When to fertilize

Is there any standard time set on when to begin fertilizing a collected tree? I have a juniper and got some nice roots when I collected it. It's been in the pot now for 8 days with no signs of dieback. I'm wondering if it would be okay to give it a weak fertilizer solution of Bonsai pro.

Eight days is nothing to a juniper. It could take as many as 30 days (or even more!) for a juniper to realize that its circumstances have changed.

That said, I often add a little fertilizer to a newly dug juniper.

JimLewis wrote:Eight days is nothing to a juniper.  It could take as many as 30 days (or even more!) for a juniper to realize that its circumstances have changed.

That said, I often add a little fertilizer to a newly dug juniper.

Thanks Jim. No wonder it's still so happy.

You can fertilize after you see it starting to grow new tips.

dr. earth also makes some really good fertilizers which are more like soil additives...
some of which are designed to be applied at the time of repotting, and they are also chock full of other goodness too...

they also make an acid lovers blend

leo, the mad horticulturist, read all the ingredients and fine print and he was duly impressed with what he read.

and jim will NOT agree with this but if you have superthrive, repotting/transplanting/stressing a tree is a great time to give it a superthrive bath... but as a disclaimer, many people do not believe it does anything and then there are the rest of us who believe

M. Frary wrote:  You can fertilize after you see it starting to grow new tips.

"New tips?" don't mean the juniper is alive. New growth can come from energy stored in the branch.

Something that's newly introduced to life in a container, we want to establish good roots first. that means the tree itself must send out roots investigating it's new surroundings looking for food and water. Immediate food provisions tend to slow it's process of searching. We want those roots for summer's water absorption.

Junipers tend to get their energy from their greenery and not their roots like pines. (as suggested earlier)

I'd wait 6 to 8 weeks before starting a low numbred organic. (Dr. earth was a good suggestion)

In my yamadori activties, I find a 90% soil base to be made up of pummice. As it does double duty of providing drainage and yet water retention.

I appreciate the sage advice, guys. I'll hold off until the tree shows vitality.