What to do on our bonsai trees in November?

Winter is just around the corner, this year's long-awaited rain is back and the cold is slowly settling in.  Many of the trees have turned to their autumn colours and some have already lost their leaves.  The trees continue to stock up to get through the winter and prepare for the cold. Depending on the region where you live, you will need to take precautions to protect them from heavy frosts. You can now find a place for them against a wall that will store heat during the day and save precious degrees during the night, or cut them off from the cold winds. For greenhouse processors, you can overwinter them while taking care of aeration and temperature.

Repotting 

Repotting is possible for deciduous trees that have lost their leaves, such as maples, hornbeams, oaks, etc. After repotting, the roots are weakened and frost would dry them out. It will therefore be necessary to be vigilant in order to maximize the recovery. The conifers, however, are stocking up and the sap has not yet descended, so it is preferable to wait until February/March to repot.

Watering 

Leafless trees have very little activity, you can observe that these dry much more slowly than others. It will therefore be necessary to do a measured and visual watering. Don't hesitate to look at the substrate under a few centimetres. At this time of year, the nights are usually humid and the morning dew can make you think that your bonsai is constantly watered, but it is very common for a large majority of the root ball to be dry. This is the mistake that many beginners can make conclusively to the death of the tree.

For indoor varieties, they should be placed as close as possible to the windows in order to benefit from maximum light. However, care should be taken not to place them near a radiator or other heat source. A temperature of 18° is ideal. Spraying water on the foliage is recommended, it should not be forgotten that indoor varieties are usually native to tropical countries.

Fertilizer 

It is recommended to continue applying fertilizers (organic and chemical) to trees that are still in leaf and to conifers. They will need as many nutrients as possible to build up their reserves.

Generally, it is useless to fatten the trees when the temperatures are too cold, however it often happens that the temperature in our pots with the sun allows the fertilizers to be assimilated by the roots.

Waist 

Structural pruning on trees that have lost their leaves is possible now. So you can cut off the misplaced branches and thus form the bonsai to your wish.

However, you should avoid pruning flowering varieties (azaleas, camellia, magnolia, etc.)   because the flower buds have already formed. This would result in a lack of flowering. Tags: 

On pine trees, in order to bring in light and encourage the appearance of new buds, you can remove the old large needles.

Ligation and guying

Ligation and guying can be done on deciduous, coniferous or tropical trees. Since there will be no shoots during the winter (except for tropical ones) your ligature wire can remain for many months without injuring the tree and giving the branch time to take the desired shape.   However, for tropical ones, care must be taken to ensure that the thread does not get into the bark.

Some pictures of our nursery in November