New to bonsai looking to grow some cuttings

[Tyler Tyler]

Hello,

I live in a small town in portugal and am trying to experiment with a few trees to expand my collection, so i have been rooting from cuttings a lot of trees that are planted locally here.
I have gather cuttings from ficus carica, 2 variaties of plum fruit trees, pear trees, pomegranate, olive trees, lemon and orange trees aswel.
Growing them on the ground is not an option for me so I have been researching to come up with a good soil mix to grow these on once they get an established root base.

What I could find in local nurseries are : Perlite, vermiculute, pine bark, LECA, many times of compost and I can also crush clay bricks.

Do you think that using a combination of these materials would be a suitable soil mix to grow these for a few years?

 

[Tyler Tyler]

Ok, so I tried a few combinations with these soils and have come to the conclusion that:
Perlite is horrible to work with, alone it does drain well but when mixed in different parts with compost just goes crazy;
The pine bark I purchase was supost to be 15-25mm and I had planned on sifting it to only get the smaller particles but that won't work either because the chunks are giant;
LECA, unless I break a whole bag doesn't seem like it will work, also it floats making everything move when watered.

I'm now wondering if paying a ridiculous amount for shipping some pumice will be the best option.

Maybe 75% pumice and 25% compost is the way to go, any advice?

 

[Rivian]

You could mix crushed brick with ~20 percent vermiculite for waterholding capacity
vermiculite alone holds too much water

Edit: do not breathe in vermiculite or perlite or glass wool dust! add some moisture before mixing

 

[sorce]

I'm not a pumice fan. Especially if you have to ship it in.

Welcome to Crazy!

Sorce

 

[Pitoon]

Try to find DE or monto clay and use that.....good sources are kitty litter and dry sweep. Ensure you read what the contents are made of before buying.

 

[HorseloverFat]

Your local trees sound... better than mine.

Soil/substrate is a touchy subject as well as a personal science... many people mix their own... not a single one of those who DO, do it the same...

I find perlite a VERY useful tool.. and it composes HALF (Sliiiightly less) of my inorganic “Blend”... it’s like Cumin... you have to know how to use it. (I wanted to say Coriander.. but that’s more esoteric and veers more sharply away from relatability) Some people don’t use perlite at all.... OR cumin.

 

[cornfed]

I highly recommend this resource to anybody thinking about soil. It answers a lot of questions to help you make your decision.

Introductory Soil Physics

Here is the second resource developed from the thread "Introductory Soil Physics". It is a document explaining how the important physical properties in soil and substrates combine to control the amount of air and water in the pore space of soils...

www.bonsainut.com