If one loves the earth, he finds a liveliness in walking through the autumn woods: the color, the crackling, and the ripeness of the time appeal to his senses as he kicks his way through the dry leaves with his feet."

As the growth of your trees begins to slow so can your watering. But be vigilant - weather can change quickly. A dry hot autumn will dry out your trees quickly. Observe the soil and water only as required.  Many club members bring their indoor bonsai inside in September - before the furnace comes on. I prefer to leave my indoor trees outside as long as possible. But, I am also prepared to bring all my indoor trees inside in the event of an unexpected cold spell (40 degrees or lower).

Before bringing your tropical trees indoors spray them with an insecticide. Make sure they are insect fee. I also use a systemic insecticide several weeks before I plan on bringing them indoors. The indoor area used for overwintering your tropicals should emulate outdoor conditions as closely as possible (light, air currents, heat, etc). Doing so will reduce the shock to your plants when moved indoors and will improve their long term health.

We have recently moved to Toledo. Our new home has no windows with a southern exposure. The only available windows face east. I feel that placing tropical bonsai in a very weak light (i.e. eastern exposure) would encourage weak, leggy growth. Instead, I plan on placing all my tropicals in the basement, which has no light. I will provide some light through use of florescent light fixtures. Hopefully, the trees will go somewhat dormant until they are brought out into the sunlight next year in late spring. I am going to write to Jack Wickel (expert on growing bonsai indoors) about my concerns and will report to you in the next newsletter.

Continue your fine wiring. If you fine wire now you can leave the wire on until spring. Even wire on conifers (which continue to have some growth during winter) will cause no damage. But, make certain to remove all wires in early spring or your trees will be damaged.  You can start to buy your supplies for the spring repotting season such as turface, poultry grit, or orchid bark. Fellow club member Dan Faught has these supplies for sale and if you phone him in advance he can bring these supplies to the next meeting. You might also want to visit the nursery stores when they have their year end close out sales.

(Editor’s Note: I would like to extend a very heartfelt thank-you to Jim for soldiering on with his monthly column, even though he recently moved to Toledo - Ohio, I presume, not Spain. I have learned a lot from these columns, and I’m sure many other members have, too. Good luck on your new adventure and please, please stay in touch!)