Any advice for this fertiliser help will be great

[Joe.sab]

Hi guys, I bought this fertiliser from bunnings used it littel bit each on my bonsai trees for three days and I realised today some of them starts to get yellowsh part of two azaleas and one juniper , I removed it from all of them and gave it good rinse with water, is any thing I should do more to protect them,? Any advice will be nice.
Cheers

[Jarad]

Hey Mate,

Azaleas don't like too much fertilizer, I would recommend buying the ozmocote fert that is specifically made for azaleas and follow the instructions on the package.

As for junipers, they can take quite a while to show signs of ill health after an “event” so the reason for the yellowness could have been from up to a month ago.

If you have any photos of these (and other) trees it would help people give some advice.

Some of the more experienced members will hopefully chime in later in the morning.

All the best mate!

[Joe.sab]

Good to know, i thought all of them going to die , I’ll upload some photos when i get back from work.
Thanks for your reply
Cheers

[dennismc]

Hi

There are a number of reasons why either of these trees have yellowing leaves. Most common with azaleas at this time of year is that they loose some leaves, the oldest ones. With junipers the most common one is if the tree is not getting enough light then the inner needles (leaves) will die especially the inner ones.

The fertiliser u used is quite high in nitrogen which will encourage excessive leaf growth but is unlikely to cause damage to the trees unless given in excessive amounts. May i suggest that instead of this one u use a balanced fertiliser that contains trace elements. In the unlikely case that u have applied too excessive amount of fertiliser washing it out as u have done should minimize any damage.

Dennis Mc

[melbrackstone]

Hi guys, I bought this fertiliser from bunnings used it littel bit each on my bonsai trees for three days

You put some on fresh every day for three days?

If that's the case, that's too much fertiliser for most plants....

[treeman]

This is a compound fertilizer not a slow release and should never ever ever be used on any plant in a pot. (unless you really know what you are doing) What's more it contains potassium chloride - the cheapest nastiest form of potassium. This fert is only good for sprinkling around vegies or fruit trees in the ground. Try to leach out what you have applied by repeated floodings of water. Or better still sink the pots in water a couple of times a day for a few days.

[Joe.sab]

Thanks guys that was really helpful information, I always use fertiliser especially for bonsai its liquid snd all of the bonsais igot they was happy I don’t know why I changed it what to say my misstake ,her is some pictures wich i just captured showing the azalea one part of it actually okay the other one not good and the gardenia shows some burning signs as well, those bonsais I’ve over three years nothing i used different just the fertiliser

[Joe.sab]

I just have question can i get back to the fertiliser wich I used before now or i have to give them time to settle ?

[shibui]

I would take Treeman's advice - flush the pots well with plain water. Do that a few times over the next week to get rid of excess fert then just use water for a few weeks until the trees start to improve a bit. They won't starve in a month or so. Wait for new shoots to grow before giving any more fertiliser. The usual rule is don't feed a sick tree (unless it is sick from lack of nutrients)

Good luck with these ones.

The azalea leaves seem to have white patterns on them. Was that there before the current problem? Looks a lot like azalea leaf bug damage so you may need to spray with an insecticide.

[Joe.sab]

I would take Treeman's advice - flush the pots well with plain water. Do that a few times over the next week to get rid of excess fert then just use water for a few weeks until the trees start to improve a bit. They won't starve in a month or so. Wait for new shoots to grow before giving any more fertiliser. The usual rule is don't feed a sick tree (unless it is sick from lack of nutrients)

Good luck with these ones.

The azalea leaves seem to have white patterns on them. Was that there before the current problem? Looks a lot like azalea leaf bug damage so you may need to spray with an insecticide.

Will do watering from now on, I don’t know if there was white patterns or not before obviously I don’t have that experience any post or video telling what should I do in this situation?
Cheers

[shibui]

The photo is not really clear enough for a definite diagnosis but I'm reasonably sure that it does look like lace bug damage. I don't think treating it will cause any further damage, even if I'm incorrect about the bugs so I would get a systemic pesticide that treats azalea lacebug and spray your tree.

[Joe.sab]

The photo is not really clear enough for a definite diagnosis but I'm reasonably sure that it does look like lace bug damage. I don't think treating it will cause any further damage, even if I'm incorrect about the bugs so I would get a systemic pesticide that treats azalea lacebug and spray your tree.

Thanks will do that , I got other two azaleas can I spray them as well or not?

[SteveW]

I checked out the Vitax bonsai fertiliser on the ebay shop that sells it. I'm suss on a fertiliser specifically for bonsai - no fertiliser suits the whole range of trees used for bonsai. I'm especially suss on a fertiliser that does not give an npk ratio on its website ad. There are lots better fertiliser choices out there than Vitax.

[Joe.sab]

Hi SteveW yes I tried to get something different and look what happened to my trees Hopefully they get well soon, I’ll try something different but not these days.
Cheers

[shibui]

Thanks will do that , I got other two azaleas can I spray them as well or not?

If one azalea has lace bug then others will probably have them as well. Even if they are not showing signs now the bugs will still be breeding there. I treat all azaleas as soon as I see signs.
Look for leaves going a bit silvery. Sometimes you can see faint spider webs under the leaves. If you put a piece of white paper under the leaves then shake the branch you can see the bugs on the white paper.
Treating now will not fix the damaged leaves but it will kill the bugs so new leaves that grow will be good.