Fall feeding

bnsaijim

Thanks for all the great info. Sounds like I'm closer to Soil Doc's conditions- hot and humid.

Soil Mixes- It's taken me a while to hunt down soil ingredients. I find it interesting that you've been able to use a bagged product- I've tried that, particularly with tropicals, but from one year to the next the ingredients would change in the same brand. Typically, a lot of fine sand that compacted into a concrete block by the end of the season if used in any quantity or a fine sludge otherwise. No convenient source of coarse sand available. The bark I use would best be characterized as shredded chunks.

I too water daily. Probably too much ...except with shohin. One of these days I'll put everything on a timer...


A brand of "professional landscaper's soil enhancer mix" was recommended to me by a Club member. It seems to be pretty good ingredient-wise- sand and a finer blend of bark. We shall see.

Somewhere I read that the retention time on typical soilless mixes is about 4 days- the test involved watering in a dyed liquid then checking how long it took for the water to run clean. Anyone else hear about this?

Right now I'm 100% haydite in my conifers and even some deciduous, only varying the degree of sifting- fines= sand component. My thought is that the degree of organic feeding will add the necessary organic component as time passes. Now I'm wondering if this is the way to go- A discussion on IBC broke out regarding all this.

Mycorrhiza- The myc. discussions centered around the fact that it's not just pines, but really all trees that have it. The myc associated with most trees i.e., not pines, rely on an organic component. My trees are healthy, I have few losses in collected specimens, using my current system. BUT what I'm doing is not time tested- only about 2 years- what will the long term effect be? Worth checking the archives for if you aren't a member.

I figured I'd start a new thread on defoliation...

__________________
Jim Stone
Seki Bonsai Studio
sekibonsai.com
Santa Fe, TX

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