Organic Fertilizer..

rmiller042577

I use a totaly inorganic mix.. 100% lava rock and Shultz Aquatic plant soil (Just like turface)

I am working on moving from chemical to organic fertilizer but since my soil has no nutrients I want to make sure my fertilizer is compleat. So far I am useing the following..

Old Aquarium water
Worm casting tea (Brewed in an old coffee pot)
I soak leftovers from my birds cuttlebones in the water.
A little bird guano from the same birds.

Anyone else with a 100% inorganic mix use organic fertilizers? If so what kind and how long have you been using it?

Thanks,

Rmiller

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Rock Chester

Yes , liquid fish, 17 years. I use the siphonex and give some on every watering, super no brainer.

Also smelly fluffs placed in spring made from fermented,

Cottonseed, alfalfa, feather and fish meals.

rmiller042577

Thanks Rock 17 years on that makes me feel lots better about it..

I will add that to my fertilizer mix.

Rmiller

Ralph

I use this organic fertilizer, along with liquid kelp w/ iron :

FUJIYAMA BRAND "ORGANO-GRO" An extremely great Organic Fertilizer from Japan.
Organic Pellet Fertilizer

Fujiyama Brand - ORGANO GRO - An Excellent Japanese Organic Fertilizer for use with your Bonsai and all Plants. We purchase this high quality product in very large bags and then repackage it into an much more affordable size for our customers. You will be very happy with this product as it gives you many of the key ingredients that the more expensive products offer. Please check out the details about fertilizers at the top of this page. Major Fertilizer Elements NitrogenN4% of total weightPhosphorus6% of total weightPotassiumK2% of total weight Minor Elements IronFe543 mg/kgManganeseMn67 mg/kgZincZn71 mg/kgCopperCu8 mg/kgSodiumNa.2% of total weightMagnesiumMg.6% of total weightCalciumCa5.3% of total weight

Maxicrop Liquid Seaweed Plus Iron

Contains 2% iron. It is a unique combination of pure seaweed extract with readily sequestered iron in an easy-to-use liquid form. This high iron formulated product, when sprayed directly onto foliage, or applied as a root drench will prevent yellowing (chlorosis) of leaves, especially in acid-low (calcifuge) plants.

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Vonsgardens

I just cut and Pasted Dale Colchoy's article that has shown up several times on web searches- this one is from a thread here on Bonsai Talk. If you have questions, ask Dale. I tried his approach with a few variations. It works great and is a lot cheaper than buing someone's packaging.

John

Dale Cochoy
10-May-2006, 12:42 PM
Here is an updated version of my "poo" recipe that appeared in ABS Journal several years ago. A few new ideas and items have been added.
I want to mention one small thing. I now dry my "poo" in my unused greenhous in the summer. They dry quickly in the heat. I leave the doors open to vent it...phewww! but found I had racoons getting in there at night and eating and messing up the trays ( mybe 25 trays!) . I found the solution to that problem, now I put a radio in there and leave it on low all night and I never had another problem with nightly visitors
Regards,
Dale

