ok let me start off by saying I know ther has been a million "soil wars" but what I'm looking for isn't a prefect mix special formula. I'm looking for a big box store (Home Depot) mix has anyone come up with a soil mix where you don't have to order small bags off the internet of hard to find items. I can not seem to find small enough red lava rock. I can find perlite, pea gravel, Napa oildry (the stuff that doesn't turn to mush), different types of mulch , orchid mulch, locally I have Home Depot menards ace hardware and Lowe's has anyone achieved a mix like this
I feel this is something worth saying in everyone of these threads so I will type it again:
What are you repotting? By that I mean- are you taking mature, heavy trunked Bonsai ready for refinement and trying to pot them down to Bonsai trays to begin the process of slowing growth and miniaturizing leaves, building fine branch ramification...? Or, are you working with young stock you are really just starting to trading and get ready to be Bonsai one day down the road? If you are working with the later (PRE-Bonsai), then use large nursery cans and POTTING SOIL. yes. Potting soil... Pro mix, Miracle grow... Something high quality if you want to use a ready made mix... If you want to make your own (I do... Saves money for those of us with WAY too many trees)- I mix spagnum peat moss with perlite and tiny bark chips labeled "soil conditioner"... Mix in a bit of plant tone fertilizer for nutrients and sometime I add a bit of turface to add weight but sand would work fine too... It is an absolute MYTH that heavy organic soils cause issues. FANTASY LAND. Dry trees=DEAD TREES. Wet trees= happy trees that grow more. Period. Fact.
Root rot is the most over worried about malady for trees in Bonsai today and it almost never causes any tree deaths unless you are keeping your trees in bowls with no drainage. All this talk of inorganic mixes is for DEVELOPED REFINED TREES IN SMALL BONSAI POTS being cared for by experienced care takers who know how to keep them healthy and want to control watering and nutrients more exactly than your average person.
If you are working with mature BONSAI ready to go into or be repotted in a bonsai pots with a good bonsai soil, order GOOD stuff off the internet. Check eBay, go to the FB groups... Clay King is a solid "name brand" ready made mix, or buy separates of Akabama, pumice, lava and mix then yourself, you can find lava at a good size easily on eBay...
Oh and turface is Ok, but I recommend mixing it with small nuggets of Pune bark and pumice if you are going use it... I have had much better experiences with it when mixed with pumice.. But IMO this tis because PUMICE IS THE SHIZZZZ! Get Pumice if you can only afford one "good ingredient"... It works fine by itself, or with a bit of bark or with turface... Pumice makes all mixes better! Never used the Napa oil dry much but some people swear by it.. It is a type of Diatomacious Earth- porous, drains well but the pieces are small...
