Commercial Feeds

Tripod · Posted: Fri May 02, 2008 8:06 am Post subject: Commercial Feeds

Hello!

What is the consensus on the use of commercial liquid feeds such as Chrysal. Are they a good all round choice for my Japanese Elm, Juniper and Acer Palmatum. If so should I feed at half the strength, which seems to be a reoccurring theme on previous topics?

Also, we have had heavy rain every day for a few weeks here now - should I still be watering? I haven't watered for over a week now and the soil still looks OK, at least on the surface.

Thanks!

Surrey John · Posted: Fri May 02, 2008 10:16 am Post subject: Re: Commercial Feeds

Hi Tripod - welcome to BH. I don't know Chrysal, but generally speaking the thing to look for is the small-print recipe on the label, which gives you the proportions of the ingredients, and the three ingredients to look for are N (nitrogen), P (phosphorus), and K (Potassium), and you need these to be in roughly equal proportions - most feeds seem to be 10:10:10. Once you find such a feed (in any garden centre wrth the name), you dilute it to half its working strength, and feed your trees once a fortnight.

However, different growers use different methods - it's largely a matter of personal habit and taste. Some, for example, deliberately feed much less. Personally I dilute by a quarter, then feed every week. This is partially because I can never remember which week to feed in, but mainly because it ensures a much more constant supply of feed at a reasonable concentration.

Rain: depending on how porous your soil is, of course, you will have the problem that rain can wash the feed out of the soil. But my own view is that probably some of the molecules of feed adsorb to the soil particles and are not washed away by the rain, also if you are feeding on a regular basis then if you think about it it doesn't really matter all that much if the feed is washed out provided it is replaced regularly. Remember, trees live at a much slower pace than us!

Finally, on the subject of watering generally (which I think is easily the most difficult part of all bonsai), the general rule is, keep the soil moist (more so for some species, less so for others - look in the books). If your soil mix is suitably porous you will see water trickle freely out of the bottom of the pot about 15-20 seconds after watering, and if that is the case you can generally ignore rain - bonsai can take on the whole all they can get, so long as it runs out through the bottom fairly fast.

God luck! Smile

SJ

yamadorinige · Posted: Fri May 02, 2008 1:14 pm Post subject: Re: Commercial Feeds

Hi Tripod! I'm only just down the road from you and I am still watering my trees despite the rain we've been having. As John has already said, if your trees are in porous soil they will dry out much quicker than they would otherwise.
You will find it far more economical to use a general feed from a garden centre as any product that is sold as specifically for bonsai will having an inflated price( and they will both give the same result

Tripod · Posted: Fri May 02, 2008 1:52 pm Post subject: Re: Commercial Feeds

Thanks for the advice. All of my trees are potted in Academia and water comes out of the drainage holes almost instantly when i water. Does that generally mean I'm watering enough?

Stymie · Posted: Fri May 02, 2008 5:57 pm Post subject: Re: Commercial Feeds

Hello Tripod, nice to hear from you.
The target to aim for with watering is to maintain the planting medium in a just moist condition at all times. If it's moist it doesn't need watering. Your Juniper will probably need a little less water than the other two. Akadama has no feed value at all so fertilization as mentioned by my buddies is necessary. It should not be added to dry medium. Only feed when the medium is already moist. Keep talking to us.