Using only Inorganic soil

Rcflyer

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Is it ok to use only Inorganic soil and just fertilize plant separately?
 

_#1_

Omono
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Depends. What kinda tree are you talking about?
 

Rcflyer

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Five year old Chinese Elm and Podocarpus Budda Pine. Younger Portulacaria afra variegata, Bougainvillea and Power Puff (Calliandra Schultzei) with fully established trunks.
 

parhamr

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Yes.

I have my Chinese elms in wholly inorganic media.
 

_#1_

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I have about 10% pine barks in my mix for the yew, Crepe Myrtle, Trident, and some other small stuff. My zone have quite hot and humid summers and I was hoping the organics hold moisture a bit better.

But I have collected Gojis and Privets in straight DE 8822, and they're growing like weeds. I'm gonna change to a more course inorganic mix this spring though and see if they do even better.
 

SU2

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Is it ok to use only Inorganic soil and just fertilize plant separately?

Absolutely! Have you read Walter Pall's excellent article on substrates/watering/fertilization? If not I'd highly recommend reading it til you're real comfortable with every principle in there, it will save a LOT of headaches!! http://walter-pall-bonsai.blogspot.com/2010/06/feeding-substrate-and-watering-english.html

The answer is 'yes' though, you certainly can, however when you have an inorganic/inert growing-medium, there's far less 'buffer' than a regular soil would provide, so when it comes to a 'proper' inorganic bonsai mix you'll need to be fertilizing sufficiently if you want optimal growth (though insufficient fertilization isn't going to kill your tree, at least not quickly), I used to use liquid fertilizers only but changed to using 50/50 liquid/extended-release-pellets, I think the latter is very very useful in the context of fast-draining, frequently-watered inorganic substrates!!
 
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