Perlite - And Soil Questions

drjustin

Well - A while back I was going to order some bonsai soil but decided against it... I need to repot my Chinese Elm as soon as possible and don't want to spend an arm and a leg buying soil over the net. Ingrediants are not easily available in my area to make my own mixture; however, I found perlite at Wal-Mart.
I was wondering if I could use 100% perlite for repotting my Elm this winter or if I should just order a mixture from a company?
Thanks.

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tachigi

In a word NO . At least not if you value your tree. Think about it. Perlite is cheap, so if you could do it. Every garden center from here to Timbuktu would be selling their plants in neat perlite bringing down there bottom line.

Spend the money on a soil mix. There are a lot out of mixes out there with a broad range of price and quality. Every single one better than straight perlite.

If you want to play the game you gotta have the right equipment.

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Tom

Shady Side Bonsai
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rockm

Tom is right. Scrimping on soil for your tree is counterproductive. Soil is the basic ingredient for successful bonsai.

Perlite is a very poor substitute for bonsai. It will not work very well, and, if you repot your tree now, could actually contribute greatly to its death. I would not repot a deciduous tree now, even if it is indoors.

Once the tree shows signs of pushing new growth is the time to repot. If there are no buds swelling on the tree now and no sign of them, wait and limp along on the existing soil.

BONSAI_OUTLAW

Tom as usual did not too his own horn. If you click the link at the bottom of his post it will take you to his site. He sells the prettiest red lava at a good price and perfectly sized. You can grow in straight lava and have great success doing so.

drjustin

Ok... Now I'm confused... you say "soil" but aren't a lot of bonsai gardeners using simply small lava rock Nothing that would be considered "soil"

I definitely need help...

I have a Chinese Elm and a Ficus that need potted... mainly the Elm...

tachigi

Soil is a generic term per say. Forget the notion of black dirt. When soil is mentioned think medium which could be anything from sand or lava to a bonafide multi-ingredient mix.

Why does the elm need to be repotted this instant? Do you live in a warm climate were you can pull this off in December?

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Tom

Shady Side Bonsai
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Mcspeed

drjustin, don't be confused in bonsai "soil" is nothing more than the term we use for the medium in which we grow our bonsai.

Many use nothing more than a single componant such as lava, or pumice. The "recipe" you use is some what generic(grit, sand, bark seem to be the most common generic ingrediants), somewhat subjective to location(local weather varies so much you need to work with what you get), and possibly most important, what you intend to plant in it.

Best way to understand is to read a bunch of the posts that you can find (use the search button and look for "soils"), there will be a lot to wade thru, but you will see a bunch of approaches and the reasoning behind them.

I can understand a persons decision to look for alternative "soils/componants especially early in a bonsai career, it can get expensive, but for what we do to our little/sometimes not so little trees, you need the basics, or you trees will not thrive. Notice I said thrive, you may get them to live, but what we want are healthy thrivings trees, otherwise many bonsai techniques can be fatal to a less than healthy tree.

Now to what I see as the main questions, you need to pot now why?, and where are you?, this is really not the time to repot you trees.

By the way I too think you would do well to visit shadyside, and check his soils, you will do your trees a favor.

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drjustin

Thanks for the help.

I needed to repot the Elm last Spring; however, I was never able to find a soil that I felt comfortable spending a FORTUNE on. The soil is compacted and the has been inside for about 2-3 months. It's pushing new growth and I don't need much soil.

If anyone can give me ideas where I can buy soil and stay in the $10-15 range with shipping I would be very grateful.

RedPine

Do you have a hardware or auto supply store near by? Try asking them for Turface MVP or the Autozone type guys for their oil dry products. With the oil dry you can buy a couple different kinds for about 2 bucks per 25lb bag and test them to see which will not break down in hot water. The clay particles that have been fired at a hotter temp will not dissolve or get soft, thats the ones you want.

Also alot of places sell pea gravel(not the 1/2" long particles but really pea sized) and products like river gravel, these are small particled river stones and work great in soil mixes. Play sand is another if you can find it. I know Ron Martin was found of the chatanooga(sp?) river type sold out of Florida. In a pinch one can buy a bag of Shultz cactus soil from wallymart for 3 bucks and use that in a pot for a couple of years.

I have never had a problem with perelite in a soil mix, it is just small free draining heat puffed volcanic rocks used by millions of people. Red brick chips or fish tank gravel work as well. The real hard up guys collect little stones from creeks etc.. and clean them for use. A broken car windshield all crunched up I have heard of working great to but that is just weird. A smashed up pot like terra cotta orange or ceramic is another. Lets see, a granite product called turkey grit from farmers co-ops is supposed to be good as well. The same co-op should have dry-stall for horses that will work to.

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