AusBonsai

Hello all,

I've finally decided to use liquid fertilizer on my cotoneaster but i mixed up a batch and thought i mixed up the wrong amount.
It was very dark and looked like too much was added.

I mixed 10ml of powerfeed in 2 liters of water.
This is based on established plant - 50ml to 9 liters of water

Is this mix fine and will not hurt the tree?

attached is the bottle. Thanks in advanced.

Hold on. Redoing maths...

On redoing my sums, your calculations seem correct to me.

Ratio does seem right - but I'd be thinking of switching soon to a fertiliser with a much lower nitrogen content.
Some added potash (granular or liquid form) may help with better development of flowers / fruit (berries)

The nurserymen or experienced growers of fruiting / flowering trees may be able to help here on this topic (or link to previous posts which discuss?)

I use the standard powerfeed on my bonsai and native plants, including banksias at 90ml in a 9 litre water can. Looks like the rates for this one are similar so your 10ml in 2 litres should be fine. Powerfeed is not really very strong when compared to some concentrated fert so should not hurt plants even at a slightly higher than recommended rate.

KCAR - note that this powerfeed is for flowers and fruit. We can assume that the makers know a bit about fertilisers and have formulated it correctly for this purpose. I can see that the ratios are 10:2:9 so relatively high K - as it should be. Don't just look at the absolute numbers in NPK ratios. The relative amounts is far more important because different ferts are diluted to different degrees. eg 10:4:10 mixed at 100ml in 10 litres will be exactly the same as 20:8:20 mixed at 50ml per 10 litres. When you are looking for value in fertilisers the cheapest pack is not always the cheapest option if the recommended mixing rates are high.

Thank you all for the replies.

Okay great! I’ve just mixed up a new batch and used it.
I just made up 1 litre with approx 5ml.

Just had a few questions in this regard,

When using the mix, do I have to keep a little clear from the trunk of the tree?
Can I pour it over moss?
And can I use this same fertilizer on other non fruiting trees? Such as Japanese maple, ficus and juniper?

I have used it this once but I can change if it’s not suitable for those trees.

Also should I stick to fertilizing every two weeks like the bottle says?

Ps the fertilizer smells so bad!

Thanks everyone, really learning a lot from this community

Shibui,
Thanks very much for your thoughts - I have a few questions on fertilising which I hope you can share your opinion on.
I understand that this product is for fruits & flowers, but coming onto the cooler months wouldn't the high "N" value be less required or not so much desired?Wouldn't this still try & promote vegetative growth, which in turn would become leggy & weak?

Would a lower Nitrogen value have any impact on increasing the trees ability for higher potassium uptake, or does the tree only take up what it needs from each macro-nutrient - regardless of season? Am I wasting time & money adding Potash to my fertiliser regime in the cooler months?

A lot of questions I know.....but any feedback is well appreciated.

Powerfeed does smell bad. I think it it is based on fish emulsion which is basically fermented dead fish and fish waste. Fish emulsion gives the product good N levels. I suspect they add extra K to boost the potash levels in this one. Note that they say organically based not organic.

You can pour any liquid fertiliser over the trunk and leaves without hurting your tree. There is one school of thought that leaves are able to absorb some nutrients but even if they don't the stuff still ends up washing down to the soil. Powerfeed won't hurt your moss. Iron sulphate can kill moss but I don't think any of the complete fertilisers will.
Flowers and fruit fert is safe to use on almost any plants. the only class I would be careful with is cacti and succulents and that's only because they are watered sparingly so minerals (salts) from fertiliser will not be flushed out by frequent watering.
Flowers and fruit just has a little bit less nitrogen so it won't hurt your other non flowering trees. They may just grow slightly less because there's not as much N as other ferts designed to boost growth. Your ficus would probably like even more fert than this if you can offer it. I like to use different sorts just to make sure the tree has access to a wider range of nutrients so I sprinkle some Dynamic lifter (or similar) pellets onto the pots every 4-6 weeks as well as liquid feed.
Every 2 weeks is good. I aim for that but other things get in the way and it is usually 3-4 weeks between feeds here. There is no real absolute for plants. They will usually grow despite the things we do to them or don't do.

KCAR: plant have been able to regulate their growth cycles for millions of years before we started 'helping'. I do not see any evidence that fert in autumn promotes weak leggy growth that suffers in winter. The trees sense the change of the season and regulate what the take up and how they grow to fit the weather patterns. I believe that plants take what they need and leave the rest to pass by (except in some very specialised plants in special circumstances such as banksias). It is possible to injure plants with higher than normal doses but that seems to be caused by concentration of the chemicals rather than ratios. As long as the fert is used following the directions it should be safe.
I do not know whether N levels impacts on K or P uptake. There are certainly some other balance ratios where levels of one element can limit the availability or uptake of other elemnts.
This idea that high P fert prepares trees for winter seems to be something peculiar to cold climates. I don't know whether it is based on science or just someone's good idea' that has caught on and become folk lore. All the experienced growers I know of here in Aust say high P to prepare for winter is a waste of time in our mild climate.

shibui wrote: This idea that high P fert prepares trees for winter seems to be something peculiar to cold climates. I don't know whether it is based on science or just someone's good idea' that has caught on and become folk lore. All the experienced growers I know of here in Aust say high P to prepare for winter is a waste of time in our mild climate.

Holey Moley I've been tricked by foke lore now for years! This goes against everything I thought I knew [was told] about fertilising. Now a new approach on Autumn / Winter feeding will begin. I like that! Thanks for sharing the knowledge once again.

Keep Calm and Ramify wrote: Shibui,
Thanks very much for your thoughts - I have a few questions on fertilising which I hope you can share your opinion on.
I understand that this product is for fruits & flowers, but coming onto the cooler months wouldn't the high "N" value be less required or not so much desired?Wouldn't this still try & promote vegetative growth, which in turn would become leggy & weak?

Would a lower Nitrogen value have any impact on increasing the trees ability for higher potassium uptake, or does the tree only take up what it needs from each macro-nutrient - regardless of season? Am I wasting time & money adding Potash to my fertiliser regime in the cooler months?

A lot of questions I know.....but any feedback is well appreciated.

Ammonium can inhibit the uptake of K but only if it is quite high and then only slightly. Usually plants will take up more potassium than they need if it is available and are able to store it for later use. Massive amounts of Ca and Mg can also interfere with K uptake if it is not supplied in a high enough concentration. (that is rare) For flowering plants during the growing season a K/N ratio of about 0.8 is perfectly fine and no more is needed. The ratio is determined by dividing the K x the N. In the case of powerfeed for example, the K/N ratio is 0.9. More than enough K for flowering plants and no need for extra and no need to change the ratios by reducing the N. The only time a higher K/N ratio is needed is when soft bedding plants are grown during the dull cool days of winter. Then the ration can be as high as 2.0 to stop or slow down stretching of the seedlings.