All-purpose Bonsai Soil

groan

if you were to buy an all purpose bonsai soil for mainly mame, shohin and smallish bonsai (indoor for now, possibly outdoor later), which of these would you choose?

Stone Lantern
http://www.stonelantern.com/bonsaisoil.html


Bonsai Monk
http://www.trappist.net/estore/merc...egory_Code=soil

also, if you know of any others, let me know.
Thanks!

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ROBOKU

I would use a finer mix.being a small pot i find that it would dry out quicker with course soil...

ROBOKU

Jay

Groan, if you are properly watering... having the soil dry quicker is not bad. You do want free draining soil! I do realize that with small plants in small pots drying to quik is a problem... but staying wet to long is not good!

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groan

Thanks for the tips guys!

Of the two types of soil above, which would you go for?

the all in one mixture or the Akadama-only?

It seems the mixture from stonelantern seems to be good for many types. I would think the akadama would need to be mixed with a loam of some type.
is that right?

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ripsgreentree

Groan; Why can't people just answer the question. I would prefer the Stone lantern mixes because they are not clay's but mostly hard granuels that will not break down. Also the first on the list has the proper combination of grit to organic materials. The micro nutrents will also be a plus. This mix is much like the mixtures that I use on all of our potted material. You can see the mixture that I use by looking at any of the pictures of potted trees that I have posted, esp. those in nursery containers.

P.S. I would not, and could not pay that kind of money for soil mix. If you take the time to search you will find all of the components near you......try to mix your own.

Here is a picture of my soil mix.

Glenn

Attached Images

soil01.jpg (22.9 KB, 173 views)

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ripsgreentree

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Treebeard

Groan, FWIW my own personal choice would be for the stone lantern type. I am not comfortable yet with using plain akadama.

Regards,

TB

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Leesa

I have "shopped" a number of the bonsai suppliers to check out their soil mixes for purposes of determining the size and components to mix myself. I have tried the Stone Lantern mix - there is a fair bit of Turface in it as well as the Haydite and bark. My experience is that all of the "shohin" mixes offered are very fine - too fine in my assessment - certainly finer than the 1/16 specified. You can buy Turface - search on this forum for local suppliers.

You can buy the haydite component on-line - the link is http://www.hpbhaydite.com/bonsai.htm. However - - most of the "regular" size is a bit large for shohin. I have read that the "fine" has a lot of fines (20% plus) that also go right through the sieve but I have not tried it personally.

The smallest grade of the Akadama (your second choice) is too large for shohin in my opinion. You also get a lot of dust in those bags which goes right through even the finest sieve. I smash up the larger granules to get them down to the 1/16th size - but you waste a lot - which hurts at that price!

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KZitzewitz

If you are interested in turface, goto www.turface.com, there you can email profile llc and find out who is your closest retailer and check some out for your own.

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groan

Thanks for all the tips again!

now the next obvious question...
What would you consider the best mix?

Akadama/turface/organic(what kind)/etc...

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Groan
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The Great Canadian Bonsai