Potting Mix Tests Results Abbreviated

[NBPCA]

Hi all,

Did some PH testing on some components that i missed before or are new.

Turface 5.5
Pumice 5.5
Coco Peat 5.5
Pine Bark Mini Nuggets 4.5

Our current mix 5.5 (40% Diatomite, 20% Zeolite, 20% Pine bark Mini Nuggets, 20% Coco Peat)
Our mix after 1 year in pot 5 (This was a Red Pine that was very sick 18 months ago and now is doing very well in the mix) When we went to collect some mix off this tree to check PH we scratched the surface and found it packed with mycorrhizae.

I will trial a mix similar to Boons this year at home.

Grant

[reddoggy]

Hi Grant
As a newbie to Bonsai,do you think the above mix is a good all round mix as I want to settle on a blend that works and the more I read about potting mixes on this forum the more confused I get and I am sure I aint the only one, I realize every body has got different growing conditions but are us that are new to bonsai and probably have only got average trees, better off staying with a brand name or using something like the your current mix above.

[Grant Bowie]

Our current mix 5.5 (40% Diatomite, 20% Zeolite, 20% Pine bark Mini Nuggets, 20% Coco Peat)
Our mix after 1 year in pot 5 (This was a Red Pine that was very sick 18 months ago and now is doing very well in the mix) When we went to collect some mix off this tree to check PH we scratched the surface and found it packed with mycorrhizae.

Hi Grant
As a newbie to Bonsai,do you think the above mix is a good all round mix as I want to settle on a blend that works and the more I read about potting mixes on this forum the more confused I get and I am sure I aint the only one, I realize every body has got different growing conditions but are us that are new to bonsai and probably have only got average trees, better off staying with a brand name or using something like the your current mix above.

i believe that the potting mix you use will behave differently in different climatic zones and i intend to vary the above mix slightly to accomodate better the deciduous trees (less Diatomite) in the national collection.
I would love to be able to give decisive information but unfortuneatly all I can say is what works for me in our climate.
I am intending to try something like Boons mix; something like Diatomite and or Pumice, Zeolite/gravel and Akadama. I have all of these components on hand and will give it a go.

Grant

[Dario]

Hi Grant, will you also be adding a tiny bit of charcol when you trial boon's mix?
Cheers, Dario.

[Grant Bowie]

Hi Grant, will you also be adding a tiny bit of charcol when you trial boon's mix?
Cheers, Dario.

Yes,

I should try that.

Grant

[NBPCA]

Hi all,

I will finalise my results on the growing of an Ash seedling in various single bag growing components; ie just Akadama, Kanuma or single commercial bag(Blend).

After a second year in the single bag mix or component the results were;

Akadama, Moderate result
Amgrow Bonsai mix, Moderate
Mt Sylvia Diatomite, Moderate
Kanuma, Moderate
Sashi Eda mix, Moderate
Maidenwell Diatomite,Poor
Chinese Akadama, Poor
All others were worse much on their own and the trials of those were abandoned last year as previoulsy mentioned in the thread.

I would not recommend any of the above as a single source stand alone bonsai mix but as components in a blend they would perform better and this was seen in the trials of the Bonsai Mix blends.

All performed better with Osmocote than without and upping the liquid fertiliser rate did not seem to make up for the lack of Osmocote at all.

The test of blended mixes proved more even as only 3 out of 11 performed poorly but did not provide any breathtaking conclusions. I will elaborate after posting this post.

Grant

[NBPCA]

Hi all,

Attached is a PDF showing briefly the results after 2 years.

Basically out of 11 mixes 3 performed poorly, 6 performed moderately(adequately) and 2 performed visibly best(Most vigorous).

Large seedling Growing media test results July 2012.pdf

Moderate performance is OK as it would keep internodes shorter than a lush growing mix in some instances but I was just comparing girth of trunk and volume of apparent growth of the seedling Ash plant.

