Covid - how are you killing the time?

Share your success stories about defoliation, bare rooting and anything else relating to maintaining healthy bonsai.
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Daluke
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Covid - how are you killing the time?

Post by Daluke »

I’m in Melbourne in lockdown.

I guess this applies to every winter too, but what have you been doing to pass the time.

What I’ve been doing to keep busy

- Weed
- Getting repot ready / prepare soil supplies
- wiring application / removal
- Collect and sow seed
- Take cuttings
- Sharpen tools
- Get pots
- Learn/practice grafting
- Collect and grow moss
- Rotate trees
- Remove dead leaves
- Trim back dead stubs
- Remove surface layer of soil in pots

This post was inspired by Ryceman’s comments about passing the time during lockdown.

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Starfox
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Re: Covid - how are you killing the time?

Post by Starfox »

After a year of self imposed lock down, leaving the house just once a week you tend to get caught up with all the little jobs and then your left with nothing to do but buy more trees.

So do that.

I picked up a wisteria, birch and liquid amber and since the second year of birthdays are coming up going to get myself some more. Not sure what yet, open to suggestions.
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Re: Covid - how are you killing the time?

Post by Starfox »

double post, sorry
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Re: Covid - how are you killing the time?

Post by shibui »

I can go to work but have elected to stay home more this time hoping to catch up on some things at home.

So far:
I have pruned almost all my maple bonsai and a couple of elms.
Rough trim of most trident stock plants, Cotoneaster, Chinese elms and a few others.
Rebuilt a couple of nursery benches.
Cleaned the nursery (as a result of the new benches)
Replanted the vegetable patch with winter crops.
Turned old compost and started a new batch.
2nd racking of this year's shiraz.
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Joshua
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Re: Covid - how are you killing the time?

Post by Joshua »

About a month ago they starting to open up things up again here since they started getting below the 10 000 new cases per day again.
Found plenty of things to do around the house but had difficulty working from home. Didn't manage to do near enough of the little projects I have in mind. Did build a wicking bed though for the balcony. Bought more plants than I should have and a bit of time spent looking after those and fighting off fungus gnats
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Re: Covid - how are you killing the time?

Post by TimS »

Been working in the garden mainly;the back garden at my new place is fence to fence lawn which is pretty useless when you don’t own a dog, so I’m ripping out the whole boundary to create some nice wide garden beds which I’ll put some She-Oaks in as a screen using a.verticillata for a nice habit. I’ll pop some maples in, a magnolia too and an local acacia as well for some different colours through the seasons and underplant with some native grasses and shrubs too. That’s a long way off though, for now I’m just ripping up swathes of lawn and creating a mud nightmare.

Other than that I’ve done some repotting of trees that don’t need root pruning and can just be slip potted out of plastic pots or poly boxes and into bonsai pots.
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Re: Covid - how are you killing the time?

Post by austindrake »

Basically preparing myself for late-winter, early-spring repotting season. Getting soils in order, pots/grow boxes, and acquiring some new garden trees in the bare-root season (to eventually air-layer or propagate with cuttings as well).
This will be my first proper repotting season where I can get stuck into some rootwork to get rid of taproots, coiled roots etc, and try to pave the way for good root flare and trunk bases.
Itching to get going though, winter cant be over soon enough!
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Re: Covid - how are you killing the time?

Post by MarkYee »

I’m doing pot hunting. I find it pretty tough to source good quality unglazed shohin sized pots in oval or rectangle. So far, the best one I have is a purchase from Bonsai mojo in South Australia.

I’ve also started working on some shimpakus which I sort of had given up on last season. And experimenting with winter repotting.
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Re: Covid - how are you killing the time?

Post by Juliancole »

I am in the same situation as you. I have been on lockdown for more than six months and also leave the house once or twice a week. When you are at home for such a long time, you really have nothing left to do because there is enough time to do all the work, and besides that, you still have a lot of free time. Periodically, I do tests for covid since my aunt has several packs of 25 tests from confirmbiosciences.com since the situation with Covid is terrifying in my city. I am also thinking of buying a few more trees to take up my time. Still, every trip to the town is a big problem since now I live with my aunt, and her immunity is very weak, so I am very worried about her health every time.
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