shop as of 5 13 12

Share on Facebook

Hello all you bonsai lovers out there!
So much has happened in the past few months. A whole lot of repotting and trimming, styling, bench building and just general overall refinement. We have our order of Satsuki azaleas in (4 inch, 6 inch , and 1 gallon material). A few different varieties right now with the intention of getting around 25 varieties ultimately. We also have cuttings in the mist of over 15 different dwarf varieties of Japanese Maples that will be ready by next spring. It’s so exciting to have the property I’ve wanted for so many years! Please come on by and I’ll be more than happy to give you the grand tour. We are just in the infancy stages of what is going to be once mature a Bonsai store destination spot, but I’m glad to show off whats progressed this last year.

We have literally TONS of bonsai soil and we are screening more daily. I have two grades. “Professional grade Course soil” and “Master Grade Shohin Mix”. Both are 100% percent inorganic, the course blend is screened and cleaned between 1/4 and 1/16 with the shohin mix between 1/8 to 1/16. I use various aggregates with different weights, textures, moisture retention, and mineral compositions, and all individually proven to be excellent for both moisture retention, long term use, and drainage. Think of us for all your soil needs. Repotting season is here now. Don’t delay in ordering online for season or just come on by and pick some up. I’ll be running a sale on all aggregate mixes till end of the month, so take advantage and purchase online, then come on by and pick it up to save shipping if you’d like. Now, lets talk about what kind of care you should be doing for your bonsai right now.

I’m sure all of you in the central Florida area are just loving how everything is busting out with new growth and how various trees and shrubs that looked almost dead and bare all winter are now vigorous with new growth and movement. This truly is my favorite time of year. This is the time to take it all in and enjoy the beauty of the branches you’ve worked on from either a few months to many years now. Be careful as the thickness of the small deciduous trunks and branches will now start developing in record time. Be vigilant! Be aware what stage your tree is at and act accordingly!

Here are a few things I ask myself before I trim a tree to find out what stage a tree is at.

1) Is the tree healthy? An unhealthy tree shouldn’t be trimmed. If a tree is unhealthy, causes of sickness should be discovered and corrected now. Spring is the best time of year to correct issues because it will have all season to recover. Correcting said issues are imperative before its too late before any styling or refining can begin. Why is it sick? Does it need to be put in the right mix? This is usually the right time of year to repot. If the soil is the culprit to the health issue of the tree, it is better to fix it the right time of year for sure. There are a number of reasons the tree may be sick from a certain mix. It could either be pot bound which means full of roots with no room for further expansion of roots in root zone or it could be that the organics are broken down to a silt-like, mucky mess. This creates a lack of oxygen around roots and causes root rot conditions in some sections or even in all areas of the root zone. It could also be potted in the incorrect mix for the type of tree. Certain types of trees really benefit from a sandy mix and suffer from a mostly organic mix, especially after a few years in an incorrect mix or vice versa. These are just a few of the reasons I do my repotting first thing in the Spring and wait to trim till the tree is exhibiting new growth after repot.
You may also want to put the tree in the ground for a few years if it just lacks vigor and could use some serious thickening. The ground does amazing things to mediocre trees. Refining trees in bonsai pots also stalls the trunk and branch growth quite a bit.
In fact, if it lacks vigor considerably I look into taking it out of its pot and putting it in the ground for a season for that season.
Just realize it also sets back the ramification to almost the start if not trimmed in ground once it starts growing good
2) Is the tree a young styling? Many young trees just put in bonsai pots the first couple of years are young stylings. So are collected trunks. Even though the trunk of a tree may be old, especially on collected material, the branches may be young and require a lot of lengthening and thickening of branches before real ramification can begin. In this case I may wait till the branches grow out considerably and may not trim at all during a season to thicken the main branches. Some smaller trees I may let grow 10-15 sets of leaves before I trim, and may leave a few sacrificial branches untouched the whole year, to also help taper and thickening during this young stage.
3) Is this tree ready to start refining for a show? If the branches thickened, the wounds are healing nicely, and the trimming back has yielded the beginnings of ramification, its important to start refining to improve the ramification of your tree. This is the time of year you need to stay on top of new growth in your trees you are ready to start refining. Now you won’t let the new shoots grow quite as long as you did then you were still in the younger stages of branching. Instead of letting them grow 12-15 leaves out, now maybe 6 leaves out then trimmed to one or two. You need to keep trimming elms almost on a weekly basis right now. Advanced level maples and grape vines can be pinched in the tip shoots to encourage back budding along branches and to encourage smaller leaves to develop. Pine extended candles can be evened out the end of this month, with just pinching the really long ones to the level of the shorter candles to even strength throughout your tree. Sacrificial branches should be left alone as long as the buds close to the trunk look vigorous as well. If they are very weak, you may need to pinch sacrificial candles back to even strength to areas close in to trunk you actually need for future branches. These are a bear to replace if they die out. But don’t trim sacrificial unless it is needed. Trimming them slows down the desired result as well.
Junipers will have to be trimmed back throughout season as well to help let light in branches to encourage dense clouds of foliage, and just about everything will like to be kept well fertilized all during season to make sure all trees have enough nutrients to stay healthy. We are applying organics on a bi-weekly basis right now.

