I am just now starting the fert schedule for this growing season, as Spring is near here in the Southern Hemisphere.
Even if people I respect like @leatherback sometimes say "I use whatever is on sale in the nearby garden centre", my experience here is that good fertilisers and a coherent schedule will result in healthier trees, so...
Basically organics; my plan is:
Tropicals - more P for the ones that will flower soon.
Pines - More balanced but more Basacote (N) so I will have the possibility of a second sprout after summer decandling.
Junipers - As pines.

First of all, the products I will be using this year:

Basacote, time released prills with micronutrients.
NPK 16-8-12+2 (high N)
It mixes well with Akadama.




Hanagokoro pellets, NPK 4-6-2


Biogold pellets (triangular shape) NPK 4-5-4


Fish Emulsion directly from the Amazon River


Tea bags, empty


Japanese Bamboo picks


Continue below

And the procedure as follows:

Cut the toothpick in a angle, to make it shorter.


Insert the organic pellets into the teabags.
In this example (tropicals), 2 Biogold and 1 Hanagokoro


Close the bag firmly. (Leave the the toothpicks prepared beforehand).


Drop the teabags on the soil, mid way between the trunk and the edge of the pot, and insert the toothpick to hold the bag in place.


In three months replace the teabags and the Basacote as needed.
Fish Emulsion every two weeks beginning now.

In the future I will post the results in this same thread
Enjoy your bonsai and keep them alive!

BEFORE someone cries out "Hanagokoro is the brand name!", the product is called Aburakasu in Japanese.
Aburakasu fertilizer is made from soy, bone meal, rapeseed and minerals.

ABURAKASU link

I'm trying to learn/understand about using the organic pellets. So it's obvious you will flush the nutrients into the pot with time but how much waste material will the pellets leave behind? Looking at the recipe for poo balls, there's flour in it?! So lots of material that can end up cloging the soil.
I'm using chicken poop pellets (+ liguid fert every fortnight), as there is no point for me to use expensive biogold on nurseri stock trees. I have also made some ready to use fertilizer water with the pellets by dissolved them in a bottle. After 3-4 days I can see the sand and everything that is left on the bottom of the bottle, that normally will end up in the soil.
So, it's kinda obvious but I'm gonna ask it anyways... will the tea bags catch most of it? Are tea bags so much better than those round plastic baskets? Any picture of the pellets after 3 months?

Aivar1988 wrote: . will the tea bags catch most of it? Are tea bags so much better than those round plastic baskets?

That's the idea. Yes, much better, teabags keep the organic fertilizer in direct contact with the soil which is essential for it to work. I have tried the baskets, they don't hold the residues well and they keep the ferts away from the soil, which is not so good.

Oh and here's something interesting for you, maybe Peter Warren was recently talking on his youtube live about a new product called Danú. So it should be a little extra kick for the health for the bonsai trees. Here's the link if you're interested
LINK

hahaha, you are right. I do use what is on sale.
Just bought 2 pack of 2.5kg each, one with high N, one with low N, both with trace elements. Have not opened the packs yet!

leatherback wrote: hahaha, you are right. I do use what is on sale.

Sooo...
Next time my tropicals are exploding with growth and *yours sulking*, then you will know the answer!
:woohoo:

Clicio wrote:

leatherback wrote: hahaha, you are right. I do use what is on sale.

Sooo...
Next time my tropicals are exploding with growth and *yours sulking*, then you will know the answer!
:woohoo:

How is your mume doing again?
:whistle:

leatherback wrote: How is your mume doing again?
:whistle:

hahahahaha!
As you surely know by now, my Ume is flowering, fruiting, sprouting new growth all over *after* bring hacked, sawed, chopped, tortured and repotted just two weeks ago.
Take a good look:


:blink: :blink: :blink: