Walter Pall Blog Post

Thanks Walter and Miss Vic,
I found the post and tried this with my spring repotting and have seen an improvemnt .........I've always used my mantra for feeding, when I get paid my trees do too(every two weeks). I haven't tried the extra strength fert method (simply follow the label) as I use slow release fertilizer prills designed for conifers in the upper layers of the soil. For Mtn Hemlock I also use a lttle more coarse peat or extra bark.
Cheers G

Hello Mr Pall,

First, thank u very much for fascinating article.

I'm implementing your method in these days.
just wanna be sure:
1. is this 'super feeding' technic, suitable for a tree that i just cut its roots?
2. with 20-20-20 , what would be the amount of the fertilize at the growing season?

Greeting
Efi

Efi,

with modern substrate you have to feed all trees. In the books they say that trees that were repotted and got the roots cut should not be fed. This is not true with modern substrate . These trees need to be fed right away, just like all trees. Weak trees can be foliar fed in addition as long as their roots are not working well.

Your question about 20-20-20 cannot be answered. Read the instructions and use twice or three times the amount of feed that they recommend every two weeks during the vegetation period. In Israel you may want to take a break during the summer months when the temperatures are above 3°Celsius. Trees stop to accept feed when it is very hot or very cold. One has to adjust these methods to your local climate.

Walter Pall wrote:
....These trees need to be fed right away, just like all trees.
.

WOW! this is really odd for me, u know all the growers here told me to be careful with this issue.
since i'll have to do that soon, just give me please your OK to my substrate and i'll go with your advice.
is like this:
50% clean lava size 4-8
20% perlite size 4
10% rough peat
10% rough coco
10% humus
total: 30% organic materials

if i may, one more question please: what is your evaluation regarding the best way to thicken a trunk, in container + 'super feeding' method
or in the aground with ordinary feeding ?

again, thank u for your help
Efi

Efi,

I have learned my new methods from professional nurseries which work with several hundred thousand trees. They know much better what to do.

Your substrate can well do without humus. Humus is destroying the properties of the substrate which are well draining and aerating.

Trees grow fat in the ground about three to five times better than in a pot. So field growing is the thing to do if you want to gain girth. If you have a collected tree the problem is not size of the trunk but roots. New roots grow much better in pots with modern substrate than in the ground.

I do no field growing at all because my problem is almost never size of trunk but always roots.

Walter Pall wrote:Efi,

I have learned my new methods from professional nurseries which work with several hundred thousand trees. They know much better what to do..

Mr. Pall,
It was my honor to "speak" with you.
your advises helped me a lot. i understand now some aspects much better.
and i'm pretty trust your method which i'm going to implement on my trees.

Greeting
Efi

littleart-fx wrote:
Chicken shit,.....may i ad beer.....they thrive......why?
If a tree has to be in colour (junipers) chicken shit and beer!

Well,

Chicken shit:
"Chicken manure fertilizer is very high in nitrogen and also contains a good amount of potassium and phosphorus"

Beer:
"Yeast is an active microorganism that can be used in vegetable gardens for pest control, as an aid to growth, or to fuel decomposition of garden waste."
"MOLASSES as a soil fertilizer is a great additive to plant fertilizer water. Molasses contains sugars to feed the plant and increase micobial activity in the soil." Similar effects with other types of sugar: it's apparently very trendy at the moment in France to use Glucose (source of carbohydrates, in other words energy, easily transported to the sap of plants) as a spray to have strong, healthy trees.

I suppose that when you, er..., say, relieve yourself, or break the seal after a couple of pints as my friend Darren says, you can also add some mineral salts:

"Urine contains large quantities of nitrogen (mostly as urea), as well as significant quantities of dissolved phosphates and potassium, the main macronutrients required by plants" (Wikipedia)

Great read, gives me something to think about

Mr Pall!

I personally use fertilizers more often during the growing season -once, even twice a week. The reason is that, in my opinion, most of it is washed out from the substrate after heavy watering.
I know that some guys in the UK feed the trees every time they water them.
What is your opinion about more frequent feeding ? Is 10 days intervals really enough with completely organic free substrates?

Regards

Marcin

Marcin,

every day a little feeding is fine. Probably the best if done right. What is right? How about if it rains every day for a week. Do you water with feed in addition?
In my case it takes two and half hours to water-feed 1,000 trees manually. It is like a work-out session in the fitness club every time. It takes 30 minutes to water the same trees with a garden hose. On average it rains half of the time and no watering is needed. This is why I only feed every ten days. But then I have to use a much higher dose than the person who feeds every day.

If you only have a few trees go ahead and feed them every day a little. Then you do not use more feed than suggested, of course.

Haha, fair enough. I can feel your pain. Thanks God, in "great" Irish summer there are weeks of rain and sun alternating in matter of few minutes. Happy days for such lazy ass like me!
All the best Mr Pall!

Thank you Walter for that answer on the every day feeding, it's a question I've had in my mind for some time now, ever since I read this article when I first saw it. Clears up the grey area....

Hello Walter,

After doing Bonsai for 37 years, I started using modern substrates this Spring's repotting, so some of the trees have it and some don't.

I'm sold on modern substrates, especially after your series on YouTube. I watched the whole series and my favorite was about modern subsraights and it's

relation to fertilizers.

I too have been been using chicken manure for years and think it's an excellent, longer lasting fertilizer along with some additional chemical fertilizer.

Question:

I have a fairly good sized (27"-69cm) Itoigawa shimpaku that isn't doing very well. Very light green but no real flush of growth, it hasn't been transplanted in

3 years. I missed the repotting time this spring , I'm getting older and couldn't get all I wanted into modern substrates.

My fear is that the tree mentioned does have about 20% organic matter in it and I think this was the year it broke down into

mush, or what ever you want to call it.

I think it has some root rot. Would you wait until next spring to repot it or try and mix some substrate into the current mix?

Basically this is why I think no organic matter should be used with Itoigawa shimpaku or a host of related plants.

My Hornbeams, Trident, Japanese Maples and Zelkovas seem to need an organic component. I use some medium sized bark chips.

I'm glad you posted your post.

Gary,

if the tree is just weak I would wait until spring. If it is dying you should transplant now and make sure the tree gets very little frost in winter.

Thanks for the advice Walter.

It's not dying so I will wait until Spring and repot.

Thanks,
Gary