Utah Juniper

[Tidal Bonsai]

Yesterday, a friend and I were repotting some junipers at my place. She brought this beautiful, yet unhappy Utah Juniper to get the field soil out. It didn’t have many roots, and the foliage is questionable, but I am an eternal optimist! At least it seems to be backbudding in two places!

It’s going on my greenhouse for consistent heat/light/watering to give it the best chance for success. Is there any foliar feed anyone can recommend to aid in its recovery, or is careful H2O all it needs?

 

[just.wing.it]

To my knowledge, its usually a no-no to fertilize recently repotted trees.....or weak trees.

This one fits both categories.

Though foliar feeding from a spritzer bottle may not hurt, I dunno.

I always wait until I see the plant growing again before fertilizing.

 

[Tidal Bonsai]

To my knowledge, its usually a no-no to fertilize recently repotted trees.....or weak trees.

This one fits both categories.

Though foliar feeding from a spritzer bottle may not hurt, I dunno.

I always wait until I see the plant growing again before fertilizing.

Yes, 100%!!! I was wondering if there was something that gives nutrients to the plant that aids in recovery/root growth. Nitrogen is a no-no!

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

With foliar sprays there's the risk of burning the foliage off.. Which leaves you with a trunk.
In laboratories we plant cuttings, plants, explants etc. On fertilized media because they grow and recover better and faster.
Somewhere in the timeline, science has surpassed that bonsai knowledge but very few people picked it up.
Overfeeding out of inexperienxe can be an answer to why it's better to not feed. Just like with the foliage.

But I can't think of any other good reasons not to fertilize.

If you know what you're doing, I don't see any reason not to fertilize the soil.

Nitrogen's detrimental effect on root growth is very species specific, I have never seen the adverse effect some people speak about in practice, in 120+ species.
I mean, if you dose N on the low side, your plant is slower to root but also slower to build foliage.
If you dose N on the regular side, you get normal rooting and normal foliar growth.
If you dose N on the high side, your foliage will grow like crazy and.. That can't happen without roots.
So how does that detrimental effect work actually?
And should we care for a small difference?

I found for eastern redcedar (j. Virginia) that 20ppm or more Nitrogen actually maximized rooting, but only B and K were significantly related to rooting response (Henry, Blazich, Hinesley, 1992). There are a lot of plants that benefit from (light) doses of nitrogen. Don't trust my words on this, have a look for yourself, and draw your own conclusions. Scholar.google.com is a great place to start.

 

[Dav4]

I would have put this one in 100% pumice if you had it. I would mist the foliage often and barely if ever water the soil. I wouldn't worry about feeding until it shows signs of not dying.

 

[Tidal Bonsai]

With foliar sprays there's the risk of burning the foliage off.. Which leaves you with a trunk.
In laboratories we plant cuttings, plants, explants etc. On fertilized media because they grow and recover better and faster.
Somewhere in the timeline, science has surpassed that bonsai knowledge but very few people picked it up.
Overfeeding out of inexperienxe can be an answer to why it's better to not feed. Just like with the foliage.

But I can't think of any other good reasons not to fertilize.

If you know what you're doing, I don't see any reason not to fertilize the soil.

Nitrogen's detrimental effect on root growth is very species specific, I have never seen the adverse effect some people speak about in practice, in 120+ species.
I mean, if you dose N on the low side, your plant is slower to root but also slower to build foliage.
If you dose N on the regular side, you get normal rooting and normal foliar growth.
If you dose N on the high side, your foliage will grow like crazy and.. That can't happen without roots.
So how does that detrimental effect work actually?
And should we care for a small difference?

I found for eastern redcedar (j. Virginia) that 20ppm or more Nitrogen actually maximized rooting, but only B and K were significantly related to rooting response (Henry, Blazich, Hinesley, 1992). There are a lot of plants that benefit from (light) doses of nitrogen. Don't trust my words on this, have a look for yourself, and draw your own conclusions. Scholar.google.com is a great place to start.

Very interesting, thanks for all the info!

 

[Colorado Josh]

How long since the tree was collected? Utah and pinon are notoriously slow growers. It could be a year or more before new growth occurs. It could be living off of stored sugars right now. In which case I would be apprehensive of applying N.

 

[Mike Corazzi]

I think the fertilizer warnings are a bit harsh. Quite often just in normal watering, I'll use some very dilute Miracle Gro (1 scoop per 2 gal) and get a pale blue water that I use on a ....somewhat... random schedule.
That's on newly repotted and established trees.
Way I see it, if you use any "used" soil in the repot, you've probably carried some fert residue in with it.
Now I wouldn't use ammonium nitrate for top dressing but can't see how a trace of nourishment can hurt anything.
From spring on.

 

[Tidal Bonsai]

How long since the tree was collected? Utah and pinon are notoriously slow growers. It could be a year or more before new growth occurs. It could be living off of stored sugars right now. In which case I would be apprehensive of applying N.

I believe she said it was collected in 2017, so that’s definitely not it.

 

[Japonicus]

I've been using a foliar spray consisting of RO water and Super Thrive.
About a 1/4-1/2 tsp/20 oz of water, but that lasts better than a week for one plant.
I've been using this all Winter, also with the suggestion from William Valavanis,
on a sekka hinoki in a death spiral being repotted in October elsewhere, not by me.
I too randomly inject a week strength of liquid fertilizer, and again, 20 oz. lasts better than a week misting it,
so the strength of N is minimal, but some is provided. The plant lives. Crown is dead
which began before I started this foliar spray, and I'm also misting the woody areas, branches and trunk.
Then the root zone as well, pretty good every few days, maybe 2x/wk.
It gets rain when possible if needed, but no freezing of the roots this year, no frost on the foliage
as I think a heavy frost in November followed by freezing the root zone caused the decline just after repotting.
I think it will make it.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Careful watering, and a dilute foliar spray. I'd keep it under 40 ppm as nitrogen, for a 12-1-12 fertilizer it would be 1/4 teaspoon per gallon.

Better than a nitrate fertilizer, use an ammonia based fertilizer, as your foliar spray. Ammonia is more easily absorbed and without the metabolic cost of using nitrates. Again, dilute is key. Your Acid Fertilizers like Mira-acid are ammonia based, or you could actually use household ammonia. About 1/2 teaspoon per gallon will work fine. Add the ammonia to a fish emulsion or a kelp extract and it should work.