AusBonsai

So, after reading about Seasol on here for many years I can now get it in Cape Town, so hallelujah! I did a talk on bonsai root grafting at our local club, Oyama Bonsai Kai, and it got me thinking about a few things. One of them was the way we use Superthrive and Seasol. I guess there are those out there that claim Superthrive to be a bunch of hocus pocus, but let's forget for a minute about that and look at the process.

So, here you have a tree with a nice healthy root system. You chop the roots back, and probably damage the ones that you don't chop back, and then you repot and soak in one of these tonics to help with stress. Righty ho then. So what happens next? The plant through osmrootstock it's now compromised roots takes up the chemicals and they help with the shock.

Question is: why the heck don't we soak them before we repot when they still have a fully functional root system rather than afterwards when we have buggered it up? Surely we'd get far more of the goodness into the tree and prepare/equip the tree's better for the impending shock? Or, am I missing something about the way these products work?

Food for thought.......

Andrew! Being in South Africa, why the heck don't you use Kelpak?? It is a superior product to seasol (higher in auxins amoung other things). It's extremely expensive here but I'm sure it would be cheaper in the country where it is made.
As for soaking before cutting roots, yep a good idea which I sometimes do if I'm organized enough. Even better to do both.
But even more important is to have a healthy vigorous tree to begin with which will have no trouble producing new roots.

Hey Mike,

I use a number of liquid ferts etc. Nitrosol, Seagrow and Kelpak, but I must admit I've never really researched them too carefully. Time to do that I guess. I was the nursery a few weeks back and I saw the Seasol . . . . And after all I've heard here about it I kinda went into a catatonic state and just bought some!

Cheers,

Andrew

I also soak before and after root pruning.

Once i have removed tree from pot and combed out roots and removed potting mix i then dunk in whatever root tonic im using. Then I root prune, and leave sitting in the tub of root tonic and start on the next tree. I usually have upto four soaking depending on how much repotting I am doing.

My preference is a hydroponic product called rhizotonic but ia somewhat expensive. This year i am using a product called plant starter.

G'day Luke,
I use Rhizotonic (feel like I'm doing it wrong, now ) so it's good to see how others use it.
I might just try your method as I have a couple of baby casuarinas to repot and root prune...
But a friend of mine is using hydroponic ferts for a number of his garden veggies with great success. Might need some more exploration especially since most of us use an inorganic soil base...


Cheers
Elmar