Soil, Soil what should I use....

Vonsgardens

Ok,
I read here all the time about what to use if you cant find all those expensive ingredients for the notorious "Boon's Mix" (what I use for trees in Bonsai pots).

Soil ingredients I have used to rear plants to and through the prebonsai stage, as with all advice remember how much you paid for it.....

Haydite (litewate, Haydite, Arkalite)
Oil Dry (Walmart, napa, tractor Supply, Turface (just another calceined clay product))
perlite
Bark (fir, pine, cypress, as mulch as organic premix or as planting mix)
volcanic rock 1/4" (I buy mine at a regular nursery in Denver when I go and visit friends every summer, or when they come to visit me- $5.95 for 50lbs- bagged.
Plastic packing peanuts (under the small mix above)
Pea Gravel (aka Coarse river sand)
Peat (he brown ground up stuff and the long fibered stuff)

Guess what? They all work if you repot according to the needs of the plant and the soil condition, and (in the case of pea gravel) you can carry the trees and if you water and fertilize appropriately.

This summer I am going to plant 50 Japanese black pines in to colanders in just pea gravel (~$3 for 1/2 cubic foot at lowes, or $15 Yard if you have a gravel pit nearby). I have always mixed something in with it in the past, this year just Pea Gravel and organic fertilizer.

Anyway, don't blow a gasket looking for the secret ingredient- just figure out to use with your system. Oh, and by the way, I am still use Boon's mix for all my "bonsai" and many of the prebonsai.

Cheers,
John

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"Wiring is simple; However, it is not easy to do it right" Boon

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Vonsgardens

Oh yeah, I also did the chicken grit thing

(This is of course in addition to Akadama, kanuma, hyuga, kiryu, etc)

Cheers, John

__________________
"Wiring is simple; However, it is not easy to do it right" Boon

vln1502

Thanks John. Good info as always. I think what may also be helpful is something like a chart that would serve a couple of functions. It would list ingredients in order of absorbency ie at the top may be a sponge, then brown peat, then sphagnum, all the way down to rocks as the least absorbent. The other side of this chart would give a generic recipe (I need an icon here that is a can of worms opening) for bonsai soil, and a user could look at the recipe and at the local materials on hand, and know how much of the "on hand" stuff to mix in order to have a workable mix.
Example: Generic Mix 2 parts X
2 parts Y
1 part Z

X is an absorbent material, Yis a non-absorbent, and Z is an organic

So in the generic mix, X is listed as lava. All John Q. has is Turface. Would Turface and lava be equally absorbent? Or would the chart say that lava is more absorbent, so John would use 2.5 parts of Turface to equal the lava and he would reduce by 1/2 part the Y component?

If John didn't want any organics in his mix, does he increase the X component? Or does he search for something inorganic on the chart that is equally as absorbent as the organic listed?

Sorry, I'm sleep deprived and rambling. Just something that gets me thinking sometimes. Vic

subnet_rx

As a beginner, soil is something that I have struggled with the most. I just read a "there is no secret ingredient" article like this last night over at Knowledge of Bonsai. I do think an article listing specific ingredients that are good solutions is something that needs to be written. Something that describes exactly what to buy and where.

ozzy

So what soil should I use, is there a secret mix anyone can reccomend?

irene_b

I bumped the thread started by Ron Martin on soil.....
Irene

Several threads by Ron Martin should be required reading to all new bonsai folks...Removes many Questions that they each have...year after year after year it is the same.
Irene

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Vonsgardens

Irene,
Rest his soul, but Ron and I disagreed on many things to do with soil, but it is a good read and his opinion is one to be weighed.

A table of soil ingredients? 1/3 Akadama, 1/3 Hyuga and 1/3 lava sized accordingly.

There are as many soil recipes as there folks out there. I have been convinced that for my system, Boon's soil mix works incredibly well, better than anything else I have tried. Now understand this, my wife does the watering most of the time because of my work (to pay for all that expensive soil mix....). She works very hard so I have installed a semiautomated watering system which ensures that she goes out and sees the trees everyday. We water a lot, and we fertilize a lot, so the 100% inorganic soil mix, a little coarser than some like works for me.

As I said above, I can grow pines in 100% gravel (I'll prove it), I know you can grow Ponderosa Pines in 100% Pumice and I have seen them growing in 100% turface and in 100% fir bark and in 100% lava and I have had JBP, Shimpakus and japanese maples in 100% akadama. It is just something you have to work out for your self.

Cheers,
Jon

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"Wiring is simple; However, it is not easy to do it right" Boon

JayC

Hi John,

I have used pure coarse river sand, and am continuing to do so with some of my Australian natives. I'm a bit like the caveman, i over-water, its a habit. I really enjoy using it, and i must say that over-watering is very difficult. I do add slow release (native ofcoarse) to my.........mix?

I must stress that this sand it coarse. Once sifted, nobody would look at it and think "sand". Its particles are large, and look like rock. They do not look like sandstone, however, they resemble granite or something. I am not game to try this with things like maples, even though they are easier to keep than most Australian natives (in my experience). I was happy to try it with natives as the soil around here is naturally very nutrient deficient.

JayC

Vance Wood

Here is another article that deserves a read. It explores the myths and facts of the soil controversy. The bottom line is you can use almost anything as long as certain conditions are met and maintained.

http://www.knowledgeofbonsai.org/soil/secret.php

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