OK Chefdave - here's my recipe (pun intended) :

My version of superfeeding :

All the time I give an organic tablet like biogold, meangreen grean dream or a home made bloodmeal/bonemeal/cottonseed meal mix. Lots of it, like 40% or more soil coverage with balls or pellets away from the trunk at the edges of the pot. Then I alternate a liquid feeding once weekly of fish emulsion on week one, liquid seaweed on week two, fish emulsion again on week three and liquid seaweed plus iron on week four. Repeat weeks 1 thru 4 over and over. I apply the liquid feeding with a watering can late in the day so that it has all night to absorb and dry down. Back off if you have a real winter in the fall and hit it again hard in the spring.

With a fast draining soil watering three times a day (unless it is raining) is a must. I do back off and water twice a day as winter sets in but I am in Florida so winter is like three weeks long or something like that. I use misters on a timer so I am not around when they are watered. Good deep soaking so the pellets or balls of organic dissolve some each watering and soak the nutrient in to the soil.

I stress fast draining non organic soil in a fairly large particle. You want airspace between the soil particles so sifting to get even particle size is good. Again, fast draining is the key. The relationship of the superfeeding program and water application with fast draining soil is the key.

All products are available at most bonsai online retailers. The fish and seaweed may be available locally at a big box store.

That's it.

thanks every one !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mark said:
"Also, go to Michael Persiano's web site. He is the "inventor" of superfeeding. Here's a direct link to the superfeeding stuff on the site:"

Theres an interesting story there. If you have old ABS Journals find the one with my article...then, find the one on superfeeding in BT.
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 often done by enthusiasts from time to time during the growing season instead of a regular fertilizing regime. These occasional doses of strong 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 $35 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 $35.
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 $40 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

Thanks Dale, knowing how much for how little, I think I will try this.

McSpeed,
I wrote this several years ago for ABS Journal.
I have updated it and changed it a couple times since then.
Just a short while ago I boosted the costs a bit to make up for increases, but, they probably have gone up a bit more since then, especially chemicals.
I make and sell these when I have time, but pots have kind of overtaken time.
I still have several customers at shows ask me when I'm going to have more 5 gal. pails full.

If you make them you will notice that if you can't dry them fast enough theywill get moldy. This DOES NOT effect them at all, but, people don't want to buy them if moldy. I use any molded ones myself.
You need to dry them fast in a few days to keep from molding so plan on a time when forecast is hot and less humid. Flip them often.

One other thing. I dry these in my unused greenhouse in the summer. Hot and dry, but had trouble with racoons getting in them since I left the doors open for ventilation. I solved this problem by setting up a radio in the greenhouse and turning on low ( so as not to bother neighbors at night) and the racoons now stay clear when they hear the voices.

Dale
Dale

Good read, Dale. I poured mine into old drip trays and cut lines in them when they were about half dry. It allows them to break easily when they are solid. Great idea of the radio in the greenhouse, too.


-Wm

So you adjust the volume of each product to get the proper NPK? How long do your balls last before they must be removed? or do they totally dissolve into the soil?

That is a bit of brilliance Dale. I will file that under nickel knowledge, I know it will come in handy. Now, what do you do for trident, yew, maple nibbling deer? Something tells me that these almost domesticated creatures wouldn't pay ant attention to the voices specially with trees in my growing ground.

[QUOTE=Dale Cochoy]

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





Since you have made this alot can you give a WAG as to how much of each product you use?
Hubby is going to try this
Irene

Irene,
I can't really get any better explaination than in article. I mix till it "looks good", like concrete, mix dry first then add water(liquids) slowly while mixing.
and, as mentioned in the article, one of the most important ingredients is about 10 lbs of cheap flour in a wheelbarrow full. This will make them hard enough that a fingernail is hard to penetrate. They last a couple months ( here) . Without the flour they crumble apart quickly.
I think these are FAR better than any that EVER came out of Japan and pretty cheap besides.


Nip,
i have no idea what the final NPK is, no way of telling. I've not found that to be important, and, I guess no experienced customers have either.

Tom,
Winchester .270 maybe? >(

Actually, I have no deer here. But, my three Jack Russell Terriers keep wife and I busy in the summer rescueing oppossums, racoons, etc. We are at about 50%

Dale

P.S. I BETTER NOT start going to shows and seeing all the newbies selling these!