The mix that behaved poorly in my climate in Canberra could feasibly be OK eleswhere. And possibly a mix that performs well in Canberra with Ash could be a disaster elsewhere of course as well.

Having 2 seedlings per soil mix was good as it controlled the exercise.

Happy to discuss but certainly a blended mix of some sort is preferable to a single component mix of any type in my opinion.

How much organic or inorganic is a discussion going on elsewhere recently.

Grant

[Scott Roxburgh]

Grant, I don't know if it is mentioned in a previous post but how much did you water each day?

[Grant Bowie]

Grant, I don't know if it is mentioned in a previous post but how much did you water each day?

Hi Scott,

Just standard watering regime; nothing special. They were all watered as a batch when watered.

Grant

[reddoggy]

Hi Grant
What is CRG gravel, is it a Canberra thing.

[Jow]

Hi all,

Did some PH testing on some components that i missed before or are new.

Turface 5.5
Pumice 5.5
Coco Peat 5.5
Pine Bark Mini Nuggets 4.5

Our current mix 5.5 (40% Diatomite, 20% Zeolite, 20% Pine bark Mini Nuggets, 20% Coco Peat)
Our mix after 1 year in pot 5 (This was a Red Pine that was very sick 18 months ago and now is doing very well in the mix) When we went to collect some mix off this tree to check PH we scratched the surface and found it packed with mycorrhizae.

I will trial a mix similar to Boons this year at home.

Grant

Hi Grant,

Could you please explain the logic behind the coco peat? I would have thought that to sift a mix and then add coco peat fines would kind of be defeating the purpose of having sifted it in the first place.

Joe

[Scott Roxburgh]

Grant, I don't know if it is mentioned in a previous post but how much did you water each day?

Hi Scott,

Just standard watering regime; nothing special. They were all watered as a batch when watered.

Grant

Yeah that was kind of what prompted my thinking, and it goes along the same lines as a mix that performs well in Canberra could be a disaster elsewhere.

The same watering practices is a good control point for this experiment, but maybe your watering practices suited the "good growth mixes" rather than the "poor growth mixes".
In light of this, I think it would be good to capture your watering practices, i.e. you watered once/twice a day, watered when they looked dry, used an auto watering system?

I have observed that using the mix that I use, the more I water (and fertilise) the better the growth is, but my mix has a lot of air in it when compared to some of these.

As you said though, horses for courses.

Thanks for the follow up.

[Scott Roxburgh]

Hi Grant
What is CRG gravel, is it a Canberra thing.

I believe it is Carnarvon River Gravel

[NBPCA]

Hi all,

Did some PH testing on some components that i missed before or are new.

Turface 5.5
Pumice 5.5
Coco Peat 5.5
Pine Bark Mini Nuggets 4.5

Our current mix 5.5 (40% Diatomite, 20% Zeolite, 20% Pine bark Mini Nuggets, 20% Coco Peat)
Our mix after 1 year in pot 5 (This was a Red Pine that was very sick 18 months ago and now is doing very well in the mix) When we went to collect some mix off this tree to check PH we scratched the surface and found it packed with mycorrhizae.

I will trial a mix similar to Boons this year at home.

Grant

Hi Grant,

Could you please explain the logic behind the coco peat? I would have thought that to sift a mix and then add coco peat fines would kind of be defeating the purpose of having sifted it in the first place.

Joe

Hi,

The Coco peat was used by a number of the Victorian growers successfully and in effect I was trialling this as part of the mix and it seems OK. It replaces the potting mixes that can vary is the logic. They didn't sieve the Diatomite but used it straight from the packet.

In effect it dispapears after a year or two.

Grant

[Dario]

Hi Grant and thanks for the information!
I use a blend in my soil mix and have recently switched from MW diatomite to MS diatomite. In the single medium tests do you have any thoughts/ideas as to why the ash seedlings did better in MS compared to MW diatomite?...just curious?
Cheers, Dario.