Soil

weirdowl

Hello,
I am thinking about buying some bonsai soil for my ficus trees but the place I'm thinking about buying from only sells a deciduous mix and an evergreen mix. Which one of these should I buy? Thanks a lot.

__________________
weirdowl

Advertisement

Tony

I would go with the deciduous mix. Ficus and most tropicals like a free draining soil but one that retains a fair amount of moisture, pretty much like elms and maples. Depending on what components and in what ratios are in the mix you may have to adjust it a little but it should be very close.

Tony

weirdowl

Thanks Tony. I was leaning towards the deciduous but I wasn't sure. Do you know of any way to estimate how much soil you might need for a certain size pot? Thanks again

__________________
weirdowl

TreeBay

There's an estimate on the soil volume of the Brussels bags here:

http://forum.bonsaitalk.com/showthr...d=8255#post8255

if that's what you were looking for

Regards,

Matt

__________________

Want to be a seller on bonsaiAUCTIONS? Get authorized today!

bonsaiTALK: Over 100,005.36 Megabytes Served this Month!

KZitzewitz

So for making your own mixture, as I was just going to ask this question, but found it already here, using components of Turface, orchid bark, volcanic pumice, and possibly a few others what can I use, because for some reason my ficus nerifolia is dying in a 50 50 split of turface orchid bark, and the rest of my ficus are in plain old soil....

__________________
--Kristopher

TreeBay

Use whatever works for you. Soil is very dependent on what you can get and how you water, and to some degree what kind of plant it is. Your new mix may not be holding enough water, so you can try mixing it 50/50 with that same soil that you use in your other ficus.

Like most things in bonsai, it's trial and error. Don't get caught up in any one's "recipe" if you are getting better results with your own.

Regards,

Matt

__________________

Want to be a seller on bonsaiAUCTIONS? Get authorized today!

bonsaiTALK: Over 100,005.36 Megabytes Served this Month!

Tony

Kristopher, I'm just guessing here on the frequency but the ficus that's in 50/50 turface and bark would probably need to be watered twice as often as the other. The larger particles of the turface help it to drain faster and create more air spaces so it's going to dry out alot faster. I'm not sure what you mean by plain old soil, [I hope you don't mean garden dirt]. Good quality potting soil will work for a while and may be perfectly fine for a young ficus that you will be repotting every year. The problem is that potting soil breaks down fast into small particles and will slow the drainage, causing it to hold too much water. This kind of thing can cause real problems for an old pine or juniper that will only be repotted every 4-5 years.

Every stuation is different so you have to experiment to see what works best for you. Just some things to consider.

Tony