Frequency of fertilizing

[Tachigi]

This from Walter

Quote:
I use feed that is meant for regular houseplant s for bonsai. There is no such thing as bonsai feed. It is an invention of folks who either have too much time or too much money or both. Bonsai are regular plants, Only they need MORE feed than regular plants because we cut off things constantly and want them to regrow fast.

Quote:
There are folks out there who have an agenda. They want to sell you akadama, biogold, bonsai feed water softeners and such stuff which you don't need. Or they just want to believe books which were written forty years ago. All this is just modern professional garden know-how applied to bonsai.


I respect Walter as an artist .... as I do a lot of others. However here I have to say that this statement, applied to the general bonsai community, is silly and way to simplistic. Since its quoted out of context I maybe missing something.

To be quite literal Walter is correct there is no such thing as "BONSAI FERTILIZER" that term is a misnomer. A fertilizer delivery system for bonsai maybe a better term that delivers the correct ingredients in the right amounts at the appropriate time. Most people reading this are still trying to figure it all out when it comes to bonsai. So to expect them to try a dissect an appropriate feeding regime is a bit fanciful. Also the statement that "we just don't feed enough" is a bit generic. What exactly and in what proportions aren't we feeding enough of? So if there are products that can fill a need for both us and are trees...is that a bad thing?

As far as an agenda...we all have them....Walter has one, I do, Brett does.....anyone reading this has one in one form or another. Are they negative agendas...I think/or hope not. When Michael Persiano game out with his super feed regime he had an agenda when he shared it with the world...he wanted people to learn. I wonder what the agenda was when the Imperial Household Agency adopted Biogold for the Emperor's bonsai when they had a host of choices including common garden products. I have yet to meet in the states a person that makes and or sells cakes that has a negative agenda. They simply found something that works, or works in concert with something else, and simple wanted to share something that worked.

For myself.....I neither have to much time or money, though hope still burns bright.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Smoke
What do you think of adding liquid humic acid to homemade fertilizer cakes made with Plant-Tone?

Frank

Plant-Tone already has humates:
http://www.espoma.com/p_consumer/pdf/products/tones/Esp_Plant.pdf

 

[greerhw]

Quote:
I use feed that is meant for regular houseplant s for bonsai. There is no such thing as bonsai feed. It is an invention of folks who either have too much time or too much money or both. Bonsai are regular plants, Only they need MORE feed than regular plants because we cut off things constantly and want them to regrow fast.

Quote:
There are folks out there who have an agenda. They want to sell you akadama, biogold, bonsai feed water softeners and such stuff which you don't need. Or they just want to believe books which were written forty years ago. All this is just modern professional garden know-how applied to bonsai.


I respect Walter as an artist .... as I do a lot of others. However here I have to say that this statement, applied to the general bonsai community, is silly and way to simplistic. Since its quoted out of context I maybe missing something.

To be quite literal Walter is correct there is no such thing as "BONSAI FERTILIZER" that term is a misnomer. A fertilizer delivery system for bonsai maybe a better term that delivers the correct ingredients in the right amounts at the appropriate time. Most people reading this are still trying to figure it all out when it comes to bonsai. So to expect them to try a dissect an appropriate feeding regime is a bit fanciful. Also the statement that "we just don't feed enough" is a bit generic. What exactly and in what proportions aren't we feeding enough of? So if there are products that can fill a need for both us and are trees...is that a bad thing?

As far as an agenda...we all have them....Walter has one, I do, Brett does.....anyone reading this has one in one form or another. Are they negative agendas...I think/or hope not. When Michael Persiano game out with his super feed regime he had an agenda when he shared it with the world...he wanted people to learn. I wonder what the agenda was when the Imperial Household Agency adopted Biogold for the Emperor's bonsai when they had a host of choices including common garden products. I have yet to meet in the states a person that makes and or sells cakes that has a negative agenda. They simply found something that works, or works in concert with something else, and simple wanted to share something that worked.

For myself.....I neither have to much time or money, though hope still burns bright.

Ok you old scudder, not feeding enough is probably a little generic, but if you feed your bonsai every two weeks(not your words, I know), you might as well be peeing on a lemon tree . I thought Michael Persiano hit it on the head. My soil doesn't retain anything long enough for my trees to feed on. I use Biogold, a lot of it so they get some nourishment everythime I water. This time of year when the trees are really growing, I fertilize half stength every other time I water with chemical fertilizer and some fish emulshion added. If I get up early enough in the morning, I will go our and spray the foliage with the same chemical fertilizer I water with. I back off of this feeding a little when the tempertures hit 95 or so, maybe feeding with chemical once a week, but still leaving the biogold on all season, no more foliage feeding, just misting until fall. when the temps. get back down in 70's, I feed heavy again so next years growth will develop, this works for me,but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone else, unless they lived next door to me. I know Biogold is a little expensive, but so is a 3k tree. One other thing, the soil on all my trees is covered with a layer of peat moss.

