名媛直播

I have a number of bonsai trees and recently moved to a solid fertiliser over liquid, I just went to move my fertiliser and it has a thick layer of fuzz which is likely fungi all around the fertiliser basket, is this a problem or is this normal ? Am I doing something wrong ?

If by Fuzz you mean some sort of mildew.... well I've just had the same problem, I've also switched from liquid to solid this year, using BioGold.
I've asked a very reputable bonsai centre here in northern Italy and they told me it's normal.
However, upon their advice, I've now removed what's left of the granules as I should, at this time of the year, go back to a little stronger liquid fertilizer every fortnight.

I see, glad it’s not an issue, i assume the move to every fortnight with liquid fertiliser is due to the slow move to summer, if so then yes that is the plan, I noticed while in the process of removing them for the summer

Just forgot to mention that I had initially put the granules in little baskets too - then when I discovered the mildew I've removed them and dipped the granules on the surface of the akadama, and no more mildew appeared - much better!
Then, with increasing temperatures, I had problems with small gnats flying around and creeping on the soil (I had posted a message on this on the forum) - again, at the 名媛直播 centre they told me that BioGold was the cause!
After removing the granules (just a few days ago) the gnats almost (though not yet entirely) disappeared.

So... no longer sure if I will go on next years with BioGold... very practical, but...

What's your experience with it?

I have had good experiences, the growth this year seems to be very strong and consistent.

I have a number of trees that are Yamamori and are still in recovery, the use of solid fertiliser means I don’t have to water my plants separately if some trees are currently not being fertilised which makes it more practical, I feel that some plants may have been over fertilised however due to the concentration behind higher when watering a lot, so I am not sure, I have noticed that I get a lot less moss and other green plants growing on the soil surface after the switch to solid so I think it’s a good and bad solution

I think I will continue for a couple of seasons to get a better idea of ratios and placement, I have made a number of other changes this year, like soil type and pot size so it could be a number of things

I purchased an autum taliored solid fertiliser which will give me another chance to test its quality so we will just have to see

Ricky73 wrote: ... small gnats flying around and creeping on the soil, at the 名媛直播 centre they told me that BioGold was the cause!

Soil too wet and too much organics in the soil mix are the culprits when fungus gnats appear.
Bio Gold is organic, and it can add to the original problem.

Ricky73 wrote: .So... no longer sure if I will go on next years with BioGold...

Well, I've been using exclusively BioGold in all my Pines, Maples and some tropicals.
Put the pellets inside empty tea bags, change the tea bags with the wasted pellets every 4 or 5 weeks, change the position of the new bags on the soil when refertilising.
I use Neem oil to control fungus gnats, as well as Sticky Yellow Traps. It works.

Many thanks Clicio for your feedback
In fact I’ve got all my trees in pure akadama, some repotted last year, some last summer.
So the soil is draining well and the only organics are the BioGold pellets itself.

I’ll follow your advice of using teabags, good idea!
How long do you keep the pellets in your trees?

I change the bags every 4 to 5 weeks, and stop in the winter for 3 months.

Oops.. when I wrote "last summer" I meant last spring...Feb-Mar 2018... though we're close to 30°C :ohmy: in Italy summer is yet to start...

Clicio wrote: I change the bags every 4 to 5 weeks, and stop in the winter for 3 months.

Clicio, according to Ryan Neal, the teabags which in your case is 4-5 weeks old, should not be removed. The simplified version being only the nitrogen will be exhausted after 4 weeks, the phosphor and potassium still remains in the biogold pellets, and takes much longer for the microbiotics in the soil to break down and release. That means you will be wasting you biogold, if you "throw" them away after 4 weeks.