[IBC] Fertilizer, Brents article
 

Jim Lewis wrote:
Big snip

So READ IT! And then, I know you'll all keep on doing what
you've always done. ;-)

Yes a very good article. One paragraph however caught my attention:

"From my experience I do not see any benefit to feeding more frequently
than once every two weeks. This is a standard nursery practice for
soluble fertilizers.

Fertilizing more often than this will require more dilute solution and
will waste more material as the excess spills to the ground each time.
It is also more work to prepare the solutions more frequently.
Although I don't have any evidence to prove it yet, it is my suspicion
that fertilizers may be more effective when applied at the higher rates
at the less frequent intervals. Every other week seems to be a verygood period."

This goes against a test at the Agricultural University here in Sweden.
They got better results when feedeing a little more often. The
fertilizer was a regular houseplant fertilizer ( I can try to find the
exact specifiations) and they had best results when the plants where fed
with 1-2 ml fertilizer to 1 liter of water every day.

This has become almost a standard practice among Swedish bonsai growers
(besides me who is lazy and use Biogold).

Henrik Gistvall, Uppsala, Sweden

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On 24 Nov 2004 at 22:44, Henrik Gistvall wrote:


This goes against a test at the Agricultural University here in Sweden.
They got better results when feedeing a little more often. The
fertilizer was a regular houseplant fertilizer ( I can try to find the
exact specifiations) and they had best results when the plants where fed
with 1-2 ml fertilizer to 1 liter of water every day.

This has become almost a standard practice among Swedish bonsai growers
(besides me who is lazy and use Biogold).

There is, of course, a big difference between the climate and
growing season in Sweden and northern California. ;-)

We always need to take those kinds of differences into account.

Then, there's the probably difference in the soils you use and
the soils Brent uses.

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Bonsaiests
are like genealogists: We know our roots!

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+++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++

Of course but these tests are made in a lab. And the soil aspect if
probably a bigger difference. But the inert soil that we use doesn´t
hold on to nutrients. This would be even more of a reason to fertilize
more often. By diluting the fertilizer so that the tree got its "daily
dose", rather than two weeks worth of nutrient at one time, improved
the growth.

Henrik Gistvall, Uppsala, Sweden


Jim Lewis wrote:

On 24 Nov 2004 at 22:44, Henrik Gistvall wrote:


This goes against a test at the Agricultural University here in Sweden.
They got better results when feedeing a little more often. The
fertilizer was a regular houseplant fertilizer ( I can try to find the
exact specifiations) and they had best results when the plants where fed
with 1-2 ml fertilizer to 1 liter of water every day.

This has become almost a standard practice among Swedish bonsai growers
(besides me who is lazy and use Biogold).

There is, of course, a big difference between the climate and
growing season in Sweden and northern California. ;-)

We always need to take those kinds of differences into account.

Then, there's the probably difference in the soils you use and
the soils Brent uses.

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Bonsaiests
are like genealogists: We know our roots!

************************************************** ******************************
++++Sponsored, in part, by Boon Manakitivipart++++
************************************************** ******************************
-- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ --
+++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++

************************************************** ******************************
++++Sponsored, in part, by Boon Manakitivipart++++
************************************************** ******************************
-- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ --
+++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++