Aeron

I have my bonsai planted in very free draining soil (100% cat litter).
I feed my trees about every 10 days with soluble organic fertiliser.

If I feed trees monday evening, I get from work tuesday evening and the soil is dry and in need of watering;

Do my trees get any benifit form fertilising if the soil drys out so quickly?


Thanks in advance.

Also take a look at my other post "Bonsai gets the chop" please.

Attached Images

Katsura Nebari.jpg (69.5 KB, 14 views)

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Mike423

That shouldn't cause any issues, most of what the tree is going to use is probably absorbed in the first hour after fertilizing.

treebeard55

Nice nebari so far on that katsura, Aeron.

When you say the soil has dried in 24 hrs, do you mean dry (to the eye) all the way thru, or just the upper 1/4-inch, 1/2-inch, whatever? And do I assume correctly that you water every evening?

As long as the soil isn't staying waterlogged and the trees are showing no signs of distress, I'd say they're probably OK. You do need partial drying of the soil in order to let air (bearing oxygen) back in among the roots.

I think Mike's right (pending the answer to my first question.) Your tree is probably getting enough fertilizer. If you want to add any insurance, it would do no harm to spray the foliage every couple of weeks with a weak fertilizer solution, and in fact would probably help. (For example: 1 tablespoon of beer in a gallon of water. I'm serious.) Do this in the late afternoon/early evening for best absorption.

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Steve Moore
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Aeron

Yeah I just water in the evening.

The the top layer of cat litter dries very quickly and it may seem to the eye completley dry, but deeper down into the pot it does still hold some moisture.

One more question. Is it best to submerse the pot into the fertiliser and leave it for a few minuets so the soil gets completley saturated, or should I just spary it on to the top until it come from the drainage holes?

Thanks for the help guys.

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To Lead sometimes you have to follow.