decomposed wood

[0soyoung]

For me is because(I think most people) is we have a day job and have to water in the morning and the tree be ok all day till we get home at like 5'ish

I think it is more effective to top-dress with a water retentive material than to incorporate it into the mix, especially when the air is dry (which happens at the hottest times of day). A top dressing of, say, sphagnum holds a lot of water without modifying the retention and aeration of the bonsai medium. In simiplified terms, the water must evaporate from the sphagnum before water starts to evaporate from the medium (this is also advantageous toward keeping your trees's root cooler - the sphagnum also functions like an evaporative cooler). Of course, the top dressing could be any moisture retentive material, such as bark (mulch), wood chips, towelling, coconut fiber, etc.

I use pure MVP with no ammendments and started growing moss on top just to keep it from washing away by my watering. While moss is almost impossible to keep off the roof of my house, I found it would not grow directly on Turface because of how fast it dries. However, the moss thrives if I first apply a thin layer of chopped sphagnum AND so do my trees' roots, all the way to the very top of the pot!

Offered for your consideration.
[wasn't that the comment at the start of every episode of 'The Twilight Zone'?]

 

[Giga]

I have a spruce that I may try this on as I ran out of pumice and lava this year already.

 

[parhamr]

I’ve used composted bark and coconut fiber in previous generations of my soil mixes. The coconut holds a lot of water but it does not break down and it retains a good material size. The bark breaks down and turns into a soggy humus that fills air pores in my soil and pots.

I’ve decreased my use of bark to only use a small fraction of pine park for pines and hemlock bark for hemlocks.

 

[Plantermunn]

Thanks.

Good to know I actually did not find composted bark. I got some pine bark nuggets and started breaking them into smaller bits.

I have been looking at a lot of tree roots over the past week. I can see that tree roots are a lot more developed on trees. Compared to succulents.

 

[Plantermunn]

Thanks.

Good to know I actually did not find composted bark. I got some pine bark nuggets and started breaking them into smaller bits.

I have been looking at a lot of tree roots over the past week. I can see that tree roots are a lot more developed on trees. Compared to succulents.