Jim said:
>And it's good to "see" you again, Nina. You've
>been absent for a while.
Nah, just quiet. And busy. I've been working with the nursery
industry to come up with BMPs- "best management practices" to reduce
the risk of "sudden oak death" infecting nursery plants. BMPs are
usually good common sense; maybe the IBC should come up with an
official bonsai BMP. Here are some possible examples:
-When new plants come in, they should be quarantined from the rest of
the bonsai until it's clear they are disease-free. [The problem would
be deciding how long that would be. For me, it would be until they put
out a flush of new leaves.]
- Collect and appropriately dispose of all plant debris (trimmed
branches, fallen leaves). [The problem would be what constitutes
"appropriately". Burning would be good. Composting would be good as
long as it's a real compost pile that heats up- not just a pile of
garbage]
-Disinfect tools after each use. [You'd have to use your judgement over
whether 'each use' means each cut, or each tree, or each day of
pruning. If I lived in an area with fire blight and I had roseaceous
bonsai, I'd sterilize after each *cut*. If I was pruning out cankers,
I'd sterilize after each cut.]
-Use sterile growing media and clean pots.
-Monitor your yard for diseases or pests that might spread from the
landscape to your bonsai; if control in the landscape isn't possible,
use preventative measures on the bonsai. [Cedar-apple rust or japanese
beetles are two examples where this would be helpful]
-Maintain good records of repotting and cultural practices.
And so on. Feel free to add on.
Nina.
