News letter No 2 February meeting

Our February meeting was a talk & practical on repotting given by John Trott.Members were asked to bring in trees that had problems or faults which needed sorting.We laid out the tables in a circle & John worked his way around each tree discussing each one & then letting each member work on their tree.
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John also held a general discussion on repotting & what we are trying to achieve in repotting I.e.when the tree is in the development stage it could be repotted yearly but as the image developes the intervals between repotting also increases.The discussion also picked up on a topic often talked about in our club that is when you read books or articles giving advice it often relates to what is correct for trees in Japan but which does not apply to our northern hemisphere-for instance John prefers to repot Satsukis early spring & not after flowering.Needle junipers were also mentioned & the issue with browning of the foliage when they are pruned & wired with some of us trying more misting of the foliage to see if this reduces the browning off of the foliage,this year we will see.
John & Amelia also talked about using a sugar solution as a one off feed if you have a newly root pruned tree that could be struggling.The evening went very quickly & certainly gave some thought to work on-like when you pot a cascade you pot it over a corner coming down the side
Many thanks to John for the talk.
After I did receive some complaints that people couldn’t hear John at the end as others were talking-we have asked before if you don’t want to hear what is being said can you go outside & talk as it spoilt it for some.
for those of you who have not paid your membership or contacted me -this will be your last newsletter.
I think the Swindon show went very well & all our stands were made by Clive Harber so a big thanks to him! there was over 1/2 of our club there
We have been to Holland again (with no mishaps this time) I went mad & bought 5 trees this time-there will be lots of photos on the web site
Paul Bowerbank says Aldi have sieves on sale £4.99
You should all have the programme for the year with this newsletter-you will see the dates for the Chris Thomas workshops-the first in April this year,this is the only time we could get Chris & the hall married up,I think poor Tom wore a path to the hall office the amount of times he had to check out dates!
We have not been invited to put on display at Wessex this year but I have been sent some forms if you want to enter on you own,so see me if you do
Sandra