Best soil for collected trees?

denny

im going to collect a few things out of my yard come febuary,i was wondering what everyone does with a collect tree.
i have five gallon nursery pots to put them,but what mix do you use,the same soil it was growing?
it would be too expensive to use akadma bonsai mix i have.
thanks

__________________
Denny
Still Growing in zone 9
So.Cal.

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TreeBay

Hi Denny,

As the size of the container increases, the physical construction of the soil becomes less critical. _

This increase in tolerance occurs because the force of surface tension (that tends to keep water hanging around bonsai pots causing rot and general nastiness) is largely overcome by the force of gravity as the container depth increases. _It's also why you can grow trees in the ground in the same soil that might make a lousy choice for bonsai soil!

A general purpose potting soil from the nursery center with some standard amendments might make a better choice. _It is sterile and more uniform in construction, but you should be able to use a mix of native soil and amendments unless your field soil has some really undesirable properties. You may want the container to be light enough to move, though!

Depending on the construction of your field soil, amend the mixture.

• If it is claylike, you can add some organic components like orchid bark or peat, whatever is economical. _
• If it is sandy, you may want to add some material that will help retain moisture, like redwood compost, or again peat would not be a bad choice. _Akadama would work here, but it might be considered a big waste.
• If it is loamy (I am jealous!) then sand would be a good choice to improve the drainage. _In a big container you could use a #3 builders sand.
• If you want to lighten the mix, you can add pumice or perlite. _We do this in very large containers that need to be moved._
• In general, with containers size 5 gallons and above it would probably not be necessary to do any sifting. _Just stir it up to make it more uniform.

Hope this is helpful. _Just drop a couple bags of akadama in the mail to me

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bnsaijim

I basically use unsifted haydite and pine bark in varying concoctions- usually about 50/50 by volume depending on the species, size of the pot, etc...

At least half the time I'll just throw it in 100% unsifted haydite...

__________________
Jim Stone
Seki Bonsai Studio
sekibonsai.com
Santa Fe, TX