Mcspeed

drjustin, don't be confused in bonsai "soil" is nothing more than the term we use for the medium in which we grow our bonsai.

Many use nothing more than a single componant such as lava, or pumice. The "recipe" you use is some what generic(grit, sand, bark seem to be the most common generic ingrediants), somewhat subjective to location(local weather varies so much you need to work with what you get), and possibly most important, what you intend to plant in it.

Best way to understand is to read a bunch of the posts that you can find (use the search button and look for "soils"), there will be a lot to wade thru, but you will see a bunch of approaches and the reasoning behind them.

I can understand a persons decision to look for alternative "soils/componants especially early in a bonsai career, it can get expensive, but for what we do to our little/sometimes not so little trees, you need the basics, or you trees will not thrive. Notice I said thrive, you may get them to live, but what we want are healthy thrivings trees, otherwise many bonsai techniques can be fatal to a less than healthy tree.

Now to what I see as the main questions, you need to pot now why?, and where are you?, this is really not the time to repot you trees.

By the way I too think you would do well to visit shadyside, and check his soils, you will do your trees a favor.

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