Hi Abc,

Could you pls provide a pic for us? Bonsai just means small or dwarfed tree, it doesn't tell us what KIND of plant or how you're growing it. Type of plant would guide me in fertilizing. I grow multiple different kinds, some I fertilize more than others.

How long ago did you buy the plant pls? I THINK those little green balls MAY be good for 3 months, perhaps others can confirm that.

Fertilizing is but one aspect of several when growing plants. Priority would be best given to Type of Plant first, because that determines its general care, then type of soil & pot, amount of light given, amount of humidity & THEN maybe fertilizer.

May I suggest fertilizing before learning what kind of plant you've got is rather like putting the cart before the horse & could result in overfertilizing.

Bad at plants and new to bonsai isn't a good recipe for success, but let's see what we can do to simplify things for you. Bonsai as a practice represents an ever increasing refinement of container growing - container growing with a difficulty factor added to the equation. Think of the difficulty factor by which diving and figure skating scores are tabulated. In this case, where the highest score is the healthiest and most attractive plant, the fact that you're managing a plant grown under bonsai culture increases the difficulty factor appreciably. That makes hitting the cultural sweet spot more difficult and more important at the same time.

Karen is right - we need to know what type of plant it is, where you live, what sort of site you've chosen for it (a high % of the species commonly used for bonsai are kept indoors inappropriately). Your watering habits might need to be adjusted and how you should fertilize is inextricably linked to those habits. There is a lot to be learned, but the rewards in terms of personal satisfaction are worth the effort.

Al