Updated 2021/11/01
What to do in November
(There is no copyright on this article. Please feel free to copy it. Keep in mind it’s written with the Western Cape weather in mind.)
The weather is warmer and everything is growing strong. The only trees that now start to show signs of growth are boababs.
Watch the watering of your trees. The weather is very hot and wind dry. The wind will dry out a tree very fast. Keep your newly potted trees as well as Maples out of the wind, if possible. Newly potted trees still need to form new roots to keep up with the demand for water and to keep the tree in the pot. Wind will damage the soft young leaves of Maples.
Keep track of wire on your trees. We have already removed wire from several trees already showing signs of wirebite.
Celtis, Maples and Elms are growing very fast this time of the year and weekly pruning is necessary to keep the tree in shape and to develop the tree. Watch your Maples as the fast growth can cause rapid increase in the internodal lengths, spoiling the ramification of the tree.
Control the new growth on Maples by breaking out the growing tips.
Prune Elms by constantly pruning the new growth back to 2 to 4 leaves. Make also use of the clip and grow method to develop the tree. Remove unwanted growth on your Elms. Choose the branches that you need to develop on new trees and remove the rest.
Do not feed newly potted trees until at least two months after they started to grow. Also feeding your trees this time of the year will only accelerate the growth, increasing the internodal lengths and leaf size.
I do feed my Swamps, Wild Olives and Junipers this time of the year regularly to develop the trees and to make use of the growing season. Feed with Nitrosol, Seagrow, or Bounce back, or any other plant food. Read the pamphlet for feeding recommendations and then half the strength for bonsai.
Wild Figs can be potted.
Pests are very active and need to be controlled. It’s important to look out for bugs and use the right insecticide to control them. If you are not sure ask your local nursery. Look out for red spider mite and Aphids and control with the necessary poisons. Also look out for signs of Thrip on your Wild Olives. On the first sign of marks on the Olive leaves spray your trees. Look for white fly on the underside of the leaves of Olives. Spray your olives with a preventative spray for root rot.
Watch your Junipers for signs of grayness which usually indicate mites. They can kill your Juniper in a matter of weeks. We’ve recently seen at a client mites on a procumbens nana. They appear as small little white spots where the needles attached to the stem and can kill of a branch in a few days.
Wait till your Boabab show proper growth before taking it outside and start to water it.
The last of the wild olives collected this year have started to push new buds.
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