Important Considerations When Choosing Fertilisers
By Colin Lewis.

In common with all plants, your bonsai need three basis nutrients: nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus. Also in common with other plants, they don't know (nor do they care) whether these nutrients are derived from decomposing vegetable and animal matter (organic) or from the production line of a giant chemical plant (synthetic).

So why all the fuss about using organic fertilisers? Consider your bonsai, its container and the soil as a single, self-contained unit, and compare that to a tree growing in open ground. A bonsai's roots are confined in a small container, they are growing in a virtually inert and lifeless medium where they rely on you for all their needs - and their needs don't stop with the basic NPK of synthetic fertilisers. The soil in open ground contains many other minerals and countless millions of microorganisms that perform a myriad of functions necessary to keep the soil healthy and vibrant. They help the plant build resistance to stress, they aid the roots in absorbing major and micro-nutrients, and they help to prevent compaction and stagnation of the soil. Your plant may not care about the type of fertiliser you use, but the soil, and it's microorganisms do care - a lot!

It's rather like asking a human to survive on burgers and chips - it can be done for a while, but eventually the effects of an imbalanced diet would cause deterioration and probably death. Container-grown plants are generally short-lived - or, at least, they only spend a few years in a pot, so the long-term effects of inorganic culture are not so much of an issue. But your bonsai, we hope, will live for a very long time in a container, so it becomes more important to give them the best possible growing conditions.

Green Dream, like most organic fertilisers, not only contains many of the important microorganisms, but it also contains the substances necessary for them to multiply and function, creating a truly living and healthy subterranean environment for your bonsai's roots to function in. It also contains many trace elements, or micro-nutrients that are essential to overall plant health (something that even the best bonsai soils lack). These micro-nutrients are broken down by the microorganisms and converted to a form that the plant can absorb readily. Once the nutrients have been depleted, the microorganisms remain to do their important work until the next application of Green Dream. Month on month, year on year, the soil and the tree become healthier.

Within a few weeks of changing from a synthetic fertiliser to Green Dream, you will notice the difference: your trees will seem happier, more vibrant. Foliage will be brighter, buds will be stronger and growth will be more consistent in periods of environmental stress such as heat or drought. They will be more able to fight off disease and will continue growing further into autumn than before.

I discovered Green Dream in 1989, and within three months I was absolutely convinced that it was the best feeding regime for my bonsai. I have never regretted the change and I can thoroughly recommend Green Dream as the mainstay fertiliser for all bonsai growers.

Colin Lewis.
© Kaizen Bonsai Ltd. 09/08/2006