A Soil Story

bisco_bonsai

Great points all around; thanks for all the feedback.
A few points. I'm a big fan of simplification, I guess that's just my nature. It's some peoples nature to experiment and tinker; even if that means hours of extra work just to sqeeze a few more hours between waterings, or fertilizing every 1.5 weeks instead of every 2 weeks. Turface, as far as I know, has everything you want in a container soil: high CEC, water holding capacity, nutrient holding capacity, resistance to degradation, good aeration, etc. (Glass chards lack many of these key point, BTW). Plus, countless people have used it with great success. It seems that if you want to enhance any of these attributes by adding another amendment, say gravel for more aeration and drainage, then you give reduce another one of these attributes on the other end, say high CEC. This give and take makes amending Turface, to me, a win/lose propostion.

(*Disclamer, I know some plants like boggy soil or desert sand, I'm speaking in general terms for most plants native to my area)

Another point, Controlled growth. Bonsai culture is definitely not as controlled an environment as a greenhouse, but the controlled care bonsai are given is equal to or greater than the control of the greenhouse environment. I think the goal is simply different. The goal in bonsai, as opposed to the goal in greenhouse production, is to expose them to all the benefits of nature, but this doesn't mean that they aren't living in a controlled environment. We can control the environment of bonsai in many ways from moving them to a shady spot in the yard, to increasing the amount of water received, to moving them into the greenhouse, to even bringing them indoors if a hurricane is on the way. Bonsai are not completely exposed to the perils of the natural environment, so in some respect their environment is controlled. Maybe I should say that there "exposure" to the environment is controlled. Anyway, I'm rambling now so I'll stop. Thanks for your patience.
All the best,
JDL