AusBonsai

More intresting advice thanks.

My question was more about proteoid roots that come after a lack of fertiliser when potted. The problem I heard of was that if you give a tree with proteoid roots fertiliser it can kill the tree?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proteoid_root

When I am repotting I liberally lace the soil with an applicable osmocote [native/garden/azalea] and when the tree is well settled it is normally Charlie Carp half strength every month. WIth exotic flowering plants I switch to Bloom in late summer. I try to fertilise my olives more often but don't usually manage.

With junipers I put crushed egg shell over a thin layer of soil in the bottom of the pot, lace with osmocote and intermittently with Charlie Carp or Nitrophoska [or however it's spelled] and they seem to love this. I use the Bamix to get the egg shell very very fine and excess is tossed into the compost bin. Janet Sabey, an Adelaide master, says she heaps dynamic lifter on her olives as they are hungry and they love what would be excess fertiliser to any other plant.

Seasol whenever I repot, and I water it over the foliage with it liberally, too. It's something I picked up from Ian Tragis, who was our gardener for many years. He always used Seasol whenever he planted or transplanted a tree in our garden. It seems to work very well

Superthrive after any substantial rootpruning, as it promotes rapid root growth.

9 month Osmocote through the soil mix and a scoop or two, depending upon the size of the pot, over the soil surface every 4 months.

I don't bother with the Northern Hemisphere nonsense about no fertiliser in winter... Brisbane doesn't really get a winter as such. Nor do I go to the trouble of making fish meal fertiliser cakes and all that stuff in the Japanese magazines. It's mostly ritual and superstition from what I can ascertain.

I have some reservations about Dynamic Lifter, because it does push soil pH higher, something that is desirable for a few species but not for others. (Azaleas need an acid soil, so add a little peat when repotting). Dynamic Lifter is more of a soil conditioner than a fertiliser. That means it's great for lawns and permanent trees in the garden but is of less use to plants in pots.