it read 29 degrees, 3 degrees below freezing. Holy shit! My trees!

I went on the deck naked (we old hippies still sleep in the nude, but boy it was cold 15 degrees being nude on our deck) to push in the ground fault interrupt that did not do it and then I figured out that it must be the breaker. Back inside I found the tripped breaker, reset it and I noticed that a light in the greenhouse came on. This is an indicator light on the extension cord showing it has power.

Now what triggered this? The only explanation I had is the coil that keeps the bird bath water from freezing. It pulls 200 watts and must have been working overtime. I went back to bed without further thinking about it, but after a brief discussion with my wife we decided that I should unplug the thing and dump the water out of the bath to prevent it from cracking.

So, out of bed and downstairs I went. I pulled on my ski parka over my nude body, slipped on some shoes and stumbled outside in the dark and cold to get the job done. Boy, that was cold on the bare legs, buttocks and elsewhere. I described it to a friend, and he wondered about any shrinkage, honestly, I had no time to think about that issue; in addition, it was way too cold for that, so let’s not go there in this post.

Once reset, within minutes the greenhouse was back above 32. I woke up two additional times that night and the temperatures hovered around 45. In the morning the outside temperature was 7.5 degrees or about -13.6 Celsius.

I am not sure if I lost any plants, time will tell. Now a few days later things still look ok, but you never know. One of the YouTube shows I watch mentioned that ficus trees in particular might not like colder temperatures, and I have at least six different ones in the greenhouse. It looks like one of my hibiscus trees is suffering as well, but I think that was from before the polar vortex.

It is now after Christmas and temperatures are supposed to warm up the next week. The day-time temperatures in the greenhouse topped 70 degrees in the sunshine today. I am pretty happy.

I expect that this will be the last post of 2022. So, folks, I hope you all have a great New Year. I am looking forward to the new year as well.

The interior of the greenhouse on December 18.  You can see the two heaters on the tile, pointing in two different directions.  The small cube is the 700 watts heater and the cream one in front is the stronger one.  I had put the tile and cinderblocks in as heat sinks in the hope to moderate the temperature swings.

Greenhouse Construction (10/21/2022)

As promised, time to report on my greenhouse construction effort. Sorry, this is not going to be my best prose, but more a chronology of my construction effort. I ordered the 6x8 feet kit about a month and a half ago through Amazon from Veikous. I finally decided that most of the hurricane season was over and that we had a good chance that we might get spared this year. It really felt like it should be our time, after 19 years. As they say, there is still hope. Please not.

I had ordered a greenhouse kit before; it was a closeout deal from Walmart they said on an add on Facebook; sixty dollars. I paid using PayPal in June, and it never arrived. I still need to see how I can get my money back (update I just did get my $59.99 back).

A few weeks ago, I started putting the bottom frame together in order to figure out what the footprint of the contraption was, and where we wanted it. The next point was leveling it and making sure it was somewhat anchored. Previous videos and reports recommended not placing it on pressure treated beams (something about galvanic action); moreover, the aluminum beams are completely closed and there is no way of attaching them to the beams. I eventually decided on Camo blocks. While this might look strange; however, I think in hindsight it was a good decision; I was able to feed an extension cord through these footers for the heater.

Once located and leveled, I killed all the weeds growing in the footprint with my flamethrower. I lined the inside with weed blocker and filled it with approximately 2 inches of crush and run, basically waste material from the granite gravel industry. Then it rained. This is probably the reason why the humidity in the greenhouse at night is 99%.

Finally, two and a half weeks ago, my friend Mustafa (aka Kadri) and I got together to put the greenhouse together. The day before I had put all the parts out and sorted them. On the day I started at 9:30, my bud arrived around 11 and we were done around 5 that evening. The only thing that remained were the gutters and the anchoring cables. Once that was done, I could put in a table and move the plants in.

Tables or table was the question, and then what material? I decided to construct them from cinder blocks. For one it was cheaper (I found them on Facebook Marketplace for $1), and I was hoping they would absorb and retain heat. It took me two trips with my car and trailer to get the blocks and I spend the next day putting it together. I decided on only one table on one side and leave the other side open for taller plants. Once I had the table set up, I covered the ground with pea gravel to make it look more presentable. I did this after I covered the central area with tiles to make access easier. I bought a remote recording min-max thermometer, so I could see what the temperature was in the greenhouse. This was important to me because I want to house my tropical bonsai in it. The greenhouse without plants, with the bench was consistently 3 degrees warmer at night, although it got up to 90 degrees during the day. But please note that the facility gets approximately 3 hours full sun, that is it. Now with plants the temperature differential is approximately 4 to 6 degrees by sunrise (a full night of cooling down). This is good, since the temperatures have already dropped to 36 degrees Fahrenheit or 2.2 degrees C.

I spent the next two days moving plants in and taking the gutters off to be able to caulk the seams under the gutters with silicone caulk. Herein comes one complaint about the greenhouse kit. The groves to slide the panels in as very shallow and could pop out fairly easy with a strong wind. Silicone caulk does a great job; however, nowhere in the instructions do they call for it or recommend it. Except online they mention on the order form that anchors and silicone caulk are not included (hint, hint?). You get the idea; I had figured out the anchors already and read about the silicone as well. It rained after the construction was completed and rainwater got in the honeycomb structure of the panels. This could have been avoided if I had sealed it with silicone if I had known about it. I really hope this will not become an issue when we get frost. One final minor issue was that the instructions for the window installation were incorrect, but that was easily detected and solved.

