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NCSU Horticulture
Join Date: Jan-2005
Location: NC
Country: USA
Posts: 194
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A Soil Story
A soil story:
I sat through a lecture the other day on soils by a very distinguished hort professor who was talking about the benefits/drawbacks of the different soil ingredients for greenhouse applications. He briefly mentioned Turface which peaked my interest, but disregarded it right off the bat because its weight would cause a huge expense in shipping for large greenhouse operations. Well, after the class, I asked him a question (not mentioning anything about bonsai) which I thought would be helpful in a bonsai application. I asked, "Dr. _____, taking cost, availability, and all other factors out of the media buying process, which would be the absolute, best soil mix for greenhouses (this was the frame of my question) to use?" His surprising answer: "There would be no need for a mix, we would all be using Turface solely by itself."
Taken back, I asked why; he responded, "Turface is the perfect media for any controlled growing environment, the calcined clay is sterile after the baking treatment, it holds water, nutrients, promotes aeration, all in all it is the perfect soil ingredient, but you would never be able to hire any employees once they found out that they would have to be carrying around pots filled with Tturface. One of the main reasons we have the mixes we use today is the weight consideration, which significantly impacts both physical labor and shipping cost."
So here is a guy that has probably never touched a bonsai in his life, but has more letters after his name than I can imagine possible telling me that turface alone is the best media for a controlled growing environment. Hmmmm, I think to myself, maybe all those guys preaching the benefits of a totally inorganic soil mix aren't crazy after all. Could it be that creating these complicated mixes with hours of sifting and sieving aren't the best choice? I guess it's worth thinking about.
All the best,
JDL
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