If your tree is in good mix, is looking beautiful and healthy, and is starting to look like a real tree, you may want to consider showing it in a local show. We have a state show with BSF (Bonsai Societies of Florida) every year. There is also one in Miami. And Local Clubs usually have a show once a year or so. Our Study group is having a fall festival this October and will have a display area as well that will be judged by Rodney Clemons, with prizes and awards given to winners in multiple categories.
This is our Fall Festival event and it is going to be on the Fourth October this year ( 27th and 28th). This is going to be a workshop event as well with Rodney Teaching two classes. One is a class on Kingsville Dwarf Boxwoods “Sauders” and one is going to be with a rock scene Rodney is so famous for. It really should be an amazing weekend . We will have more to come along with pictures of material and mail in forms to send in for the Classes. Can’t wait!

Jason Schley
Schley’s Bonsai and Supplies
2745 Audubon ave
Deland Fl 32720
386-675-3118

Share on Facebook

Collecting Crape Myrtle Tree for bonsai Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8
I broke them up so people can take a break between parts or come back later. Plus I don’t yet have video software to combine /crop/clean/and just plain edit professionally. It is however, on my list.
Also, there may be a little redundancy in the posts, that only because i wanted to make sure I got all the info I wanted to out there for potential collectors.
Please subscribe to my YouTube feed if you already haven’t. Ill be posting videos on the regular and Ill try to incorporate them into my blog as well. It’s a great way to get as many different types media out there and video really can help show things I’ve been just talking about. Its always easier to see techniques in action than just reading about things. Ill be sure to show certain techniques in video in the future as its fast becoming my favorite media.
Thanks for checking out my blog!
Jason

Share on Facebook

Here is the video, please tell me what you think. Yes, I know its long. I don’t have editing software yet. Its on my to do list for sure.

Collecting Bald Cypress in Central Florida

Also, here are some pics for your enjoyment. These will be for sale, but not until they are well established. They do have more feeder roots than I normally get from the swamps. I’m very hopeful we will have close to 100 percent success. THE roots were that good.

Its messy.

Native carnivorous pitcher plant.

Some of the days collections
We will leave these in the mist for the next year. They are in full sun to help back budding and vigor. The mist keeps the cambium moist to aid in recovery by keeping hydration in tree till roots recover and grow enough to take over the moisture uptake choirs.
We also have a bunch more videos coming up so be sure to Subscribe to our Youtube page.
Thanks for looking!
Jason

Share on Facebook

Jason

Share on Facebook

On another note, we will try to do more blogs more often. We have some grafting we are doing some great stuff at the shop Id like to cover. I am going to do a detailed blog on soils we are offering , and bench designs for both stock and finished trees. Also, our new Shohin display we are working on. Should be fun. Talk soon.

Jason

Share on Facebook

This podocarpus was a Logo tree for a friend of Mine, Paul Pickel of Orlando Bonsai.He got my Blue Alps juniper and I got his Epcot tree. Then, I sold this tree to a good customer of mine and within 1 year it had issues with watering by his sprinklers and got really weak. At the correct time of year, I pulled it and put it cut off dead roots, cleaned up old soil, and put it in my New mix. This is what it looked like 2 years later .

