Plants don't need direct sun to photosynthesize...if they did, nothing could grow in the shade (or under artificial lights). Obviously more sun = more photosynthesis which in turn requires more water and nutrients from the roots. So keeping a recently root pruned (or collected) plant out of the direct sun for a while makes sense, since the damaged/reduced roots won't be able to provide the required water and nutrients until some regeneration occurs. So I don't think this is a completely valid analogy.
What is easily burnt? And why?
Personally, I think this is one of those bonsai myths that is passed along. Many here (and elsewhere) will quote the articles written by Brent Walston. He has one called "Fertilizing Your Bonsai" (
http://evergreengardenworks.com/fertiliz.htm). In the section "Fertilizing Sick Plants" he says in part:
Another common bonsai myth is that sick or recovering plants, or newly transplanted bonsai should not be fertilized. The analogy is that it will over feed the patient or is the equivalent of over dosing with vitamins. I think the proper analogy should be that feeding at half strength or not all is analogous to not taking your medicine, vitamins and nutrition when you are sick.
There's more, and it's worth a read if you haven't seen it. Something to think about.
Chris
I actually was just fertilizing a juniper I have two weeks ago... it is one of those water feed
setups that you get from the big box store where you attach it to your hose... well I guess
I wasn't paying attention when I attached it cause it pretty much just poured out of the
bottle when I went to water with it, luckily I managed to pull away so as to not empty the
the entire thing onto my tree... I washed if off really good with plain water, The next day
however, I went out and the foliage that did manage to get hit had turned brown and died.
So there is no myth here.
Not trying to disagree with you, but you can most certainly kill a tree in less than a day
if you over fertilize, and I am not even talking about a sick tree. Especially if you are
not using the slow-release pellets / capsules or the water feeds. These were made
specifically for this reason... Too many folks were not paying close attention to the
measurements or were getting their calculations wrong and were killing their plants and
trees.
One more thing if you are growing in a Bonsai mixture with an organic mix you don't
actually have to fertilize at all. The organic mix along with water and sun will give the
tree all that it needs to survive. The fertilizer in this case acts like a steroid or energy
drink... it just gets them racing !!! For those that use a Bonsai Mix with no organics
than the fertilizer is a must for it then acts as a supplement for the lack of the nutrients
that are missing.
