Page 77 - Tài liệu Ebook cây cảnh Bonsai Basics

CARING FOR YOUR BONSAI 79

FEEDING

Besides taking water from the soil, the
roots also absorb the ~utrients needed to
feed the plant. It is quite obvious that the
small amount of compost in a bonsai
tray is inadequate to supply enough
nutrients to ensure the development and
survival of the plant. So regular feeding
with fertilizer is vital.

Which fertilizer?
It is hardly surprising that the bonsai
tradition frowns upon the usc of syn-
thetic fertilizers, particularly liquid fer-
tilizers and mineral-based powders.
Apart from any consideration of dis-
missing them as 'modern', it should be
noted that bonsai trees derive most
benefit from slow-acting fertilizer, which
means an organic fertilizer with a slow
decomposition rate.
Organic fertilizer pellets can be obtained from
An ideal bonsai fertilizer contains
specialist shops or some garden centres. Simply
about 50% nitrates, 30% phosphate, place them on the surface of the root ball.
and 20% potash. It may be based on
bonemeal, fishmeal, powdered horn or
dried blood.
It may come in powder form and be
sprinkled over the surface of the soil and
raked in, or in the form of pellets, which
are simply placed on the surface and
absorbed by capillary action. The tra-
ditional preference is for pellets, but
these cannot be used if the surface of the
soil has a moss covering, which the
pellets may 'scorch' .
There is no single rule about fertiliz-
ing. It is a little like watering, as amount
and frequency depend entirely on the
species of plant and size of tray. You
should bear in mind that too much
fertilizer does more damage to the plant
than too little. Fertilizers are not in-
tended to make bonsai grow, but to
ensure their survival. Too much fertilizer
may counteract the effort to dwarf the
Replace organic fertilizer pellets after a few weeks.
tree, besides which it may 'burn' the This type of fertilizer is also available in liquid or
roots and lead to the death of the plant. powder form.