[IBC] Osmocote

Bill Watkins

Jim, you mentioned that using a fertilizer such as Osmocote on bonsai can be a bit dangerous and should be used sparingly. Would you please explain how it can be dangerous.

Bill Watkins

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Kitsune Miko

Yes, I too would like to know as one of our pine experts out here includes it heavily in his soil mix.

Kitsune Miko

Bill Watkins <bill.watkins@SBCGLOBAL.NET> wrote:
Jim, you mentioned that using a fertilizer such as Osmocote on bonsai can be a bit dangerous and should be used sparingly. Would you please explain how it can be dangerous.

Bill Watkins

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Jim Lewis

> Yes, I too would like to know as one of our pine experts out
here includes it heavily in his soil mix.
>
> Kitsune Miko
>
> Bill Watkins <bill.watkins@SBCGLOBAL.NET> wrote:
> Jim, you mentioned that using a fertilizer such as Osmocote on
bonsai can be a bit dangerous and should be used sparingly. Would
you please explain how it can be dangerous.

================================================== =========

1. There is no electronic timer that tells each fertilizer
pellet (of whatever size) that "now is the time this plant needs
so much of X, Y, or Z." Whether fertilizer pellets dissolve is
conditioned on the temperature and the moisture level in the pot.
Since we keep our pots fairly moist -- moister per unit of soil
than you would normally find in a garden -- there's always a
"dissolve now!" signal being sent. Add to that the heat from a
summer in most of North America (and pots get hotter than yard
soil!) and you are doubling up on the signal. You can end up
with a more-or-less severe build up of phosphorous in your pot,
depending on which pellets open when. And if you add
supplemental fertilizer (as many do) how do you know when your
tree(s) need something and when you've just given them a large
dose of opened pellets?

So you have NO control over when, where, and how much nutrients
reach your plant. This is OK in the wide open space of a garden.
In a pot, it's more serious.

2. If you supplement with other fertilizer over the course of
the growing season, you can be exacerbating this problem. If you
don't, you probably will be ending the season with not enough
fertilizer for over wintering.

3. Since the fertilizer is designed to be randomly triggered, in
a cool year, or in a cooler climate and shorter growing season
than MANY of us have in North America, there could be a sizeable
amount that doesn't dissolve over the course of the growing
season. This means the possibility of a sudden dose of old,
possibly spoiled fertilizer in winter. (I haven't noticed this
problem, but I have heard of and from others who have, but I
never have a cool enough summer to worry about any of it not
dissolving.)

4. Since the technical side of bonsai is about controlling
growth -- think about it: we control our plants in many ways --
why would you allow your fertilization regime be completely
random? Mature trees do NOT need a major influx of nitrogen in
late summer -- which is likely (probable!) with randomly opened
palletized food.

5. It's not a danger, but those little round, yellowish balls of
used and unused fertilizer are unsightly (and also resemble some
kinds of insect eggs).

This stuff is fine for yards (and probably for dime-a-dozen
houseplants in pots) but not ideal for bonsai.

And I know I'm about to be deluged with
"I've-been-doing-it-for-years-and-have-had-no-problems messages."
I'll reply to them now: "Fine. But _I_ won't."

Jim Lewis - jklewis@nettally.com - Tallahassee, FL - Only where
people have learned to appreciate and cherish the landscape and
its living cover will they treat it with the care and respect it
should have - Paul Bigelow Sears.

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kevin bailey

I have lost several plants that I can attribute almost certainly to
fertiser burn as the temperatures warmed up in spring. I believe that
the shells deteriorate and release a flood of less controlled fertiliser
in their second season. I stopped using it and the problem has not
recurred.

Cheers

Kev Bailey
Vale Of Clwyd, North Wales



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Iris Cohen

<< Growers who can mix a fertilizer solution and apply it at the right dose
somehow could not manage to put the correct dose of Osmocote; >>

The jar of Osmocote has a picture on it of exactly how much to scatter.
Although the picture means on a flower bed, I suspect the same amount would do
for a bonsai. It is very little.
Iris,
Central NY, Zone 5a, Sunset Zone 40
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, It's the light of the oncoming
train."
Robert Lowell (1917-1977)

Michael Persiano

In a message dated 5/14/2004 5:57:42 PM Eastern Standard Time,
bonsai@PACIFIC.NET writes:
At 10:48 AM 5/11/04 -0400, Jim Lewis wrote:
> > Yes, I too would like to know as one of our pine experts out
>here includes it heavily in his soil mix.
> >
> > Kitsune Miko
> >
> > Bill Watkins <bill.watkins@SBCGLOBAL.NET> wrote:
> > Jim, you mentioned that using a fertilizer such as Osmocote on
>bonsai can be a bit dangerous and should be used sparingly. Would
>you please explain how it can be dangerous.
Osmocote is, in my opinion, an excellent solution for commercial application
in a nursery environment. It is a generally a slow-release fertilizer, but it
is not a controlled release--once you add it into the soil, it is difficult
to extract and its release cannot be controlled.

