bonsaiTALK Community - View Single Post - Japanese Maple Questions

It looks like you're budding out already, so the time for repotting is coming to an end. I checked the weather there, I could only see one week, but it looks about the same as here. I'm a little surprised at the growth you've had.

Super Soil can get super soggy in shallow containers. I usually don't use anything that will go through a window screen, and about 1/3 of your supersoil probably will, because it's play sand sized.

The calcinated clay kind of product is the one you want - it's a gypsum product fired hard. You can also find it for sale as Turface, but you should probably sieve screen that as well. You could use it for about half your mix with an fine orchid bark and #3 or larger sand making up the balance. Scotts sells a turface like product I think under the name Terra-Green, but you need to be careful because the sell products in the same line as a topdress that include fertilizer. It would have an N-P-K rating on it and you wouldn' t want to use that and plant your tree in fertilizer.

Trimming the way you are talking about doing (to 24 inches, or even less) is fine, but you had best get onto it if you are pushing growth it will be harder on the plant.

Regards,

Matt

21-Jan-2004	#5
TreeBay Tips:5¢ Advice:Free *MODERATOR GROUP* Join Date: Aug-2001 Location: Silicon Valley Country: USA USDA Zone: 9 AHS Heat Zone: 4 Posts: 9,745	It looks like you're budding out already, so the time for repotting is coming to an end. I checked the weather there, I could only see one week, but it looks about the same as here. I'm a little surprised at the growth you've had. Super Soil can get super soggy in shallow containers. I usually don't use anything that will go through a window screen, and about 1/3 of your supersoil probably will, because it's play sand sized. The calcinated clay kind of product is the one you want - it's a gypsum product fired hard. You can also find it for sale as Turface, but you should probably sieve screen that as well. You could use it for about half your mix with an fine orchid bark and #3 or larger sand making up the balance. Scotts sells a turface like product I think under the name Terra-Green, but you need to be careful because the sell products in the same line as a topdress that include fertilizer. It would have an N-P-K rating on it and you wouldn' t want to use that and plant your tree in fertilizer. Trimming the way you are talking about doing (to 24 inches, or even less) is fine, but you had best get onto it if you are pushing growth it will be harder on the plant. Regards, Matt __________________ Want to be a seller on bonsaiAUCTIONS? Get authorized today! bonsaiTALK: Over 100,005.36 Megabytes Served this Month!