jloeschner

Max,

Bonsai soil is a mixture of coarse particles, usually composed of a combination of one or more of these: hard-fired clay, lava rock, fir or pine bark, akadama, and some other ingredients. This type of "soil" drains very quickly and allows a tree to grow healthily in a pot. Schefflera do not necessarily need bonsai soil to survive, since they tend to like moist soil. As a matter of fact, the "parent" plant that my first cutting came from is planted in regular potting soil, and has been in the same pot for several years. The main drawback to regular potting soil is the fact that it doesn't drain very well. I only water the parent plant about once every two weeks or so. The rooted cutting, which is planted in bonsai soil, gets watered every day.

To learn more about bonsai soil, you can begin by reading the posts in the "Soils, Fertilizer, and Repotting" forum here on Bonsaitalk. A search through google will return many results, as well. You will find that there are almost as many opinions about what makes a good bonsai soil as there are people growing bonsai. Once you learn what your trees need and like, you can begin experimenting to determine what works best for you.

Hope this helps a little more...

Regards,
John

__________________
Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement.

QUI ME AMAT, AMAT ET CANEM MEAM