How To Make Your Own
Slow-Release Fertilizer Cakes
by
Dale Cochoy

All experienced bonsai growers agree that the best method of fertilizing bonsai is with a slow-release type of fertilizer ball or pellet. These will release a constant low-dose of fertilizer with each watering or rain. This constant but slow-release of nutrients keeps your trees healthy and steadily growing instead of the shot-in-the-arm type of strong fertilizing that is done from time to time during the growing season. These occasional doses of fertilizer can cause your bonsai to grow out of control ---like a weed.
Slow-release organic fertilizers can be very expensive. Even the rapeseed cakes from China or Japan can be quite costly as well as the more commonly available marketed brand names.
I purchased the ingredients to produce my own slow-release fertilizer balls that I thought would be better than some mixtures I had seen in magazines or heard about elsewhere.
The ingredients comprising approximately 65% of the bulk were bone meal and cotton seed meal. These can be purchased easily in 3lb. or larger bags. I used 20% gypsum as an experiment to help release possible salt build-up in the haydite used in our potting soil mixes. Blood meal made up about 10% of the bulk of the dry mix. For the liquid I used a couple of things. I mixed in some "Alaska Start-Up"tm low dose natural fertilizer made from molasses, this also contains B-1 vitamins. I poured in a considerable amount of fish emulsion. If you are unfamiliar with this product, it is quite possibly the most disgusting substance on the face of the earth!
I, by no means, measured anything. I added bulk and liquid to use up most of the materials and keep the mixture moist enough to form balls. For about $30 I mixed up roughly 71/2 gallons of the foulest smelling stuff you can imagine!
It formed balls but they didn't stick together well. After mulling over several possible additives that might help adhere the concoction, my wife, Nancy, came up with the solution. I mixed in about 3 cups of flour per gallon.
It is a good idea to wear some hospital rubber gloves for the mixing involved in fertilizer ball manufacturing. With the binding problem solved it was time to form the mixture into balls. I found that two people could process a gallon of the mixture into about 250 balls 2/3 the size of a golf ball, in about 1/2 hr. We just rolled the mixture in the palm of our hands. I found that with the mixture two people could make well over 1,000 balls in a few hours, at a cost of about $30.
Since my original attempts I have made some changes in manufacturing and mixture. I no longer form them into balls by hand. A wheelbarrow full will leave you crippled without enough grip strength to hold a beer can. After trying several different methods of extruding, I found that a simple tool made from about 18 inches of 1 inch or 11/4 inch PVC pipe with a corresponding sized wooden dowel to push through the pipe worked OK but a better, simpler method of forming cakes was adapted.
I now mix up the disgusting muck in a wheelbarrow then I press it into old hospital food trays( cookie sheets or pizza pans work well ) about 1/2" deep. The trays should first by lined with Saran wrap to allow release of the cakes from the pan while still moist. Note: a good trick to get Saran wrap to stick to the tray without fluttering around is to spritz the tray with a little water first.
After one day of drying in the hot sun I can cut it into 1 or 11/2' squares using a pizza cutter. The sheet of cakes takes longer to dry than the balls, but can be made in a fraction of the time. I simply flip them over into another tray once a day until dry. They easily break apart when dry. Note: Try to manufacture your "poo balls" when you are expecting about 4 days of warm, dry and low humidity weather. They take about four days to dry. If it is very humid or they get rained on it could cause them to mold before they dry. This will not hurt the chemical make-up at all, but some people won't like the looks of them! You want to get them dried BEFORE they start to mold.
As I stated, I mix up a wheelbarrow at a time. The best method for doing this is to first mix all the dry materials together except for the flour. Mix any amount you want. Combine all your liquid ingredients in a sprinkling can with some water and slowly pour in while mixing with a shovel. It is very much like mixing cement. I slowly add liquid and flour to get just the right consistency. I use about 10lbs of flour per wheel barrow. This hardens the cubes to where they resist having a finger nail poked into them. I find this to be the perfect "Hardness".
I mentioned that I made some changes in the mixture. I now add liquid seaweed to the mix, liquid chelated iron, and muriate of potash to assist in strengthening roots and aid in absorption of nitrogen and phosphorus, and to increase resistance to heat and cold. I only use about 2 cups of muriate of potash to a wheelbarrow. The muriate of potash and flour probably round out the 100% total for the "dry" mix.
I worried about the attraction of flies and maggots so I thought of spraying the finished cakes with an insecticide or mixing in some “Sevin” but I found that my dogs find the cakes an exquisite snack and they disappear often from pots that are low to the ground. Luckily I have had no problem with flies/maggots.
The ingredients I now use are as follows:
Bone meal 0-10-0
Cotton seed meal 6-1-1
Blood meal 12-0-0
Fish emulsion 5-1-1
Liquid seaweed 0.1-0.0-1.0
( Note: You can also use Kelp Meal instead of liquid seaweed if you can find it. . The cost isn't much different in the long-run but the kelp meal adds more "bulk" for making cakes which the liquid doesn't. 10 lbs. of kelp meal adds 10 lbs. of cakes! These are the two most expensive ingredients so I opt for the "bulk increase" of the kelp meal.)
Alaska Natural start-up 2-1-2 w/B-1
Muriate of potash 0-0-60
Gypsum
Liquid chelated iron
Agricultural lime
Flour

If you wish to mix up a wheelbarrow full I'd start with about 50lbs.+ of dry mix, then add the liquid slowly. This would be a small wheelbarrow load, which could easily be doubled if you had a nice sized-wheelbarrow . The wheelbarrow is nice for mixing because you can move it around to where you want to do your work.

The mixture has to be experimented with as you work to get the consistency right. I can make over 1,000 cakes for under $35 worth of ingredients and an afternoon of time. I believe this mixture is far superior to anything imported into this country, and cheaper in bulk. They will not burn trees or retard mycorrhiza growth so you can place as many as you want on the surface of your pots. I put two on a 6" pot, four on an 8-10", and more on larger pots. Replace as they start to disintegrate.

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