Jiminsauga
Mame
It's to keep our sworn nemesis out.
What are your thoughts on fertilizer cups/baskets?
- Thread starter DonovanC
- Start date
WNC Bonsai
Masterpiece
One thing to consider is how you water. Since the baskets raise the fertilizer off the soil surface you really need to spray them to keep the process going. Drip irrigation won’t do that and some spray systems are too uneven. You pretty much have to watercwith a wand/hose or yuse an overhead spray system.
DonovanC
Chumono
Right, that’s a good point. I always water from a can or hose, so that wouldn’t be an issue for me. But that’s a good thing to consider.
Katie0317
Chumono
Where do you buy the Portland Rose fertilizer please? Do you grow roses also? I've always just used Rose-Tone on my roses. I'd like to try the Portland fertilizer on them and if they're good on bonsai will try that too.
When we went to Schley's Bonsai nursery he uses baskets in his personal bonsai that are not for sale. I ordered some to use on our orchids and put them in the bonsai pots too. Another bonsai nursery owner saw that I was using them when I took some trees to a class and although he doesn't use baskets he says to make sure to keep moving them around the pot if you do use them. (That's why he doesn't like using them...He doesn't want to keep moving them around.)
If you buy baskets on Amazon (and I don't know where else you would buy them) don't get the less expensive ones. You have to be very careful closing the tops and they break easily. A lot of them arrived broken.
DonovanC
Chumono
That’s good to know. The prices range on Amazon, I was eyeing the ones that were like 100 for $10US.
Also here is a link to the fertilizer that @JudyB mentioned. https://shop.portlandnursery.com/St...iety rose fertilizer 15-10-10 20lb_67621.html
DonovanC
Chumono
DonovanC
Chumono
Katie0317
Chumono
Thank you Donovan. I saw that but it's confusing because there are lots of rose societies that make their own proprietary mixes and the name threw me.
@JudyB do you grow roses? I'm guessing you might not because that amount of fertilizer would go in no time at all on roses. They're extremely heavy feeders. How did you happen to start using a rose fertilizer on bonsai?
We use nutricote time release fertilizer on our orchids and I bought the baskets to put that in but someone told me not to use nutricote on bonsai. Am going to take their word for it. We also have Osmocote Plus we use on other plants and I wonder if people use that on bonsai?
JudyB
Queen of the Nuts
I get mine mailed to me by a gentleman who is in the society. I do not grow roses now, although I have in the past. I knew of this fertilizer as Michael Hagedorn has used it and has written about it. It's also organic which I was looking for. The Osmocote can be a problem if you live in places where it gets hot, as it can release more fertilizer during those hot periods. Some people have actually lost plants to Osmocote.
I've been using them for the last 2yrs here in the UK. I use biogold, naruka and green dream amongst others. Never had any problems with pests or slugs.
Katie0317
Chumono
Thank you Judy for sharing this, both about the rose fertilizer and the Osmocote. I don't know anything about organic and non-organic fertilizers but will now be on the lookout for information on that now.
Ugo
Shohin
I simply ordered the cheapest one knowing that I could easily keep the top secured using 1mm aluminum wire.
Dont spend "big" money on the quarter size lid type, keep the cheap ones shut with pieces of wire.
The model I trying to get is this one:
Found it a bit more appealing then tea bags and keep fert in contact with the soil surface.
If someone knows an online source that I can buy from please let me know!
Potawatomi13
Imperial Masterpiece
Nope! Don't want eyesore crap in pots. Chemical fertilizer works great without
.
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I get lots of birds, squirrels, etc., in the yard so I bought the baskets to use with BioGold. The critters don't seem to know how to open them (yet). Some people say that BG needs to be placed directly on soil to better interact with the micro-organisms in the pot, but I'm also trying out semi burying the baskets in the soil to improve contact. Next spring, I will try out some teabags to see how they work out.
I tried them out for the first time this year. So far, I like them better than tea bags because they stay put better. When I used tea bags, often the squirrels would steal the tea bags from the pot, defeating the point of using them. They seem to have a harder time doing that with the baskets because of spike at the bottom that goes down into the soil. I like that I can remove them anytime I want. They’re maybe a little easier to fill than tea bags. Will I keep using them? Not sure yet. I’m not totally convinced that there’s anything intrinsically wrong with my former lazy method of just making a few little piles of organic fertilizer on the surface of the soil.
I don't think there is anything intrinsically wrong with the little piles of fertilizer - it's actually probably preferable. The urban wildlife had a field day with them at my house, digging into the potting mix and generally making a mess of things, so I decided to try the baskets instead.
roberthu
Chumono
I use both tea bags and baskets. The tea bars seem to be much cleaner and do not leave much residual after a season. I use basket mainly to keep critters away. I think I will use tea bags more and more in the future. It’s a little more work upfront but less maintenance later.
