AusBonsai

nice brett, same idea as mee putting a bigger tree in to already have some thickness to it smells at first but after its been watered a few times its hardly noticeable. for me anyways, i had my nose broken when i was younger and lost a lot of my sense of smell.


jamie

Gota love the smell of Dynamic lifter If this goes ok I have a few more this size to do next year.
These where a great buy from Mase (Bonsai by the Bay) at $15 each.

great stuff brett! i am gonna have a guess here and say the trunk is about 30-40mm??? the bole looks pretty good too

i reckon if it goes to plan with the couple i got in now i will be putting the rest of my trunk chops ficus in so i can create some super sumo's.

there is plans in place to be selling some sumo fig when i get them to where i want them too (probably trunk purchases basically). just to give people a heads up


jamie

just a bit of an update, the benji in this medium (although it is an odd thing to call a medium) has pushed new buds all over the place and i expect within the next two weeks that it will be booming with new growth
the little willow leaf, well thats a bit of touch and go, it has dropped a fair few leafs althought the other leafs on it are quite strong and the growing tips ar pushing out well, not having a great deal of experience with them i am not so sure bout it all, so any help on that would be appreciated.

where is graeme? i have seen him on a couple of times but hasnt posted much about it since the original questions asked. might PM him.

will get some pics soon as i get time.

i know it has onlt been a week but the DL has lost its pelet shape and is now a sludge like substance, would like to know if this is the norm? as all the other DL i have used on other trees have kept shape quite well, maybe it is due to the loads of water needed.

havent got a tray underneath the basket yet but i think the juices that run through would be a great firt for the other trees. just an idea

jamie

Not sure whether Ant put any Banksias into this mix so I put in two to check how they go. I think it will be a bit strong for them but we will see.

jamie111 wrote: havent got a tray underneath the basket yet but i think the juices that run through would be a great firt for the other trees. just an idea

I thought the same about the juice draining out the bottom so i put atray under the containers. Result - lots of strong, black liquid fertiliser to be used on other trees.
Any thoughts about having so much nutrient running out of containers all over Aus?

With regards to the run off from the dl collect it if possible keep it in a 20lt or 60lt resealable drum and add a cup or two to every watering can (to plants that you want foilage or growth). There is a bonsai nursery that has a big container with dl , b&b and seaweed mix (a big strong tea mix)this then is injector fed into the watering system .
Cheers
Tony

sounds like a good mix tony, it wouldnt hurt to give them a bit of a boost like that hey, bit like worm juice i presume


jamie

update-

so far so good. no death actually the benji is pushing growth all over the place. even pushing a new shoot bout half a cm of base up the trunk!
the willow leaf is a bit iffish but i think it will bounce back now, it dropped a few leaves but other than that i think its on an up from here

jamie

Mine is going great. Not a big jump in growth yet but it is still early.
I did a number of 1 year old cuttings on a smaller scale(100mm pots) and most have dropped thier leaves. Not sure they are going to make it.
I wonder why ? Maybe too much blood and bone?

that could be possible, i didnt add B and B as the dynamic lifter i bought wasnt actually dynamic lifter it was a similar product that had B and B in it plus fish emulsions plus sulphates of potash etc. so i didnt think it needed extra B and B. i did though use liquid fish emulsion on it aswell and have been every week.

as you can see from mine the DL has lost it pellet for and is looking more flat right now, i do need more DL but will have to wait.


jamie

Less than a week into the trial and the stink is getting worse. Lots of flies attracted to the B&B and now lots of maggots in the mix. Have I got it wrong?
Banksia leaves started to wilt after just 24 hours. Now showing signs of burnt and curling edges.
The juice collected from the tray underneath is really strong and black. Would need to be diluted a lot to use on plants.

shibui wrote:Less than a week into the trial and the stink is getting worse. Lots of flies attracted to the B&B and now lots of maggots in the mix. Have I got it wrong?
Banksia leaves started to wilt after just 24 hours. Now showing signs of burnt and curling edges.
The juice collected from the tray underneath is really strong and black. Would need to be diluted a lot to use on plants.

i think graeme mentioned something about this when he first wrote about the method, i havent had that prob so far and i dont even have a stench issue either? flies there are a few of them but nothing major.
im not sure how a banksia would work with this, i think it is better suited to the trees that can take up nutrients really quickly, such as figs.
i would be diluting the the juice down by a cup to 10 litres of water, that shouldnt be a problem to use on plants, just wouldnt use it to often. i have mine sitting in a garden bed that way the leaching out of fert can go to the garden


jamie

Bretts wrote:Mine is going great. Not a big jump in growth yet but it is still early.
I did a number of 1 year old cuttings on a smaller scale(100mm pots) and most have dropped thier leaves. Not sure they are going to make it.
I wonder why ? Maybe too much blood and bone?

Not enough drainage!!! Seriously, you MUST have better than good drainage. If the trees sit in wet pots they will perish, unfortunately.
The first couple of tries I had at this ended in disaster as well, but once I learnt to cut BIG holes out of the box all went well. As long as jamies "pots' last the distance they will be brilliant for this.

cheers graeme they should last the distance, the plastic seems to be showing no signs of deteriation in the queensland sun which would normally be the case with plastics up here. the drainage is great having all those little gaps all the way around it

and as for an update, the benji is pushing new growth everyday now, new buds are opening faster by about 5 times as fast as normal ( i can compare this as i have other benji in normal mix that have just opened buds to and been watching the growth difference)

the biggest thing is to make sure you can keep it moist. the DL can make things set rock solid like concrete if let to dry out a bit to much!


jamie

Thats interesting Graeme I can't imagine the drainage in a 100 mm pot being less than a foam box no matter how many holes are in it? (being more vertical) They lost their leaves within a day where as the one in the foam box never missed a beat. I will have to experiment a bit more with this. I might try one in a 100mm pot with no B+B just to make sure I didn't put too much in which I fear I did.

Last I looked mine in the foam box was looking the same as when it went in the mix.

Is the willow leaf still hanging in there Jamie? I have used the shopping baskets for a couple of years with no deterioration so far. God help the planet