chemical fertilizer

FrankP999

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Well, when it comes to things horticultural, Walter and I seldom see eye to eye. I'll follow his lead on the art aspects, but . . .

And I fail to see what the triggering mechanism has to do with anything. You STILL can't control how many of those little pellets of fertilizer are going to trigger all at once.

Osmocote is temperature controlled but at 90 degrees it will still deliver its nutrients slowly over 30-60 days. http://www.scotts.com/smg/products/osmocote/PDF/Osmocote - O _ I Product Page.pdf

I use Dynamite because it is not as temp dependent.

Frank
 

Vance Wood

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I don't specifically know why this subject seems to stir passions to a high level but it does. The truth is as I see it, every one who grows bonsai will have their own method, product, and or schedule that they follow----because it works for them. You can argue all the pros and cons about time release, liquids and solids but the truth is in the results. If you do not like the results you are getting then find out how to get good results from successfully growers in your growing area.
 

buddhamonk

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"I barely remember to feed my trees at most once a month if not every two month."

this would seem to me, at least, to be an issue with basic care, not with NPK amounts. If you can't remember to care for your trees, how does dumping a lot of fertilizer that encourages additional inattention going to help?

Sorry, I'm being a cranky old so-and-so...

I love how people like to quote things incompletely...

How about the part where I say I use rapeseed cake? How is that an issue with basic care? How am I failing to care for my trees?

People like you and JLK have issues with reading post is what I'm noticing.

Went out and snapped pictures of the trees with fertilizer I've been using for 11 years. It's just getting spendy because I can use a whole bag on two or three trees and in the fall squirrels are snatching them.

If you won't bother reading the post and answer what was asked, please don't bother replying at all.
 

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milehigh_7

Mister 500,000
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I don't specifically know why this subject seems to stir passions to a high level but it does. The truth is as I see it, every one who grows bonsai will have their own method, product, and or schedule that they follow----because it works for them. You can argue all the pros and cons about time release, liquids and solids but the truth is in the results. If you do not like the results you are getting then find out how to get good results from successfully growers in your growing area.

As usual, thanks Vance for cutting through the poo ball fert!
 

rockm

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"I love how people like to quote things incompletely...

How about the part where I say I use rapeseed cake? How is that an issue with basic care? How am I failing to care for my trees?

People like you and JLK have issues with reading post is what I'm noticing.

Went out and snapped pictures of the trees with fertilizer I've been using for 11 years. It's just getting spendy because I can use a whole bag on two or three trees and in the fall squirrels are snatching them.

If you won't bother reading the post and answer what was asked, please don't bother replying at all."

I love how some people who ask for advice get pi$$y when confronted with something they hadn't really considered...

First off, I cut and pasted a direct quote. Didn't do anything to it. It was not an incomplete quote. I did nothing to edit it. Apparently you're upset for me not quoting your ENTIRE post--which is already there for people to look at in it entirety.

You're looking for a short cut--simple as that. Time-released fertilizers are a short cut--they're supposed to automatically feed plants without the grower doing anything. That's why they were created--mostly for nursery growers who have a lot of plants and little time to spare. You're after something similar--something that doesn't require your attention to get done. You want it done automatically...That's fine, but there are consequences to that--inexact or hit and miss fertilization.

Which brings up the rapeseed cakes--they are really just time release in poo ball form. They perform basically the same way as the more "high tech" polymer encased stuff, only not as effectively, especially when they're mostly in the stomachs of the local squirrel population.

Look, I'm not saying the time release and poo balls won't get the job done in some fashion, but to really be effective, fertilizing your bonsai requires your time and attention. Plain and simple. If you want to do it most effectively, you have to go out and look at the trees and apply fertilizer on their timeline, not on yours.
 

donkey

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The dog eggs are not at all appealing,can you imagine your visitors noticing these things?

If you think that's unappealing to visitors i use wee for extra nitrogen ( 1 part urine to 10 parts water or 2 parts urine in emergencies or plant's/tree's that require a high nitrogen fix (no i'm not taking the pi$$)) and you get some funny looks from the neighbours relatives when standing in the garden peeing into a watering can.
 

Eric Schrader

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I bought a 50lb bag of time-release fertilizer from Purity products in Santa Rosa, CA on the advice of Jim Gremel. He swears that this stuff doesn't blow up on you when the temperature reaches 90-100 degrees. It has some sort of more sophisticated coating. Unfortunately I can't find the name of the stuff but it's intended for the nursery trade which is why it's sold in 50lb bags.

Regarding the expense of rapeseed cakes:

- when I first started looking for organic cake fertilizers I couldn't believe how much people were charging for this stuff, and it just keeps getting more expensive. The problem is that you're paying to ship if from around the other side of the planet. so....

- I settled on cottonseed meal, which is available for about $.40/lb if you buy it in bulk (at least around here which is not a big cotton area). If you wet it in a mixture with a little fish meal, bone meal (fine boiled) and a bit of blood meal and then scoop it out you can make your own cakes for almost nothing. I scoop the wet mixture directly onto the soil with a stainless steel sorbet scoop and let the sun dry it out, but you can also pre-dry it on screen racks.

Rapeseed cakes ARE available in bulk in the US because they're used as livestock feed (they are the by-product of the production of Canola Oil), but last time I checked you could buy them only by the ton (by the truckload or rail-car load). Rapeseed is available at farm supply places, but then you're working with the whole (viable) seed which is labor intensive. What we bonsai folks really need is for someone in the US to buy a few truckloads and start packaging it for resale as bonsai and plant food! Any volunteers?
 
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