keep it green,
Harry

 

[Fangorn]

One other thing, the soil on all my trees is covered with a layer of peat moss.
keep it green,
Harry

Because I don't have organics in my soil, I've been using long fibered Sphagnum moss as a top layer on my pots when the days start to get hotter. Saves me a trip home at lunch

 

[HotAction]

do you put the cakes on or under the moss

 

[greerhw]

do you put the cakes on or under the moss

Under, or the moss would soak up all the fertilizer.

keep it green,
Harry

 

[Fangorn]

I put my cakes on top of my moss just because I didn't want them to stay wet and get moldy, or fall apart. I figured it get down there sooner or later. Now that Harry has shared the tea bag trick, I think I'll put it under too. There's a health food store down the street from where I work that will have them I bet

 

[october]

Hello all. I cannot remember the name of the company, may have been Tosho or somethign like that, but I used their rape seed cakes for years until they no longer allowed it to be imported into the country.. for me, it seemed to be the best fertilizer available... The pellets did not break down or get messy. They also had no odor...They were also recommeneded by Suthin Sukosolvisit...

Anyway, I have been using Green Dream for a couple of years now with decent results. not sure if it is quite as good as the other stuff though... The only problem is the smell.. It smells pretty bad for a couple of weeks when you first apply it. I am thinking about making a tea out of it instead of applying it directly to the soil.. Like maybe a few teaspoon of it mixed with a gallon of water and left to sit overnight, Then watering the trees with it the next day. I may look into other options as well.

Also, I agree with those who use all organics.. I think it produces better results and it WILL NOT burn plants... With miracle grow and other syntheitcs, there is always a chance of burn... wIth organincs, you don't have to worry about it...

Rob

 

[tiswas]

I mainly use CHEMPAK SPECIALIST - FORMULA 3 (N.P.K 20 - 20 - 20) every 10 days , sometimes a seaweed or fish emulsion depending whats cheap and available . For trees in "training" its got to be chicken s**t ,its cheap and is available in bulk

 

[greerhw]

I mainly use CHEMPAK SPECIALIST - FORMULA 3 (N.P.K 20 - 20 - 20) every 10 days , sometimes a seaweed or fish emulsion depending whats cheap and available . For trees in "training" its got to be chicken s**t ,its cheap and is available in bulk

Kind of like my opinion............

keep it green,
Harry

 

[the3rdon]

I use miracle grow 10-10-10 every other week early spring with some fish emulsion and miracid.. Late spring to mid to late summer I use the 10-10-10 weekly, and plentifully.. Black Pines and other conifers seemed to like the bio-gold the most.. The "D" trees like spam or anything u will feed them.. Them D-boys just wanna eat, they ain't picky..

Don H.

 

[Dav4]

Poo balls on all the trees the dogs can't reach. A combo of miracle gro/fish emulsion/humic acid weekly. Last year, because of my move south, I didn't use the poo balls...only used the liquid mix every 10 days or so. The liquid ferts every 10 days with %100 inorganic soil wasn't enough for some of my trees...

Dave

 

[greerhw]

I use miracle grow 10-10-10 every other week early spring with some fish emulsion and miracid.. Late spring to mid to late summer I use the 10-10-10 weekly, and plentifully.. Black Pines and other conifers seemed to like the bio-gold the most.. The "D" trees like spam or anything u will feed them.. Them D-boys just wanna eat, they ain't picky..

Don H.

I Luv Ya Man, that's funny right there, I don't care who you are.

keep it green,
Harry

 

[the3rdon]

I Luv Ya Man, that's funny right there, I don't care who you are.

keep it green,
Harry

True Story:

I grilled a ribeye the other day, and I still had a maple and a hornbeam sitting in the kitchen after trimming them up.. I walked away for one second.. Let's just say I ended up eating mcdonalds for dinner..

 

[milehigh_7]

I Luv Ya Man, that's funny right there, I don't care who you are.

keep it green,
Harry

Harry, remember the foliar feeding discussion when you were gonna strap some pork chops to your skin and see if satisfied you? Oh I was rolling...

 

[greerhw]

Yeah, it didn't work, I lost 3 lbs. and I never got any sleep with the dogs licking me all night.........

keep it green,
Harry

 

[Fangorn]

I use tea bags and they can be used for a whole growing season, empty them out and refill them.

keep it green,
Harry

http://perennialtearoom.com/makeyourownteabags.aspx

Worked like a charm Harry, thanks. The best part about putting them together is when my wife asked me what the hell I was doing, I looked her said what the heck does it look like? I'm ironing teabags

 

[greerhw]

Worked like a charm Harry, thanks. The best part about putting them together is when my wife asked me what the hell I was doing, I looked her said what the heck does it look like? I'm ironing teabags

I hope it works well for you, it's not my idea, I got it from Howard Smith of Dallas a few years ago. I use about twice the amount you are using.

keep it green,
Harry