Hello,

I have this beautiful baby chines elm and I am curious about watering and fertilizing routines throughout the Spring and Summer. I'm in the Portland OR area and tend to bring the tree inside overnight and then out into the sunlight throughout the day.

I generally check the upper 1 inch of soil for dryness to determine if watering is necessary.

For fertilizer, I have a solution of water and Dyna-Gro Bonsai-Pro 7-9-5 at the recommended concetration of 1/2tsp per gallon. I'm curious how often I can apply this during Spring growth. Would it be too much to apply some at every watering? I think that the instructions for the fertilizer imply that you'd be utilizing the water/fertizlier solution solely for a watering session but I've just been occassionally spraying the water/fertizlier solution until the top layer is saturated rather than providing a full watering from the fertilizer solution.

Is it OK to lightly fertilize more frequently as opposed to heavily fertizlier less frequently?

Thanks for any advice you care to share!

There is no need to keep moving this plant it is perfectly hardy and will cope with weather. Fertiliser every watering is far too much. It is a waste, and will not be used by the plant. Every two weeks is plenty. First you have to learn how to water and trim this plant as it grows. Why have you got the branches tied to sticks? is it because the plant is top heavy? This plant needs a lot of growing before it can be called bonsai.

Hello!
The strings are in place, very lightly, to help the relax the lower two branches down a bit and keep the main trunk as vertically upright as possible.

When you state that fertilizing every two weeks is plenty, would that mean one complete saturation with the fertilizer-water solution? I have been basically misting the topsoil to saturation with the water-fertilizer mix but not a full watering with it.

Thank you!