IF you haven’t seen this tree before , you will notice a huge bare area on the top half of the tree. That is because 3 branches all died when the sap withdrew. This is common on a tree that survives some sort of trauma in nature. However, this was due to either incorrect watering all the way around the pot, or that organic fertilizer wasn’t removed in early spring and stopped the water from getting to roots because of clogging at surface. Both problems look the same and both can be avoided with studious care to your tree. The owner did learn from this mistake and has since stepped up not only to now correctly applying water, but also cleaning the surface of EVERY tree in Jan/feb and add new fresh mix so drainage isn’t hampered and the visual aspects of tree are improved. So this was considered a learning experience for him, albeit an expensive one at the time. I think it was a blessing in disguise as the tree had serious taper issues and the deadwood work needed serious refinement down the road anyway.
The first thing I did was cut living branches of the top of the tree off. They were too high up, were weak, and all coming from one place. The next thing I did was begin carving the deadwood into more of a cohesive unit to tell a story of how the top died off a long time ago and the deadwood, through rot and time, created hollows and motion, while also giving good taper and interest in deadwood design while making your eye “dance” up the deadwood, and not be board. The next thing I did was cut back the branches as the tree had 2 years to recover and needed to back bud closer to trunk to improve taper and fullness in design. I then separated the pads since I had so few branches to work with. Once This tree recovers, Ill repot it in spring in the same pot but at a different front.
I only had the Arbortech to work with, and had limited Depth to work with. Ill need to detail it out and go deeper in hollows once I get the correct tool for the job. Three different power tools and various hand tools seems about minimum for a really show worthy deadwood design. And Time. you need time if you want to really have great deadwood. Mother Nature helping age your deadwood design will work wonders. Flame helps soften machine marks as well, but at the expense of detail. Here are some pics of carving.
This area on base of tree is where another trunk was at first styling . It was cut to a flush cut instead of leaving a stub to carve, so I had to start the process of making it more three dimensional. I’m trying to get some interest in appearance of scar, as if rot would create depth and beauty. Im trying to make look as naturally as possible as this is going to be on the new front. I love the start.

Another angle

This is going to be my new front. I need to work the branches a bit more and give some of them a refinement tweak, but it is all there and once it gets repotted this will be one of the best I’ve done. Now I REALLY want it back! Oh well, Ill still be able to see it when I work on it .

I think its a good start.
What do you think?

Share on Facebook

Yes, those are pallets of 275 bags per pallet and, yes, this is another pic of said pallets.

As you can see, I have a LOT to sell. We will have it up on the website very soon for $5.49 per 7lb bag. This is really very exciting! Plus, now I can pot up my colandered Mikawa Japanese black pines and a few other trees I’d like to really get to growing! If you’ve been waiting to buy a Mikawa, come get now before they are re-potted and upgraded. I’m very excited about what is coming down the pike. Stay tuned!

Plus, I’ve got my Shohin garden mostly set up. I need to border it, put down underlayment and have rocks put in. Also, get rid of that accursed satellite in the center! I know…those trees are not ALL Shohin (9 inches or less) but they Will be. I had to fill up some empty spaces with good trees. Heres a pic.

Plus, I have the final heights on my Specimen Bonsai area and I finally have the pads all poured. Next will be the Penjing display area and then the stone drive garden. We are looking at about 200 tons of stones and gravel when it is all said and done……. ouch. Here is a pic of the specimen area so far.

Also, last but not least, we are offering advanced a 3-day class on wiring and styling techniques for $75! It’s a three part class. The first is on Sept 25th , the second is March 25th of 2012′, and the last is Sept 23rd. Bring your own tree and tools. We supply the wire, instruction, and will give out a syllabus you can take home and study . This will show you what you do after the initial styling. How to ramify it out, how to develop it into a show ready display. So many people just fail to reach that next step. We’ll show you how! 15 spaces available. 6 filled so far and I haven’t even promoted it yet . Its $75 total for all three classes! Sign up now! Caution!! You WILL be expected to wire your own tree. This is an advanced course on advanced techniques.
And one last thing! I am on Twitter! Here is my Twitter address Sorry, but you’ll have to copy and paste on your browser–> http://twitter.com/#!/Jason_schley

See you soon!

Share on Facebook

Hello all you bonsai lovers out there!
Well, its finally happening! We are now open for business in our new location and we want to celebrate with all of you out there! This coming Friday and Saturday, 10:00 to 7:00, we will be having our Grand opening of our new and improved location! I am now on a 12 Acre Parcel, out in the country a bit off the beaten path. Its raw, but has some serious potential and I want to show you all what I intend to do! So far, we’ve cleared 3 acres, installed underlayment, cleaned up, trimmed, fertilized and organized all the inventory we used to have, plus brought out all the 100′s of trees I had been training in the ground for years at my previous home, and now have them leaved out and trimmed back for your approval!
We have catered food for both days and drinks provided throughout event. There will be door prizes and Demonstrations, with yours truly doing demos on Friday and our Master Artist Mike Rogers on Saturday. Yes we will have Beer! And Wine for those of you with a sophisticated pallet.
We are doing it a little different this year. There is a $10.00 entrance fee per person, but you get 10 dollars of bonsai bucks, 2 free drink tickets, free food, and a door prize raffle ticket! Its going towards helping pay for the catering and expenses as the last few years have taught us that these expenses can put you out of business quickly if not managed properly.
We will hopefully have music as well, but this remains to be seen. Anyone have a mix tape? Karaoke anyone?
Anyway, It should be a lot of fun either way, and I’m hoping you can all join me.
BTW, if your not on my Facebook, please shoot me an email per person as the caterer charges per person. I have to know how many to make food for. We are up to 70!
Thank you all once again for all your support and I hope to see you there!