Overall, I am happy with the greenhouse. It looks good and hopefully it will serve its purpose. Now I need to redesign what we are calling our “Bonsai Zone.” I know, this is not very original. One of my favorite bonsai YouTube gurus Nigel Saunders calls his garden and show “the Bonsai Zone” and since I watch his show almost daily and my wife listens to it, she coined my small area the Bonsai Zone as well, and it stuck. Oh well, the Virginia Bonsai Zone.

Below are some pictures of the construction process and the result. I will keep you updated on the progress of the greenhouse, my plants and the redesign of the “Zone.”

P.S. I want to thank Nigel and Connor for some advise prior to the construction of my greenhouse.  Thanks guys for the encouragement and advise.

Stormwater, soil and bonsai, Part 2 of 2 (9/22/2022)

As I mentioned in the previous post, soil is one of the most important factors in plant establishment. I tell my students that crappy soil means a crappy vegetation or plant establishment. I even quote President Franklin Delano Roosevelt who famously said: “A nation that destroys its soil, destroys itself.”

Roosevelt said this during a meeting of the governors association in 1937 when he announced the establishment of the Soil Conservation Service. It was a reaction to the dustbowl and catastrophic flooding that had occurred in the past few years. Roosevelt and his scientists instinctively knew that if we lost all our topsoil, we would lose all our fertile land in the prairie states, our bread basket, and the great depression would return and continue forever. Moreover, it is something we encounter in some of the lesser developed countries when we try to explain the famine they experience. Their soils are screwed up by years of mismanagement. That mismanagement is often caused by the lack of knowledge.

Enough! This lack of knowledge is also the blame for what happens on construction sites and what beginners do with the first bonsais they buy from the big box stores. Yes, me saying this, makes me think I desperately need to re-pot that Fukien Tea that I saved from the sales rack at Lowes last year. I never re-potted it, but it has survived one year and it seems to like what I did to it. Note to self, Fukien Teas or Carmona are notoriously finicky.

Back to construction sites for one more paragraph. All that equipment and material on the site causes the compaction of the soil. And growing roots need to penetrate, push through that compacted soil. There is a point where they give up, they can simply not do it! Neither can water infiltrate that soil. This becomes a problem especially in areas that are designated as infiltration areas. We can bring in all the topsoil or specialized soil mixes, but if the subsoil is so compacted plant establishment is in trouble. Some soil preparation such as ripping or plowing may help. However, that costs money and if you are a builder and in it for profit, you could just cover it with a thin layer of top soil, hide the problem and walk away from the project. The new owners will find out a few years from now when the plants start failing.

Mass commercial bonsai growers in China do the same thing. They have pots with small drainage holes that don’t drain vary fast, they use crappy soil that don’t drain very well and they just plop a plant in those pots. They produce thousands at a time. The problem is folk buy them and do not know how to take care of them. Take my Fukien Tea for one. It was dying on the sales rack when I bought it. These plants do not like night time temps under 60 degrees. They do not like the soil wet. The soil in my pot was terrible.

The first thing many folk will do, is prune. They would want to make it look like a classical bonsai. Problem 1, the plant loses more leave, less evaporation, needs even less water. Some will want to transplant it. This puts more stress on the plant and it dies. Others don’t do anything to the plant but think they need to water it often (Problem 2). The soil stays wet all the time and in the heat of the summer wet soil with little air means rot, no oxygen in the root zone, mold growth and there goes the plant! But I watered it every day! Exactly! Problem 3 is that the weak tree weakens even more. You get the picture?

I water a lot of my trees every day too. But I have a very course free draining soil. When I do not have free draining soil I do something else. The first thing I did with my Fukien Tea was cover the soil with a layer of diatomaceous grit that I use in the soil mix that I make. It turns dark grey when the soil is wet and white when it is dry and it is therefore a great indicator when that lousy soil that the Chinese gave me needs water. I covered the soil of another little tree that I bought for $14 at Ikea with akadama which turns pale yellow when dry and is dark yellow when wet. Giving me the same principle. Akadama is a specialty clay from Japan that does not break down.

So what should you do when you are an aspiring bonsai grower? Here I am not talking to the experts, we all have our own favorite mix. My YouTube friend Nigel Saunders has a mix of 50% floor dry and 50% perlite with some fine pine bark mixed in it. He has been using it with success for the past 7+ years, I think (go look at his YouTube channel The Bonsai Zone). I mix 40% diatomaceous grit (that I get at NAPA auto parts), 40% perlite and 20% commercial Cactus mix. I use the cactus mix because I travel a lot for work and need to depend on others to water. The cactus mix adds enough organic matter to hold water for a longer time. When I grow conifers, I add some akadama to the mix (20% or so). Akadama makes the soil acid and the story is that it helps with the development of finer roots. Others use pumice in their mix or lava rock. As you can see these are mostly what are called soilless mixes. The objective is that they drain quickly. You can make them yourself, but you can also buy ready-made mixes from commercial bonsai stores online or maybe even in your community.

Hope this was fun and informative. Shoot me a message/email if you have any questions or comments. I love to write more about soil and bonsai, thus staying away from politics and all that other stuff. On another note, I bought a greenhouse kit, so stay tuned. Maybe soon a post on the construction and use.

The Fukien Tea to the right and my ginseng fichus to to the left, with an edelweiss stuck in the middle.  Both trees need to be worked.  I am still surprised that the edelweiss survived it so far.  It was a gift from a friend who grew it for her kids.  I need to pot it down and try to grow it as an accent plant.  In the big planter to the right I am growing some red maples seed from a tree that is at least 100 years old, some crabapples, bald cypresses and a few zelkova seedlings.  They all have to be transplanted next spring.