Fertiliser advice

[Hutch11]

Gday,

I was given a small sample of 'Seasol' Seaweed Concentrate at a recent Bonsai Exhibition held by the Waverley Bonsai Club. I was told to use this together with Seasol 'Powerfeed' Fertiliser.

I have read the back of the Powerfeed Fertiliser and the label states it contains: Nitrogen 12%, Phosphorus 1.4% and Potassium 7%,

Firstly does this mean it has an NPK rating of 12:1.4:7,

and if so would this be appropriate for feeding your bonsai as I am told an ideal NPK rating for Bonsai would be even, ie 10:10:10.

Secondly,

Is it wise to use a liquid fertiliser such as Powerfeed together with a controlled release fertliser such as Osmocote, ie - 12 month controlled release placed in soil, and apply Powerfeed during the growing season as recommended? Would this be over feeding?

[Matthew]

i use powerfeed forthightly/monthly on most of my trees during the growing season except some natives and i wait till my decidious trees have hardened off (leaves fully open) and candles extended first flush on pines. It depends what stage your bonsai are at. if you want trunk and branch thickening than high nitrogen is good as the more foliage the faster this happens.

those figures are % ratio as it contains 12 % nitrogen which is a good figure for growth and the other 2 are for root development and other benefical stuff. i also have osmocote on most of my trees and use powerfeed on it it. No negitive effects so far.

[Hutch11]

Thanks Noah,

I am still unsure on the NPK rating though,.. how is the NPK rating of certain products obtained. Am I correct in my first post on this topic??

Would anyone else like to comment on my questions and enlighten me further as to what I should do?

[Jow]

http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/pbs/ ... 23419.html

It seems it is a messy issue......