Jason
Schley’s Bonsai and Supplies
2745 Audubon Ave <———————–New Location!!!
Deland Fl 32720
386-672-3118
Map to location of new Bonsai Mecca!

PS! We have Lava coming! It may not be here by event, but we are taking preorders. 7 lb bags of Colorado Lava, 7 lb bags, $5.50 each But preorders are $4.50. Just spoke with the suppliers today. We should get it in next week. If all goes well. Also, preorders of 5 gallon bags of Lava screened or graded are $28.00 per bucket on orders of 5 or more 5 LB buckets. Let me know!

Share on Facebook

 We also have a building to give classes dedicated specifically for that. Its a small building at 12×24, but will have AC, electric, great lighting, and a nice landscaped front to take a look at when you come inside.  Should be a very nice place indeed, once its completed.  For those of you on my facebook, you’ve seen the pics ( schley’s Bonsai is my Facebook profile, friend me!) and for those of you on Twitter ( its “jason_schley” since the business name was taken already, Follow Me!) , you’ve seen a lot of these goings on because its really the only thing I have time for these days as All it is is a quick pic and post out in the field.  Im working on a tree of the day daily post. Im going to try to do a tree of the week here, once everything settles down.

 I also hired someone to take pics for the website and Ebay stores site. They are no cheaper at ebay stores, but its a good way to get my name out there to the masses till the advertizing for the website pays off and people see what I have directly through this medium mostly, then Ill cut back some. My name on ebay is Gardenrebelwasright!, for those of you who haven’t already figured that out.

 I also have the underlayment started, which is a beautiful thing!  Really cleans up the inventory area, which is HUGE . Much bigger than old area. My nursury took up a 125 x 45 space before, it’ll now reside on a 600×120 space at first ,  and expand to a 450×600 within the next 5 years. So that means I have almost 13 x more space than before!!!!  So you really shoul take the time to come and see the nursery on July 22nd and 23rd when we have our grand opening. Everything will be out in the sprinklers, trimmed back , and on benches or on underlayment in anticipation for benches that will be built. Ill have music, food, drinks, demos, door prizes, and lots of fun!  This event will be different than all others before ,  but will be the same for many after.  There is a 10.00 fee at the door per person,  but you get 10.00 in bonsai bucks to spend as you please at the nusery on anything. Same as cash!  Ive just had a huge nut to crack doing these events and although its really for the customers, it shouldnt put me out of business. Everyone I’ve spoken with agrees.

 The thing I’m working on right now is the underlayment, and the next will be the fencing. We are going with 6′ heavy duty chain link ,  and I’m going to have confederate Jasmine, honeysuckle, passion flower , and others growing up it . I just always think it is so beautiful when it has vines growing along it ,  exp when it is maintained and not cluttered with vining weeds as well.  So far I have 1000 foot of fencing to put up ,  with another 1000 going up as we can afford it . Privacy along back so customers don’t see the delapidated buildings of Neighbors , although my neighbor assures me it is going down.  We are going to work on the Bathroom in the building to make it Handicap excessible so we can have our “all clear” inspection.  Painful but nessessary.  Going into this I had NO idea this was going to be such a grand undertaking . Hopefully Itll all pan out.

  Next thing on the agenda, We are getting a truck Load of Lava rock.  This is Colorado lava in 7# bags. I am getting literally thousands of bags of Lava.  These retail for 5.50 per bag normally, but if you preorder and pay for 10 or more bags , I am giving a special of 4.50 per bag.  This is only until July 15th, and after that they go to 5.50 per bag. No discount will be given after that.  There is a Wholesale discount as well, but you MUST be a licensed retailer with a current resale certificate. Call me for quote.  THis is not the bulk with chunks and lots of dust off brand.  This is the good stuff.   

  Im also offering bulk discount orders on Lava 5 gallon buckets.  This is screened and graded. I am going to offer mixes down the road ,  but for all of my trees at the shop I use Screened and graded lava only on all of my trees.

  If you would like a bulk preorder of lava, it is prepay and we need a week of lead time , and it is 28.00 per bucket with a 20 bucket minimum.  Less than that is a 35.00 per bucket so long as it is at least 5 buckets and is prepaid.  It normally sells for 40.00 per bucket screened and graded if youd rather just come on in and pick it up.

  Im trying to be the Central florida Meca for bonsai. I have the unique opportunity since I can grow so many things that they can’t grow down in south florida and can’t grow as fast up north.

 Its going to be a long hard path,  but one Ive dreamed about since 94′ .  With your help and patronage , we can make this great! Hope to see you all at the event!!

    Jason

Share on Facebook