Glider

True.

Once a tree is growing as fast as it can (determined by species and local conditions), further feed won't make it grow faster. However, in bonsai there are particular conventions with respect to fertilizing that provide a large margin for adjustment.

Bonsai growers tend to avoid over fertilizing (for obvious reasons), which means our trees are adequately fed, but this tends to be a long way from 'fed to capacity' (i.e. as much as the plant can cope with). As a rule, we feed enough to keep our trees healthy, but no more and this is evidenced by the fact that we are usually on the lookout for any signs of deficiency (yellowing of new leaves etc.).

As a rule, we are usually feeding at the lower end of the tree's capacity for nutrient uptake which means that, in general, bonsai have the capacity to utilize quite a lot more than we give them. So, when we give them a bolus dose of any particular fertilizer component, we can usually see a response to it in the tree, for example, a bolus dose of high nitrogen will usually result in a noticable growth spurt.

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