Biogold Original fertilizer, available from Amazon.

I tested out a bunch of fertilizers this summer and settled on B.O Biogold Original. I’ll get to why in a bit. First, here are my impressions on the other fertilizers I tried.

Initially, I liked the idea of a liquid fertilizer but soon found it was not that efficient. I’m all about making it fast and easy, and using a liquid fertilizer, I found, required more steps than other methods. I had to replace one of my two existing watering sessions (morning and evening) with watering from a can. I never feel like watering from a can really soaks my bonsais well, and my collection seems to like alot of water. I water with a hose and a wand, and I get great results with this combination. Using liquid fertilizer in a watering can felt like I was moving backwards, not forwards. Secondly, measuring the amount of fertilizer and mixing it with the right amount of water always feels like guess-work. Thirdly, I found it difficult to find organic liquid fertilizers. Most of the ones I ordered from Japan were just chemicals, which, from my research, breaks down soil quicker than organics. I did find a liquid at my local bonsai nursery but again, it was a liquid. So I abandoned liquids altogether.

Next I tried rape seed cake. These are large biodegradable organic cakes that you just place on the top of your soil and as you water, they degrade and feed your tree simultaneously. I was partial to these because I felt like they broke down far too quickly. I also didn’t see any major difference in growth. And the bad part is that my dog liked them — anytime she was out on the patio and a bonsai was on the ground, she’s try to eat the cake off the top of the soil. I thought this might lead to an expensive vet bill. It also turned out that some birds where swooping down and eating it as well.

Next I tried small, 2 – 4 mm sized, pellets made of chicken poop and other organics. I liked the results I got but the entire patio stunk. If my neighbors spent more time on their patios, they would not have been happy. The dog liked to eat this too! Plus, it was hard to have guests over for rosé and cheese if the whole patio smelled of chicken poop. So that didn’t work well either.

Finally, I found B.O Biogold original. The pellet sizes are about 8 cm in width and they are placed on the surface of the soil, or buried relatively easily. Pellets last 4-6 weeks, which is much more efficient than fertilizing with liquid every two weeks. For shohin size trees, which most of my collection is, you only need a few on the surface. For really small mame size trees, you can easily cut a pellet in half and place each piece on opposite sides of the tree. I place them closest to the edge of the pot so that the fertilizer doesn’t harm any nebari near the trunk. For larger bonsai, you can place small baskets that have a stake on them around the pots edge and fill them with pellets. I also like how the pellets degrade. I like to change them every 4-6 weeks but I actually think they might last 8 weeks or more, even with an aggressive watering schedule like mine.