Bonsai Literature
"Bonsai from the Wild" by Nick Lenz came into my mailbox at just the right time. I had been preparing for the "Dead Bonsai Contest" all summer and didn't know it. I had just started to participate in this forum, and was beginning to learn enough about bonsai to understand that I was on track to becoming a serial bonsai killer (Iris didn't actually use those words, but...).
I have always had a great appreciation for the the bonsai art form, but I also want to be a maker of bonsai, not just a collector.
"Bonsai from the Wild" has shown me that our local woods and meadows have abundant native stock such as hornbeam and poison ivy that can be grown into rewarding bonsai. I have my eye on a honeysuckle and a cow-chomped wild apple to transplant in the spring. The few paragraphs devoted to each species, contain a light-hearted recipe for cultivation, horticulture and the art form.
Thanks Tom for the loan. I'm buying my own copy now to read a few more times and for reference. I'll put "Wild" in my car and drop it off when I see you tending your gardens in the next weeks.
Bonsai Literature
Doug, You will probably find me tending the koi pond. Seems I spend a lot of time there.
And I have 1 more reading suggestion (assignment?) for you. Totally, totally different. But I'm sure you will be equally inspired, or even more so. VISION OF MY SOUL by Robert Steven. Unless you already have it you may borrow mine. You might want to keep it all Winter, it is that engrossing - and that's OK.
Bonsai Literature
Tom I don't have the book VISION OF MY SOUL. May I borrow it for a month or so?
By the way, I have trees sleeping in the garage. They are never forgotten and always have a little snow piled on them. The garage is about freezing this time of year and so the snow doesn't melt for a few days. They look peaceful. I hope they wake up this spring. Maybe we could link the "wake up" time to the "dead tree" contest for me.
Bonsai Literature
Sure Doug, I will mail it to you in the morning. You will have it to enjoy by this weekend. Keep it as long as you like - great winter reading!!!
Now think only positive thoughts about your slumbering trees in the garage. They will bring you joy in the spring. 
Bonsai Literature
For all of you who enjoy reading good material - and what better time to be reading than during the long winter, prior to the wake-up season of spring? - your local bonsai clubs have free "lending library" privileges for members. This is a great source of material, pick-up a book at one meeting, return it the next month. Bonsai books can be expensive and hard to find. Check out the collection at your club. Not a member? Hey it's easy.
AND by the way (time to put in a plug) MVBC in Utica has their meeting TODAY. The weather is kind. Get out of the house. Spend a little time with your bonsai friends. Learn, socialize, plan, find sources, have a little fun. Maybe even win the raffle.
Hope to see you there.
Tom
Bonsai Literature
There is one caveat about bonsai literature. Most writers of bonsai books came to this activity through art, and have little or no formal training in horticulture. They write about what they have learned from their own experience with their collection in their region. The worst offenders are the denizens of Florida who tell you how to grow tropicals in the North. Read bonsai books for the pictures, & for the instructions about styling. Be very skeptical about the horticultural information. If you run across a reference to humidity trays, completely ignore the horticultural part of the book.
Iris
Bonsai Literature
Iris, please say more about humidity trays in our climate. From my reading I'm confused as to whether they're useful???
Bonsai Literature, Redirect to new subject, Humidity Trays
Humidity tray is one of the most persistent myths in indoor gardening, not just bonsai. It is right up there with water drops on your leaves in the sun. I have a reference for you from orchid literature: Kohl, Douglas
1995 "A Study in Humidity: Douglas Kohl Evaluates the Effectiveness of a Common Method to Raise Humidity around Orchids Growing in the Home" in American Orchid Society Bulletin, 63(8), pp. 916-917.
Sorry, I don't have it. You could probably find it in the Moon Library at the SUNY Forestry School, Syracuse.
Mary Miller offers an explanation in her recent book about tropicals. Beginners who grow their windowsill bonsai (or other plants) on humidity trays also take pains with other aspects of growing. They water & feed more consistently, & pay more attention to their plants in general. When the plants thrive, they attribute part of their success to the "humidity trays."
I conducted my own little experiment with windowsill plants about 40 years ago. I found that on a sunny winter day in Central NY, the humidity tray raised the humidity around the plants about 3%. Some growers, probably further south, reported a difference of 7%. You can get better results if the tray is very large and has a fan blowing across it. However, in order to provide the 60-65% humidity needed by many tropical bonsai, such as Fukien tea, you should have some sort of enclosure and a humidifier.
