Getting Ready For Spring Planting Season

Lesley

Since I'm still a bonsai baby ( Not into it one year yet, I need all the advice I can get )!

Spring planting is already on my mind, especially since I've been dormant like my plants and only been reading and doing light maintenance. How do I get ready for spring? I saw the thread on grow boxes and thought I might make a few. I've read about soil but am total confused. What components do I buy? When do I start? I have a few plants picked out as victims but am waiting for the right time! I have been dormant spraying does it continue into spring?

Anyone feel like tackeling a question or two?

Thanks
Lesley

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Ladybug

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Bonsainut

Lesley,
Spring is the best time for the bonsai hobbyest. Im glad you are excited about it. Some Trees have a really early spring.

You can probably be looking garden centers over for interesting specimins Of Elm, fruit trees, Bald cypress, Black pine.


Get your fertilizer ready. Decide on a soil mix and lay in a supply. Join a bonsai club and get some reading material. Especially Old issues of Bonsai today.

Buds will be popping before you know it!

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Keep growing,---'Nut



Lethal Use of Farce

FredL

Lesley, there are as many soil mixes as there are bonsai growers. I am using a mix of about 1/2 small lava rock, 1/3 mulch (any of the various bark based mulches will do) and 1/6 loam (garden soil with reasonable amounts of clay and loam included). The big thing is to make sure your mix will retain water within the granules that make it up but has space between the granules for oxygen. Which is to say, it drains rapidly (like gravel) but keeps a moist texture for some time (like mulch or clay). I personally think that small lava rock is the best "sand" component around because it is pretty "sharp" and has very irregular surfaces.

It seems like alot of people are going for mixes without soil in them these days, using some sort of calcined clay component rather than loam. The mixture I'm using is about the same that John Naka recommends in "Bonsai Techniques I". Some folks think it old fashioned, but it's inexpensive and I like it.

Fred

Lesley

Thank You Bonsainut,

I am very excited about bonsai! It's alot of fun. I don't have a camera yet to show my stuff, but I think I'm catching on- my trees don't look too bad. I like to look at them and I look all around me at trees now to see their shapes, species and how they age. I just subscribed to Bonsai Today (Your suggestions) and I am in a club but haven't been able to go for the last 3 months because I've been sick (OK now). So I've been posting alot to get some answers. What kind of fertilizer should I get in?About the soil recipe


Thank You Fred,

You all are being so nice by answering my ??. I read your postings and look at your galleries on a daily basis. It's fun and I'm learning everyday! About your soil recipe - Can I get this stuff at a regular garden center?

Lesley

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Ladybug

FredL

Lesley, I just looked at my post and realized I said loam (ordinary garden soil) is composed of clay and loam. Well, that's dumb, huh! I meant to say clay and humus, often with silt and sand as well.

For fertilizer, I just use any general purpose granular fertilizer with equal amounts of NPK. I tend to use something more like 7-7-7 than something like 20-20-20 because it seems to me less likely to burn my trees. Probably doesn't matter at all. I think it likely that some of the more expensive fertilizers are actually better because NPK exist in many chemical forms, some more available than others. There are also important micro-nutrients that my Walmart fertilizers probably lack.

In the Fall, I go to a fertilizer with more P, say 10-20-10, because I've read reducing N makes your trees reduce their emphasis on leaves and P benefits the roots, which is as you want at that time of year.

I put about a tablespoon of fertilizer on top of the soil every 3-4 weeks except in the Winter. More for big pots, less for small.

In addition, or instead of, I will add organic materials as I come across them. You will laugh, but I use such things as left over oatmeal (it seemed similar to me to some of the stuff they apparently use in Japan) when the kids don't eat it all at breakfast time. I've also used dry dogfood when it gets spilled or wet. And other things even crazier.

What I'm doing seems to work for me. My trees generally grow like crazy and I don't seem to be losing alot of them due to soil.

The big thing is (impossible to over-emphasize) is your mixture MUST drain well. Just about everything else you do wrong will create symptoms that can be dealt with over time. Water loged soil will kill many trees very quickly.

Best regards, Fred

ripsgreentree

I find that there are just a couple of things that one should understand about feeding trees in pots. The very first thing is that more is not necesairly better. In nature trees are able to take in the nutrent that they need because of an extensive root system. In a bonsai container the root system is isolated and can only take in what is in the pot. If you put too much fertalizer on your tree or in your pot it can cause root dammage and even death to the tree.
Here is a well excepted and proven feeding program. In the spring you can use a fertalizer like Miracle grow 20-20-20 because this is the time of year when your trees are growing with the peak of vigor and they need the most and strongest food. Use a hose end sprayer with 1/2 the recomended strength weekly.(less more often is better)
In the summer your trees will slow down or even go dorment if it gets hot enough. This is the time of year when it is easy to burn new roots and cause dammage, use fish emulshon 7-7-7- Change over when your tempratures move into the 90's and above.
When the tempratures drop back in the fall and you drop back under the 90's change to something like full bloom 0-10-10 you use this with no nitrogen because your trees are storing energy in the fall and early winter for the next spring's push so you do not need to feed nitrogen which promotes foliage growth. in winter when your trees are dormint feed nothing because your trees need nothing.
I will say it again because it bears repeating. More is not necesairly good, less more often is much better.

Glenn

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ripsgreentree

It requires an open hand to give and to recieve.

Lesley

To Fred and Glenn:
I decided to check back on my threads and am very glad I did! Thanks for the new information on fertilizing. This is very valuable. What I get from it is more concentrated formula in spring , less is best during growth season and in fall no nitrogen. Fertilize about every 2-3 weeks and in Winter stop all fertilizers.

Thanks

PS: It might be fun to start a poll on fertilizers to see what's popular among our forum users.

Examples: Dry vs liquid vs cakes, 20-20-20 vs 10-10-10 vs 7-7-7, no nitrogen in winter, every week vs every 2 to 3 weeks vs monthly. I'd do it for fun and info but don't know how?

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Ladybug

Leesa

Hi Lesley - I think you said that you were a member of the Midori Club - you might check out JT's latest newsletter - his article is on repotting this month. He is very high on using Akadama - but there are other ingrediants that could be used instead. To begin with - I used one of the prepared soils from Bonsai suppliers (Dallas Bonsai is one that I have used) and other club members - LarryWhite used to offer it for sale. I think. It helps to begin with because you don't have to buy in such large quantities (Akadama comes in 20 pound bags) and you get a chance to see what it looks like - both composition and particle size - and experiment with your own trees and growing conditions.

I also suggest that you read the thread that Bonsaial started on his "stinky backyard" - on fertilizing. I found it very helpful and started to use the fish fert./seaweed combo as well as the Biogold last fall - both seem to working well for me. I have the Dyna grow on my bench to try next month.

Good luck! PM me if you are interested in the "Bonsai Babes" club - it is a group of women in your area who get togethor monthly.

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Respectfully, Lee Sanner

FredL

Lesley, I just noticed that you asked about grow boxes. Just about anything that will hold soil and provides good drainage will do. Lots of people use flower pots, with the shallower ones doing best. In my area, where it freezes and thaws continuously all Winter, clay flower pots fall apart during that time of year. The things that I like best so far are 16 quart plastic wash basins that I found at DollarGeneral with lots of holes drilled in the bottoms. I've also built them with 1"x6" boards from Lowe's, but so far I've found plastic containers cheaper, easier to stack, lighter and more durable than ones made with boards.

Fred