AusBonsai

G'day, what is the general consensus on the dilution rates for Nutrient feeding like Seasol and Powerfeed etc ??
I have always up until now, fed my Bonsai at half of the weakest strength recommended by the manufacturers directions, every fortnight from late July till beginning April ( S.E.Qld seasons). Am I being a little too conservative ???
Your thoughts ??
Sorry if this has already been discussed.
James

gday james

im one to feed rather heavily, i use all ferts at recommended dilutions and this is my usual regime, a do alter it depending on time of year where i will spread it out a bit more through the slower months, most things here grow constantly all year though.

powerfeed, miracle gro, whichever fert is on special- standard dilution every five days
seasol and superthrive- 2-3 days after the fert feed.
dynamic lifter applied and removed as needed.
slow release pellets applied and replaced as needed and at repotting

with my trees that i want more controlled growth the rates are spread apart more. and generally lighter in the dilutions. i have found since i moved to diatomite that this is what i have had to use up here. the trees seem to love it so that tell me things are going ok.

Jamie wrote:gday james

im one to feed rather heavily, i use all ferts at recommended dilutions and this is my usual regime, a do alter it depending on time of year where i will spread it out a bit more through the slower months, most things here grow constantly all year though.

powerfeed, miracle gro, whichever fert is on special- standard dilution every five days
seasol and superthrive- 2-3 days after the fert feed.
dynamic lifter applied and removed as needed.
slow release pellets applied and replaced as needed and at repotting

with my trees that i want more controlled growth the rates are spread apart more. and generally lighter in the dilutions. i have found since i moved to diatomite that this is what i have had to use up here. the trees seem to love it so that tell me things are going ok.

Hey mate, what types are the majority of your Bonsai made up of ( figs ?? elms ?? ) I know you have cleos, I would love to start power feeding some of my plants but we do get a fair bit of cold weather here where I am, frosts and 2 years ago -4 dg...szszszszszszszs just about to put some fert cakes on them that I just made.
Will definitely start power feeding in August for sure.
James

what i have predominately is figs, clero, celtis, to a lesser extent swampies but i am working on that, juniper, elms, JBP, a hoop pine, a few collected casuarina that need a lot of work. and a few other micelaneous things i cant think of. powerfeeding works well with grow on stuff.

i have found i can pretty much feed the same with trees in pots and be able to control leaf size and growth by regular pinching and trimming. with the swampies i have i am growing in nursery cans and they sit in a bucket/container of water that has DL and slow release in it, one swampy i have i got as pencil thick 6 months ago and have been able to put on 3/4 of an inch growth in that time. the container it is in probably needs to be upped a bit more in size to let the root system strech to get more growth out of it.

jamie