Iris
Bonsai Literature, Redirect to new subject, Humidity Trays
My 2 cents. Yes I learned a thing or two from Iris. But I still favor the humidity trays, if, for no other reason, they help keep watered pots from dripping and making a mess. I use a turkey baster for watering the tropicals and rather than carrying each plant to the sink I can water them directly on the shelf and the trays catch the overflow. If in turn they provide an extra 3 percent humidity for the plant that's OK. I always keep some water in the (pebble) trays for that purpose, and a humidifier nearby. The house is dry in winter, especially when the wood stove is a cookin'. And what good is winter without the wood stove?
Anyone else with some life experiences with humidity trays to share with us. It's good to compare notes - as Nancy says "it's all good".
Bonsai Literature, Redirect to new subject, Humidity Trays
So then we agree that if there is a humidity benefit to a tray, its hardly significant, right? I do like the drip catch benefit though and so do some of our old furniture treasures.
How can I keep my FUKIAN TEA close to 65 percent in winter in a way that doesn't detract from its viewability...maybe a bell jar with bottom breathing space? I can't imagine an enclosure that is like a greenhouse year round. Its already hard enough to keep these beautiful little trees under cover and out of sight 6 montht of the year in this climate.
Bonsai Literature, Redirect to new subject, Humidity Trays
I keep hoping for more participation - more 'opinions' here. Perhaps they are all still shoveling or snowblowing driveways. I still have more to do myself, 
60-65% humidity is a big number for indoors in winter!! One of our club members uses a wire rack shelving unit which is enclosed with clear heavy plastic sheeting on the sides & back. It has a humidifier and trays plus small fans for air circulation. I don't know what humidity level he achieves with this set-up but I believe it is better than the bell jar idea. That would limit circulation too much. And with poor air movement BEWARE aphids, scale, etc. These pests would be another new topic for us.
Bonsai Literature, Redirect to new subject, Humidity Trays
I use humidity trays both for catching the runoff and the added benefit of raised humidity. How well does it work ? Hard to measure depending on the air circulation and the size of the room. In my tropical growing area (sunroom) I use a small humidifier and with all of the little humidity trays under my plants I can definitively notice a benefit especially on sunnier days when the temperature gets above 60 degrees. I'd like to splash more water all over the floor, but it's not exactly a greenhouse, but more of a living area. 
Jon
Bonsai Literature
Vision of My Soul was on top of my stack all winter (now its on your side door, Tom). I re-read the book numerous times. One of the outcomes from that experience is my new notion of artistic vision in Bonsai unlike the short term steps with which I had been concerned. On the other hand, its made bonsai for me, more daunting.
On a sad note, my Chinese Elm is dead. It never came out of its winter slumber, probably because of the stress in its previous four years of never being dormant (I treated it as an indoor tropical before this winter).
Bonsai Literature
Doug, I'm very saddened about your elm, and perplexed that any advice given here may have led to its demise. I am also concerned that the books I loaned you have left you feeling daunted rather than uplifted and inspired.
I truly hope that you will continue on with your other trees and acquire more along the way. This journey of wonder and fulfillment is filled with twists and turns, hills and valleys, peaks of accomplishment - as well as pits of failure and disappointment.
Please keep in touch with the 'bonsai community' around you. And please, please come to the bonsai show May 15-16th at the MV Arts Center in Little Falls. We would be honored to have you there.
Be a bonsai activist.
PS - anyone wishing to display their bonsai at this show should give us a listing of your trees, ASAP, as we are printing ID tags for them now and want to have all trees tagged/identified. And, if possible, bring them to the May 8th meeting in Utica.
Bonsai Literature
I'm definitely looking forward to peeping at the little trees May 15th or 16th in Little Falls.
Thank you for the kind words on the passing of my Chinese Elm. As I look back, I was fortunate that it didn't die sooner. I received care information from the supplier when I acquired the tree about four years ago which wasn't very good. It made me believe the elm was an indoor tree. Last summer I started getting concerned about early leaf drop, and by the time I sought help, it was already too late. The advice I got from the forum made me realize that as a deciduous tree, it needed four seasons and the advise came with the warning that eventually, the tree would become seriously stressed. Despite the good advice, it was too late.
I'm on the look out for another elm.
Bonsai Literature
Doug - If you want to buy locally : Nancy Knapp - AT LAST POTTERY & PLANTS - in Poland has a few small Chinese elms and would be glad to help you out. Phone 601/4268, or...
Pauline Muth - www.pfmbonsai.com near Amsterdam/Schenectady, or
Bill Valavanis - www.internationalbonsai.com W.Henrietta,NY would all be good options.
Let us know what you find, or not...