We all use different products to fertilize our trees. The one universal
element is the need to determine the desired outcome for the particular specimen
and to CONTROL the feeding.

In the world of fertilizer options, Osmocote is on the bottom of my list.

Cordially,

Michael Persiano
members.aol.com/iasnob

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Jim Lewis

> We all use different products to fertilize our trees. The one
universal
> element is the need to determine the desired outcome for the
particular specimen
> and to CONTROL the feeding.
>
> In the world of fertilizer options, Osmocote is on the bottom
of my list.

I agree wholeheartedly. Bonsaiests MUST be control freaks or our
trees will get away from us.

We control where branches grow. We control how much room the
roots will have. We control whether and how much and how often
they bloom, we control everything about them.

One of the most important things, and the one we can most easily
control is WHEN we give nutrient to the trees and HOW MUCH we
give. This is impossible with Osmocoat and fertilizers of that
ilk.

Jim Lewis - jklewis@nettally.com - Tallahassee, FL - Only where
people have learned to appreciate and cherish the landscape and
its living cover will they treat it with the care and respect it
should have - Paul Bigelow Sears.

************************************************** ******************************
++++Sponsored, in part, by John Quinn++++
************************************************** ******************************
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+++++ Questions? Help? e-mail BONSAI-REQUEST@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM +++++

Kitsune Miko

There is control in bonsai, but nothing is static. I used to use Osmacote regularly out here in California, and my plants did well, but then there was a move to organic fertilizers like rape seed cake. I tried that because it was fasionable at the time,
but my fertilizer cakes developed maggots, something I cannot tolorate. I still get those "she just doesn't get it" looks when I refuse to go with the croud, but I have been experimenting with a variety of other organic and inoraganic fertilizers. I n
ow do prefer short lived fertilizers one can flush through soil rather than the long lasting ones.

One I have used in the past and have started re-using is something called "Grow Power." It is a dry application of what they call a humus based product, 5-3-1 with minerals and hints at having beneficial bacteria from the composting of the humus. It say
s you can mix it into soil. I have not tried that yet. What I use in my soil mix is Lilly Miller "Vitastart" 2-4-2 an organic based transplant fertilizer.

A couple of times during spring and early summer, I may give everything a dose of Miracid or fish emulsion based produce, if I want to pep things up.

When I used Osmacote, it was one "with minors". I stopped using this because the product was discontinued.

I had a neighbor that was in the Stanford microbiology depeartment. He is still with Stanford, but no longer my neighbor. One of his experiments was to feed plant food only to some house plants and minerals only to other house plants. The unfertilized
, mineralized plants did better than the ones that were fed only fertilizer. So I have always looked for ways to add minerals to my bonsai. This is not always easy for the non-commercial grower. I like to find fertilizer mixes where the minerals are in
cluded.

Kitsune Miko

Jim Lewis <jklewis@NETTALLY.COM> wrote:
> We all use different products to fertilize our trees. The one
universal
> element is the need to determine the desired outcome for the
particular specimen
> and to CONTROL the feeding.
>
> In the world of fertilizer options, Osmocote is on the bottom
of my list.

I agree wholeheartedly. Bonsaiests MUST be control freaks or our
trees will get away from us.

We control where branches grow. We control how much room the
roots will have. We control whether and how much and how often
they bloom, we control everything about them.

One of the most important things, and the one we can most easily
control is WHEN we give nutrient to the trees and HOW MUCH we
give. This is impossible with Osmocoat and fertilizers of that
ilk.

Jim Lewis - jklewis@nettally.com - Tallahassee, FL - Only where
people have learned to appreciate and cherish the landscape and
its living cover will they treat it with the care and respect it
should have - Paul Bigelow Sears.

************************************************** ******************************
++++Sponsored, in part, by John Quinn++++
************************************************** ******************************
>>-->> The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ <<--<<
+++++ Questions? Help? e-mail BONSAI-REQUEST@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM +++++

Life is a romantic business. It is painting a picture, not doing a sum -- but you have to make the romance, and it will come to the question how much fire you have in your belly.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

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************************************************** ******************************
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