- buds opening on Chinese quince
I am seeing the first signs that winter is finishing at Shibui Bonsai. The Chinese elms are the first to bud up and some now have fresh new leaves. A couple of small Chinese elms have also produced new shoots but no sign yet on the older elm bonsai.
These early signs mean I need to hurry and finish any repotting of deciduous bonsai and get on with potting up the newly dug field grown stock to re establish before they are ready for sale. It also means I need to get prepared for feeding the bonsai that have not been repotted as they wake from dormancy. A winter of rain and occasional watering means that almost all nutrient will have been washed out of the potting mix and needs to be supplied to keep the trees healthy during the coming season.
Hi Neil, thanks for your time last friday. What sort of feeder/fertilizer do you use? Gary
Gary i feed the trees here with whatever fertiliser I have on hand. Bonsai are really just plants so any fertiliser for plants will be good for them. I put osmocote slow release in the potting mix so the trees have a little fertiliser even when I forget to feed them. I also try to remember to add supplementary fertiliser every 2 or 3 weeks. I use fish fertiliser, worm wee from my worm farm, liquid manure, osmocote soluble fertiliser, chook poo pellets, etc. The more you feed your trees the more they will grow. The more they grow the more often you can trim. the more often you can trim the quicker the ramification and branch structure will build up and the better your bonsai will be.