Newbie's 1st soil mix attempt - Need Help!

mastajason

Here are the ingredients I have:

Perlite
Profile (Schultz Soil Conditioner)
Fir/Pine Bark (picked out of a bag of orchid mix and broken up into smaller pieces)
Aquarium gravel
Organic potting soil (i know i know, you arent supposed to use this, just thought id throw it out there)


I am repotting a 6 yr old juniper and an 8 yr old scheff into training pots to get some overall growth, and 2 very young scheffs i bought at walmart into training pots as well.

So with the ingredients I have, what would be your recommendation for the soil mix?

I really cant seem to find any other additive other than oil dry. Im from a rather secluded part of michigan and the local greenhouses are still getting product in and are nowhere near full.

all comments/suggestions are appreciated!

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PatArizona

G'day Jason...

I would use either Profile or OilDry...as in never both...since they would both accomplish the same thing for your soil mix.

From here, I will leave it to someone experienced with bonsai care in the faaaar north.

Pat

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Ralph

I will add that a key is going to be to sift your soil mix to sift out the fines. I think you will find the organic soil you mentioned to fine. Actual size of soil components depends on the sze of the tree, but if we are talking a standard sized bonsai say about 18 inches with 3 in. caliper, then you are looking for components in the range of 1/8 in. diameter. You want a fast draining soil mix that doesn't turn into muck when you water it.

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rockm

Aquarium gravel is generally too big and too rounded to be of much use.

jeremy_norbury

Depends - they do have quite small "sharp" gravel too.

I think Aquarium gravel is pretty expensive and is no better than say "sharp granite grit" or "flint grit". In Holland I buy something called "Japanese Grit" at the local stone seller. It's used to make paths from and has nothing to do with Bonsai despite the "Japanese" in the name. Anyway anything 4mm-6mm and not round will do the trick I find...

I agree on the other points about the perlite/oildry - you only need one of them. I use a simple mix 1/3 by volume:

- pine bark
- grit
- seramis (oil-dry)

Works great.

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nsmar4211

Toss the perlite, you'll find out that the white particles are distracting and it'll float up every time you water. Tried it, white stuff everywhere . Plus it smashes easily and turns green if you water a lot....

Aquarium gravel makes the pots heavy, great if that's what you want.... the profile is better than aquarium gravel though. You'll find the aquarium gravel tends to compact faster than even perlite would, and if it's the colored stuff the epoxy will come off. Besides, it's not porus at all (doesn't hold any nutrients or water) unless your idea of aquarium gravel is different than mine .

Make your mix simple.... and if you don't sift the organic soil, be prepared for it to either wash out or compact....


Profile (Schultz Soil Conditioner)
Fir/Pine Bark (picked out of a bag of orchid mix and broken up into smaller pieces)

I'd use those two, with the
Organic potting soil
if it makes you feel better :0.

There's a thread on soil mixes that has a list of what a bunch of people use.... do a search on "soil" and it'll pull up .

Joanie

I disagree somewhat about the perlite floating. I use perlite in some of my mixes and I find that it doesn't really move much. If you use it in conjunction with scoria of a similar size, the perlite can't move, it's all in there together. I also root cuttings in perlite and sand, or perlite and sand and coir fiber.

The difference between perlite and other, harder stones is that perlite holds a certain amount of moisture. This aspect may be important, and if it is, perlite is a good choice. If you want small stones that are just fillers, and serve a purpose more like big grains of sand, then using a harder and less porous stone makes sense.

When you want a stone that holds a little less moisture than perlite but is heavier, scoria (small lava rocks) or pumice are good choices.

Just had to speak up for perlite.

Joanie

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mastajason

you know id really like to add some lava rock to the mix, but i have no clue where to find it. we have one greenhouse in town, menards, walmart, ace hardware, and thats about it...any clue where one could find this kind of stuff, for a reasonable price?

watzone69

I've been looking for lava also. No one has it around here. I even tried buying a bag of the large stuff at walmart and crushing it on my own. No luck. By the way, a VW Golf isn't heavy enough to smash it under a sheet of ply-wood, take my word for it!

Pumice and Haydite (expanded shale) are easier to find and less expensive. I stick to pine bark, oil-dri, and coarse sand (about 1/8" particles) for most trees but I use Haydite and pine bark with my pines.

If the components are damp, spread them out on a sheet of plastic and allow them to dry before attempting to sift them. Otherwise the dust doesn't sift out well.