3/6/09

- Repotted Cork Bark Elm into green tokomane pot. Soil mix was 3 parts pine barks, 2 parts akadama, 1 part haydite, sifted. Root ball was a hairy basketball. Several minutes of raking revealed a 4" stump below the air layer point. Once this stump was removed it fir nicely into the relatively shallow bonsai pot.
- Pheonix Graft Juniper was wobbly. The drift wood was sitting on a loose rock that had slipped. I fabricated a block from 2x2 composite wood material used for weather proof decks. I first cut the block at the proper angle where it mates to the drift wood. Then I cut it to length to sit on the bottom of the pot. I drill a hole up through the bottom of theblock and used a galvanized deck screw to attach it to the drift wood. I drill another hole across the block and used 4mm wire to secure it to the base of the pot. I used another wire to cross the root ball the other direction. It's not as rock solid as I had hoped for but it's not leaning over and it should last until its next repotting. Also lime sulfered the drift wood.
- Peanut butter coated rat blocks were carried off by the squirrels. I only lost 1 tree to them so far. Maybe that's the end of them.
- Pulled out my big rubber pnd liner to build the bald cypress pond and some critter had chewed a hole near the center of it. I was hoping for a pond with trees around the edge of the water but I guess I will have a smaller pond filled with trees. What about a bog garden with bald cypress?