Food For Thought

RonMartin(deceased)

Your bonsai can suffer from nutrient deficiencies, which is
bad, but the good part is that they can tell you what the
problem is - you just have to know what to look for. Bad
light and poor soil can also cause some of the following so
consider these also.

Nitrogen


Slow growth is the main characteristic, but other tell-tale
signs are leaves that turn light green with the tips of new
growth becoming yellow. In addition afflicted plants usually
have a stunted, spindly look and drop their older leaves

Phosphorus


Symptoms include stunted growth and late fruit set. Another
characteristic is the development of small dark reddish or
purple spots on the underside of older leaves that eventually
spread.


Potassium

The lower leaves of turn a gray-greenish tint, and this
discoloration usually works it's way up the plant. The off-
green is usually replaced by a dirty yellow coloring followed
by leaf death. Also the plant stems become slim and hard, and
fruit ripens unevenly. This problem is normally most
prevalent late in the growing season when plants use much of
their available supply of potassium to develop fruit.


Magnesium


Mature leaves turn yellow between the veins, but the veins
stay green. Eventually, the leaves turn upward and become
brittle. This problem is another one that is most common late
in the growing season on plants with developing fruit.


Calcium


Young leaves turn dark green and may even begin to curl. This
green is usually replaced by yellow that spreads. While these
leaves dry up and fall. the lower leaves of the plant remain
relatively normal. Eventually the whole plant becomes weak
and wilts.


Manganese


Plants become stunted, and leaf tissue will turn off-white or
yellowish and die, leaving dead spots on the foliage.


Zinc


Plants have smaller than normal terminal leaves, and other
leaves are pocked with yellow areas that may also include
dead tissue spots.


Iron


Young leaves begin to turn yellow between the veins. While
the yellowing will spread, the veins, margins and tips will
remain green.


Boron

The new growth dies, and buds turn light green and will not
form flowers. Also existing leaves are small and misshapen,
and plant stems are usually short. This problem usually
occurs in high alkaline soils.

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RonMartin(deceased)

Well at least no one has told me that I am full of poop. That in its self is a good thing. ;o)

Treebeard

Ron, that's a very informative post. some of my trees have suffered several of the problems you mention. For the first few years of my bonsai hobby, I hardly ever fed any of my trees. They didn't grow much as a result, and I thought 'hey, what's the big problem with keeping bonsai small?' Now, I realise that bonsai is not about keeping trees stunted through malnitrition. Several of my bonsai suffered very badly last year, due to this malnutrition. I hope they make it, and that I have not acted too late in making amends. Help has been given be people here on this forum, and if they survive, it's down to their help, freely given. Thanks to them.

I hope that others starting out in bonsai can learn from this.

Regards,

TB

__________________
"Do not be hasty, that is my motto"
-JRR Tolkien, The Two Towers.
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RonMartin(deceased)

Trees are pretty forgiving things. They respond when you finally start giving them what they need.
They do have needs. Simple stuff like water, light and food. Take away any one of the three and what you have left is firewood.